[lbo-talk] United Press International: Kurd PM: French, Russians to lose Iraq oil

[Michael Pugliese]

http://www.google.com/search?q=russia+iraq+oil
<URL: http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030314-095811-8865r >
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/Nightline/NTL_oil_iraq_021004.html
> ...That's because it will take years before Iraq's oil industry can pump 
> more than it is today — 1.7 million barrels a day, now 3 percent of world 
> production. Pipelines are rusty and oil fields are in disrepair. After 20 
> years of neglect, it will take billions in investments to reap the 
> returns on Iraq's reserves.

"People are not going to just whip out their checkbooks and start writing 
checks with nine zeros," says Yergin. "What a company needs to know is, is 
there going to be some political stability? How vulnerable are they going 
to be? They're also going to want to know, are their terms going to be 
stable? Are the rules of the game going to change?"
-- 
Michael Pugliese