ZOOM ON THE WORLD ENERGY

Iraq has the world’s third largest proven petroleum reserves and some of the lowest extraction costs, although just a fraction of its known fields are in development. According to the March 2007, review by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in 2006, crude oil export revenues represented around 60 percent of GDP and 89 percent of government revenues. In 2006, the U.S Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that Iraq was the world’s 15th biggest oil producer and Iraq meets approximately 94 percent of its energy needs with petroleum. Iraq’s use of abundant natural gas resources and hydropower is limited. According to the findings of the December 2006, Iraq Study Group (ISG), led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker and former Congressman Lee H. Hamilton, the stabilization of Iraq is highly correlated with Iraq’s economic success or failure, which in the medium-term is highly dependent on its hydrocarbons industry.

Security issues continue to hold back rehabilitation of Iraq's energy sector.
Experts agree that Iraq may be one of the few places left where vast reserves, known and unknown, have barely been exploited.
Iraq's natural gas sector is believed to contain significant untapped resources which the GoI would like to develop for domestic consumption and export.
Rehabilitation of the electricity sector is a major component of the Iraq reconstruction efforts.