Prometheus 6

Just too slow by a factor of 20.

CARACAS, Apr 22 (IPS) - A year on, the invasion of Iraq has turned into a fiasco for long-term U.S. goals to ensure access to steady, secure supplies of inexpensive crude oil and to start playing a decisive role in oil markets at the expense of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Pumping and transporting oil in Iraq today are risky ventures, endangering the lives of foreign oil workers. Halliburton, the U.S. construction giant that has benefited so handsomely from oil contracts in Iraq, has seen 29 employees and contractors killed..

Output is still lower than on Mar. 20, 2003, when U.S. and British forces launched the invasion of Iraq, while oil prices are one-third higher.

The U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate closed Wednesday at just under 36 dollars a barrel, compared to last year's average price of 29 dollars, while the OPEC reference price basket stands at around 32 dollars, up from the 2003 average of 28 dollars and the 2002 average of 24 dollars.

Iraq's oil output stands at just over two million barrels a day, in a world that consumes 40 times that amount, and the remaining OPEC members -- especially Saudi Arabia -- have the ability to increase short-term production to meet the market's demands.