Iraq is perfectly capable of producing 8 million bpd of crude oil, or even its original figure of 12 million bpd Officially, according to the EIA, it holds a very conservatively estimated 145 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves Baghdad’s unstable relationship with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region has proven to be a major obstacle Endemic corruption across the country is particularly prevalent in the sector where there is most money – oil Given that no real change has resulted from last week’s elections in Iraq – the fervently anti-US radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is still the de facto leader – its latest crude oil production ambitions should be considered as they always were: that is, by looking at theoretically what could be achieved, and that at practically what is likely to happen. The target announced last week – although it has been mooted a number of times in […]