Oil Production

Many locations throughout Southeast Asia and the North African realm, have economies that depend largely on oil production. Last month Iraq produced more than 3 million barrels a day, which surpassed last year’s average by 300,000 more per day. This increase was due to the opening of a new facility offshore in the Persian Gulf. Since the war in Iraq the production of oil has increased due to the efforts of the government and also its oil partners. They have been searching and fixing prior fields in order to obtain more resources and production. This has benefited Iraq largely as the cost of oil is at $90 per barrel, which creates revenue for Iraq of $100 billion a year. Most of this revenue goes to the government of Iraq.  Iraq has hopes of increasing their oil production more. Investors are wary of investing in the production of oil in this country as the country is still progressing. There have been issues due to lack of security in this region as there have been attacks initiated on the pipelines. Another issue has been that Iraq has not created a law yet that would divide the wealth of the oil production among its citizens.  It is projected that the production of oil will progress but not at such an alarming rate. Iran on the other hand has decreased in oil production from an average of 3.6 million per day last year to last month being 2.9 million barrel per day. This has been a result of Iran’s nuclear program as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have placed sanctions on Iran by not allowing them to import oil to the west and has restricted the amount of oil that is being sent to Asia. It has been determined that even if those sanctions get removed it will take Iran some time to recuperate from its losses but it seems that Iran has no intentions in stopping its nuclear program.

Source: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRLUyJrwMPMPUQmw5dgKnkdo7MtFVHDzsmkhSdACfQHbkthRKhk

The increase of oil production in Iraq is great but it seems that this is a major result of Iran’s sanctions. Even though Iraq is benefiting from this and it is allowing for their economy to prosper while on the other hand it is affecting Iran’s drastically. This is allowing for one economy to become more sustainable than the other. It is understandable that the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union only want the best for Iran by implementing these sanctions in order for the country to become more sustainable. However, at the same time it is hurting Iran because when these sanctions are lifted it will take sometime for Iran’s economy to become as sustainable as it once was. If I lived in this realm I would be glad that Iraq is progressing after the war that just occurred and also that Iran is being forced to change as their nuclear program has been affecting this particular realm for sometime now along with the rest of the world.

Source: 

http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/10/news/economy/iraq-oil/index.html