Essay About Western Iraq And Oil Exports

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Increased violence in western Iraq has prevented Iraq from resuming oil exports to Jordan. The minister in Iraq had claimed that they had agreed to resume exports to Jordan however; both countries have found it impossible to carry out the deal due to increased violence. Drivers who were assigned to ship crude oil through tankers could not make the trip and were stalled because of the violence in that area. Under Saddam Hussein a fleet of more than 300,000 tankers exported up to 10,000 barrels of oil a day to Jordan. Earlier reports have speculated that due to political pressure Iraq was not interested in the deal with Jordan. Iraq is waiting of implementing a security tactic in order to resume the exports with Jordan. Oil is the major export for Iraq and is a major factor in keeping the economy running. They have already seen lower exports of oil in the past few years because of the ongoing war within the country. There have been several attacks on Iraqi pipelines by terrorists as well in order to halt Iraqs economy. Since there are no special forces that guard the Iraqi pipelines against attacks Iraq is working on implementing a security strategy to export more oil and hopefully execute the deal with Jordan. Exporting to Jordan will also help Iraq build better relations with Jordan and will bring in more revenue to Iraqs economy. Losing 10,000 barrels of oil exports a day to Jordan is a huge loss to Iraq as it can amount to billions of dollars in lost revenues. This is a huge loss to the economy and this could be revenue that they could have used to better the infrastructure of the country and lives of Iraqi citizens. The Iraqi forces along with the U.S forces are going to have to implement a strategy in order to continue their exports with Jordan. On a positive side, even though the countrys oil production and exports have not been up to expected levels due to the war, the high price of oil has kept the revenues constant for Iraq. The oil sector dominates Iraqs economy and accounts for significant amount of foreign exchange earnings. Iraqs economy would basically shut down if oil exports are not carried out. With the ongoing war in Iraq and political uncertainty and instability, Iraq has to keep continuing to make progress in order to better the lives of its citizens.