Iran Sidesteps Sanctions By Stealing $17 Billion Of Iraqi Oil Annually

Al Arabiya reports that according to a report Iran steals $17 billion worth of Iraqi oil annually:

A report issued by the London-based International Centre for Development Studies confirmed that Iran is stealing large amounts of oil from neighboring Iraqi fields.

According to the report, Iran steals $17 billion worth of Iraqi oil from fields that are mostly Iraqi and not shared between the two countries. Those fields are home to more than 100 billion barrels and the majority of them are inside the borders of Iraq.

The amount of oil Iran takes from Iraq, the report explained, is estimated at 130,000 barrels and mainly comes from four Iraqi fields: Dehloran, Naft Shahr, Beidar West, and Aban. Iran’s violation of Iraqi oil rights also extends to the fields of al-Tayeb and Fakka as well as parts of Majnoun field with an estimated 250,000 barrels.

The total amount of oil Iran steals from Iraq is estimated at 14 percent of Iraqi oil revenue.

...According to the report, the transfer of Iraqi oil to Iran is made possible through smuggling networks spread across the borders that take to Iran an average of 35,000 barrels a day.

The smuggling of Iraqi oil to Iran plays a major role in abating the effect of the economic sanctions imposed on Iran. The stolen oil is later re-exported to Iraq after being manufactured into a variety of oil products or into electric power.

Oddly enough, the issue does not seem to bother the Iraqis much. While they have imposed restrictions on oil partners, Iraq has not installed meters to detect the amount of oil extracted and transferred--neither has the ministry looked into a satellite monitoring system.

This leaves it up to others to close this end-around that Iran has developed for defeating sanctions.

Or is the Obama administration going to let Iran keep this freebie?

Technorati Tag: Iran and Iraq and Middle East.