Billions of dollars' worth of Iraq's oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for, possibly having been siphoned off via corruption or smuggling, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels of Iraq's daily output of some 2 million barrels is missing, it said, citing a draft report prepared by the United States Government Accountability Office and government energy analysts. The discrepancy was valued between $5-million and $15-million daily, using a $50 per barrel average, the report said. That adds up to billions of dollars over the four years since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
A State Department official who works on energy matters offered possible explanations including pipeline sabotage, or inaccurate reporting of oil production in southern Iraq. "It could also be theft," the Times quoted the unnamed official as saying. "Crude oil is not as lucrative in the (southern) region as refined products, but we're not ruling that out either," the official said.
"There is not an issue of insurgency, per se, but it could be funding Shia factions, and that could very well be true."
"That would be a concern if they were using smuggling money to blow up American soldiers or kill Sunnis or do anything that could harm the unity of the country," the paper quoted the official as saying.
