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Washington: Iraq's daily oil production is at its highest level since the March 2003 US invasion, in large part thanks to improved security, a new US audit says.
A $34 million security system of ditches, berms, fences and concertina wire - all guarded by Iraqi forces - has stopped attacks since July 2007 on the pipeline running from Kirkuk in the north to a major refinery in Baiji, in central Iraq, Stuart Bowen, the Defence Department's inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said.
In the past 12 months, "there have been no reported interdictions - resulting in the substantial rise in northern crude oil exports," Bowen said in his 18th quarterly report to Congress on the expenditure of $50 billion in US economic aid.
The report is his third this year to outline increasing improvements to Iraq's security and economy.
"Iraq's burgeoning oil windfall, which has yielded more than $33 billion in revenues to date in 2008," may result in another unanticipated $7 billion that could be spent on reconstruction as US spending winds down, Bowen said.
"Iraqi oil production set new records this quarter, with output reaching 2.43 million barrels per day, the highest quarterly average since the invasion," Bowen wrote. Oil analysts say Iraq has the world's third-largest reservoir of untapped crude oil.
Iraq's increased production between July 2007 and May was especially noticeable in the north where exports increased by about 91.3 million barrels, or about $8.215 billion.
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