tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1953410733493889728.post8461636222632620540..comments2024-02-29T12:38:32.191-08:00Comments on MUSINGS ON IRAQ: Iraq’s Northern Pipeline Attacked, Cracked, And Tapped In JuneJoel Winghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09611810110771744360noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1953410733493889728.post-35843900480751649842010-07-09T08:15:21.995-07:002010-07-09T08:15:21.995-07:00Maury this article from todays New York Times has ...Maury this article from todays New York Times has a picture of tanker trucks illegally shipping oil from Kurdistan to Iran.<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/world/middleeast/09kurds.html?_r=1&ref=iraqJoel Winghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09611810110771744360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1953410733493889728.post-1237491202149077462010-07-03T10:17:49.124-07:002010-07-03T10:17:49.124-07:00Maury theres oil smuggling going on throughout the...Maury theres oil smuggling going on throughout the Middle East. Iraq has been a major center of it since the 90s when the Oil for Food program started, which opened up an opportunity for Iraqis to sell oil again one way or another. That’s when the criminal gangs grew and theyve been around ever since. <br /><br />From a report Ive read oil smugglers use a variety of methods. One is to include stolen oil within legal oil shipments using corrupt oil officials, and then the smugglers are given secret payments. A second is to sell the oil to large tankers in the Persian Gulf, which usually involves both corrupt officials, political parties, and the Iraqi navy. The third is to ship the oil in trucks to neighboring countries. Allegedly the Kurdish government does this illegally shipping oil to Iran since they don’t have the official okay to export yet. Iraqi oil is currently selling for over $70 a barrel so even if the black market price is half that there is a huge amount of money to be made. A GAO report from 2007 estimated that Iraqi oil smuggling earned $5-$15mil/day, $1.8-$5.5 bil/year. Another U.S. report estimated that there was 100,000-300,000 unaccounted for barrels of oil per day in 2006. In one crackdown 299 boats were found in southern Iraqi rivers full of oil waiting to be sailed out into the Gulf to tankers. The smuggled oil is supposedly sold to refineries in the UAE, Yemen and India.Joel Winghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09611810110771744360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1953410733493889728.post-71837716179248414512010-07-03T08:44:36.823-07:002010-07-03T08:44:36.823-07:00Where do you suppose these bandits can sell the cr...Where do you suppose these bandits can sell the crude Joel? Iraq and neighboring countries have state run refineries that don't purchase crude oil. There are two small private refineries in Turkey, but getting crude to those would probably mean pack muling it over treacherous mountains. Hard to imagine any self-respecting smuggler doing that, since a gallon of vodka is worth more than a barrel of crude.Mauryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08155413912838430846noreply@blogger.com