|
Istanbul: The estimated cost of boosting Iraq's oil output to six million barrels per day has soared to as high as $75 billion, a government adviser said yesterday.
Iraq's shattered oil industry is currently producing around two million bpd. Officials had said around $25 billion would be needed to triple that figure.
"Costs are much higher than thought. It could be a two- to three- to four-fold increase, as much as between $50-$75 billion," Thamir Ghadhban, energy adviser to Iraq's prime minister, told an energy conference.
Constant sabotage attacks on the country's pipelines have left crude oil production stuck at around two million bpd since the 2003 Iraq invasion. Ghadhban said if the violence on oil facilities subsided, Iraqi production could rise to 2.8 million bpd by the end of the year.
Ghadhban remained hopeful Iraq's parliament would pass a draft hydrocarbon law in the next few months.
|
