Eighteen.
Eighteen.
Eighteen. And that's only the known reserves — they have about 115 billion barrels of oil.
Are there more than that?
Oh yes, many, many more. It is thought there could be around 220-300 billion barrels of oil.
Worth how much?
Well, at the present price — at about...umm...30 trillion dollars.
What kind of deal will the oil companies get under this new legislation?
Ah, yes. What will happen is that after recovering their development costs obviously, the oil companies will keep 20 percent of the profits and the rest will go to the Iraqi government.
But it is a risk doing business in Iraq?
No! Oh no, not to get the oil. Not at all you see, because all the fields have been mapped, and there are no exploration costs, and the oil is just beneath the surface of the sand, so all you have to do is pump it out. Though, I suppose, they — you know, they have to work with the Iraqi government and in some ways, you know, they might have preferred in the best of all possible worlds that the Iraqi government was strong —
Would they not prefer that?
No!
No?
NO! Because if the Iraqi government was strong, they wouldn't get such a good deal for the oil. And if it was very strong, the Iraqis might say, "We'll nationalize the oil and look after it and you must go away."
Go away. Yes. But everybody agrees, don't they really, that Iraq is now in a mess and that the reason they are in a mess have been the mistakes the Americans have made since the invasion. I mean that's generally agreed, isn't it?
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