Oil jam

4 October 2010 By Christopher Swann

By raising proven reserves by 25 pct and trumping Iran, Baghdad helps its case with OPEC. With vast areas still unexplored, it may also be just the first upward revision of many. But Iraq s poor infrastructure and shaky politics may yet delay an increase in global supply.

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Iraq raised its proven oil reserves figure by 25 percent on Oct. 4 in a bid to match the clout of leading producer Saudi Arabia and strengthen its case for OPEC to grant it a higher output quota.

New estimates at the giant West Qurna and Zubair fields helped push the total figure to 143 billion barrels, but some analysts said they were skeptical about the massive revision and were not expecting OPEC to deal with the Iraqi quota until Baghdad manages to raise production and exports.

Most global oil companies have been moving ahead with a series of deals to unlock vast Iraqi reserves, which officials say could boost capacity to Saudi Arabia's levels of 12 million barrels per day from 2.5 million bpd now.

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