Iraq plans to upgrade its oil pipeline network to boost exports through neighboring Turkey and Syria as Baghdad struggles to develop its vast but under-exploited energy resources, the key to its reconstruction. The country faces serious obstacles - sectarian violence, political instability and deep-rooted corruption - that are likely to get worse in the years to come as the United States withdraws its forces and leaves Iraqis to make their own way. But, as the Financial Times observed this week, “What is less obvious is that beneath the unsettled surface, Iraq is an economic giant, slowly but surely awakening after a 30-year slumber.” Oil is what will make things happen. Iraq has proven reserves of 115 billion barrels, the third largest reserves of conventional oil after Saudi Arabia and Iran, and possibly as much again in untapped fields. But it's pumping less crude than it did under the late Saddam Hussein - around 2.4 million barrels per day. Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein Al-Shahristani aims to quadruple oil production to 10 million-12 million barrels a day within seven years, an objective many industry analysts believe is way too ambitious. But the former nuclear physicist is unfazed. He's to sign an agreement with Turkey Sunday to extend the operation of the 600-mile twin pipelines that carry 450,000 barrels of oil a day - one-fifth of Iraq's oil exports - from the Kirkuk fields in northern Iraq to Turkey's loading terminal at Ceyhan on the eastern Mediterranean.
