Iraq May Have Second Largest Oil Reserves In The World
Bush knew! Clearly, this is why we invaded Iraq!
[/liberal, or a Ron Paul supporter]
BAGHDAD — Iraqi oil production could double in five years, according to a new study.
The report found that Iraq’s oil reserves may be almost twice as much as previously estimated. The study by the U.S. consultancy IHS said another 100 billion barrels of oil reserves could be found in Iraq.
IHS said the estimate would rank Iraq as having the second largest reserves in the world, following Saudi Arabia. Currently, Iran has the second largest oil reserves in the world.
Whenever I hear news like this I always wonder how much more oil there is in the world that hasn’t yet been discovered. Remember that most of the globe is covered in water, too, meaning that there could be enough undiscovered reserves in the world to last us for centuries.
“Could be” being the operative term there.
But going a little deeper into this, how much more oil could we have discovered by now were oil industries not being forced to pay more to the government in taxes than they take in profits? Remember that oil exploration, and the development of known oil reserves, requires billions of dollars of investment before any of that oil can be sold for profit. So when the government burdens the oil industry with such heavy taxes and regulations, they literally inhibit the oil industry’s ability to find more oil to meet increasing demand and make our oil industry more secure.
To put it bluntly, government is party of our energy problem and most certainly not part of the solution.
