May 18, 2013
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Description
Oil reserves in Iraq will be the largest in the world according to recent geological surveys and seismic data. The Iraqi government has stated that new exploration showed Iraq has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, with 150 billion barrels. Officially confirmed reserves rank third largest in the world at approximately 143 billion barrels.
As a result of military occupation and civil unrest, the official statistics have not been revised since 2001 and are largely based on 2-D seismic data from three decades ago. International geologists and consultants have estimated that unexplored territory may contain vastly larger reserves.
A measure of the uncertainty about Iraq's oil reserves is indicated by the fact that the U.S. Department of Energy estimated that Iraq had 112 billion barrels, whereas the United States Geological Survey estimated it was closer to 78 Gbbl and Iraq's prewar deputy oil minister claimed it might have 300 Gbbl. The source of the uncertainty is that due to decades of war and unrest, much of Iraq oil wells are run down and unkept. Repairs to the wells and oil facilities should make far more oil available economically from the same deposits. In fact, Iraq may prove to be contain the largest extractable deposits of oil in the entire Middle East once this upgrading and facility improvements have advanced.³³³³
(via Freebase)
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