Iraq's Oil Patch Opens the Spigot

[rocketman2010]

Iraq's Oil Patch Opens the Spigot

Foreign companies are sending in expatriate managers, hiring Iraqi engineers and laborers and building massive base camps in the desert in southern Iraq, where the country's reserves and production are concentrated. Freshly imported rigs have started drilling new wells and repairing dozens more older wells near Basra, which is both an oil and port town. Shiny new restaurants and car dealerships are popping up around town—and vanity license plates are fetching north of $10,000.

It's part of the first wave of foreign-controlled drilling in Iraq since former President Saddam Hussein nationalized the oil industry in the 1970s. Royal Dutch Shell PLC said last month that it had boosted production at the Majnoon field near here to 70,000 barrels per day, up from 45,000 barrels. Iraqi officials now expect a consortium led by BP PLC and China National Petroleum Corp. to meet a 10% production-increase target at the nearby Rumaila field this month, lifting daily output by 100,000 barrels, to over 1.1 million. That's three years ahead of schedule.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574142765620652.html?ru=MKTW&mod=MKTW

Looks like the money is starting to flow.

[lumpsum]

Thank you for the post! Oil shots on me

[Dinerry]

oof-dah!

BLACK GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jopy]

"Shiny new restaurants and car dealerships are popping up around town—and vanity license plates are fetching north of $10,000".

You'd think the RV had occurred already!!!