Official: Iraq Considers Pipeline With Iran

[Khephra]

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum said his agency is examining an Iranian proposal to build an oil pipeline in southern Iraq along the Shatt-al-Arab waterway.

"There is a proposed project to build a crude oil pipeline with Iran with a capacity of 250,000 barrels a day," Bahr al-Uloum told reporters, adding it was first proposed by Iran's oil ministry when he visited Tehran in December.

"We are in the process of conducting the feasibility studies of the pipeline, which will be released in the coming few months," Bahr al-Uloum said.

Since appointed minister by the U.S.-backed Governing Council in September, Bahr al-Uloum has visited neighboring Iran twice and signed agreements with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Namdar Zanganeh to supply Iraq with oil products.

more..............

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iraq-iran-oil-pipeline,0,154485.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

[Sagan]

1. Ha ha ha! GOOD LUCK!

Maybe Halliburton will get a good contract providing inadequate security for it, but otherwise this is a boondoggle. Might as well paint it with bulls-eyes all down the pipe.

[GRClarkesq]

2. Give the mullahs in Iran a financial interest in pipeline security

and see what happens.

[donsu]

3. It's the bushgang that wants the pipeline

since when has the Iraqi people had a say so in anything?

[GRClarkesq]

4. I didn't get that from the article

Why would the Bush gang want to ship oil to Iran, who might be next on the PNAC hitlist?

[sandboxface]

5. Umm.. I thought...

Iraq HAD their own oil. I don't get it.. Did I miss something???

[ltugo]

6. Reason for a pipeline

Although I haven't read the article, I suspect that the reason for building a pipeline in Iraq would be to ship oil from the fields in the north down to the port facilities on the Shatt-Al-Arab waterway. This has traditionally been done by truck and/or barge traffic and is very expensive. It sounds like Iran is just offering to build the pipeline for Iraq for a fee. I don't believe this involves transporting oil between Iraq and Iran in any way.

LTugo

EDIT: Now that I have read the article, I see the writer contradicts me. Perhaps the journalist misunderstood the reason for building the pipeline?

[GRClarkesq]

7. I think the last statement in the article

might not be related to the reason for the pipeline. Iraq will certainly be a net exporter of oil.

Notice no pipeline to Syria.

[bemildred]

8. Iraq's oil production still seems below pre-war levels.

Iran is considered a "loser" in the deal to put a pipe
through Tibilsi, so might see this as a compensatory "win".

A pipe through Iranian territory might have the advantage of
being more "secure", as AFAIK there are still no reliable pipes
in Iraq outside the Shiite South, and none to any of the
neighboring countries except Kuwait.

This could also be about adding to shipping capacity, i.e. the
ability to move more oil by ship so as to avoid the problems with
pipeline security.