PUBLICATION

Oil and Gas Investor

AUTHORS

Barnaby Fletcher, Lise Liezenga

Iraq Oil & Gas 2011 OGI Release

January 06, 2011

When discussing Iraq’s potential, it is easy to lapse into superlatives. The sheer volume of reserves and size of investment needed to develop them are on a scale no other country can match. Iraq currently ranks third globally in proven oil reserves, with a total of more than 143.1 billion barrels. The cost of extracting these reserves is approximately US$1 per barrel, the lowest in the world. However, the bulk of Iraq’s data comes from exploration performed more than three decades ago. With more than 70% of the country unexplored and 3-D seismic technology only recently introduced, estimates of total oil reserves still approach 350 billion barrels—a figure that would make Iraq the world’s wealthiest hydrocarbon country.

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It is said that mining is a patient industry. Current demand projections are not. Demand for minerals deemed ‘critical’ is set to increase almost fourfold by 2030, according to the UN. Demand for nickel, cobalt and lithium is predicted to double, triple and rise ten-fold, respectively, between 2022 and 2050. The world will need to mine more copper between 2018 and 2050 than it has mined throughout history. 2050 is also the deadline to curb emissions before reaching a point of ‘no return.’ The pace of mineral demand and the consequences of not meeting it force the industry to act fast and take more risks. Mining cannot afford to be a patient industry anymore. The scramble for supply drives miners back to geological credentials, and therefore to places like the African Central Copperbelt.

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