The new Iraqi government should set up a trust fund to share the country's oil money with its people and is forming special repair teams to fix quickly energy sites that are attacked, President George W. Bush said today.
Iraq wants up to $20 billion in investment to boost its oil production to six million barrels per day (bpd). Iraq hopes a new law designed to attract foreign cash in its oil sector will be approved this year, the country's oil minister said this month.
Mr Bush said Iraq's people need to enjoy the benefits of the country's oil revenue. "It's an interesting idea for them to consider, to basically say that no matter where you live in the country you have a stake in the future of your country because of your ownership in energy assets," Mr Bush said at a news conference at the White House Rose Garden detailing his surprise visit to Baghdad yesterday.
"I reminded the government that that oil belongs to the Iraqi people and the government has the responsibility to be good stewards of that valuable asset and valuable resource," he said.
"It's up to the Iraqi government to decide what to do with the people's asset," said Mr Bush, referring to Iraq's estimated 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.
To make sure oil supplies and revenue keep flowing, Bush said the United States was working with Iraq to establish "rapid repair teams" to fix damage from attacks on Iraq's energy infrastructure.
"There are rapid repair teams that are being established that will quickly restore oil and electricity production if and when attacks do occur," Mr Bush said.
The president has ordered US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman to go to Baghdad and meet with Iraq's oil minister and identify ways the United States can provide additional support.
Iraq straddles the world's third-largest oil reserves but the sector has been undermined by decades of underinvestment, war, sanctions and mismanagement. Multinationals eyeing Iraq's giant and largely undeveloped oilfields are waiting until a new investment code with a legal and regulatory framework is in place before they venture in.
Iraq's oil sector has been subject to repeated attacks on its pipelines and oil export facilities. Iraq's crude oil production in May was 1.9 million barrels a day, down sharply from almost 2.6 million barrels a day in January 2003, just before the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq, according to the US Energy Department.
The country's oil exports averaged 1.5 million barrels a day in May.