4% of oil imports to the USA are from Iraq, the fifth largest of any single country, after Canada, Venezuela, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
USA feels threatened by the growing oil import demand from China and India, which take the majority of Iraq’s oil.
Europe
Imports 17.71 million barrels a day. These imports have risen steadily every year since 2001.
Last month, Iraq exported a record amount of oil to Europe. Of 2.1 million barrels a day exported by Iraq in April, 24% of this went to Europe.
In 2007, oil consumption increased by 0.6% - oil is hugely important.
Iraq exports 24% of its oil to Europe, in particular Britain, France, Spain, Germany and Italy.
Europe also feels threatened by the growing oil import demand from China and India, which take the majority of Iraq’s oil.
Iraq’s Regime
Iraq has a strong political position due to the vast amount of oil it exports. Iraq had been part of the Ottoman Empire but After World War 1; Iraq was put under a mandate overlooked by Great Britain. As a result, oil concessions were made and GB controlled the Turkish petroleum company, who had an incredibly strong influence in Iraq, meaning threat before the coup of 1941 Britain controlled oil exports. The Turkish petroleum company’s old influence is now controlled by The Iraq Petroleum Company. However, the old ties to Great Britain do not remain.
The current regime still has obviously strong links with the US, even though American presence in the country is diminishing, after the (relative) peace of the last few years, although violence is still a regular occurrence, meaning that large oil companies are keen to stay away. However Iraq’s leader, Jalal Talabani was quoted in saying that peace is fast approaching the country, inviting news for the likes of BP and Exxon Mobil.
The Iraqi war – all about oil?
Saddam Hussain’s regime was backed by the USA and other Western powers due to the ethnic makeup of the country, with Saddam being a Sunni in a country that had a Shiah majority. The only other country in the Middle East to have this majority was Iran, and the USA among others feared that if a Shiah government was in place, then Iran and Iraq could become an oil superpower, able to hold the likes of the USA at randsome. The modern fall of Iraq has led to the rise of Iran and these fears still remain.
It is also believed that should Iraq have a continual period of peace they could start exporting as much as Saudi Arabia and Iran in future years.
The only two Middle Eastern countries that have more oil resources than Iraq are Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both of these countries are too strong to invade and politically dominate. Mahmud Ahmadinejad (Iran) and King Abdullah (Saudi Arabia) are politically dominant and therefore too difficult to seize power from.
The West is extremely reliant upon oil and thus knew it had to secure resources of said oil as soon as possible. With Iran and Saudi Arabia being too strong, Iraq seemed a likely option. In 2003, Saddam Hussein’s regime was ready for the taking and the idea of “weapons of mass destruction”, although potentially plausible, was used as an excuse for the invasion. Note this is a cynical view that has been put forward by many top Politicians.
It was hoped that the USA could gain control of Iraq’s oil, modernise it with increased investment ($2.05 billion is to be put towards this modernisation next month) and thus obtain a secure and stable supply of oil.
This clearly shows that Iraq’s resources have lead to a huge amount of geopolitical activity, ultimately culminating in a war.
Bibliography
- CIA.gov
- eia.doe.gov
- bbc.co.uk
- timesonline.co.uk
- indexmundi.com
- commondreams.org
- Google images
