The first major survey of the Iraqi oil industry since the US-led invasion, this book is essential for understanding the direction of the world oil market. The contributors to this book are heavyweight players. Iraq has always been a major player in the global oil industry: a founding OPEC member with an established oil sector and vast untapped oil reserves. However, its oil sector has never realized its full potential, being hindered by UN sanctions in the 1990s and later by infrastructural damage following the US-led invasion of 2003. The disruption in Iraqi oil supply and the prospect of its resumption carries both short and long term implications: for Iraq, the Gulf states, OPEC and the world oil market. Although OPEC did stabilize supply and prices in the immediate aftermath of the Iraqi invasion, such geopolitical upheavals create major challenges in market management. On the new world oil map, the geographical focus of exploration and production is now shifting away from the Gulf to newer areas such as Russia, the Caspian basin, Venezuela and the West African rim.
With global energy demand set to grow phenomenally, especially in Asia, and nations seeking to diversify and secure their oil supplies, both OPEC and non-OPEC countries must make strategic investment and production choices to meet anticipated supply challenges.