Iraq wrestles with water supply dilemma
Iraq’s goal of increasing southern crude oil output could be stymied by a shortage of water—a critical issue for the country as a whole
The modern oil industry needs water. That is an inescapable fact, not just in shale basins where fracking's thirst draws headlines, but in any province where natural reservoir pressure alone is no longer sufficient to keep production levels high. Iraq is no exception. And it seems slightly ironic that the region once called Mesopotamia-the land between the rivers, girded by the mighty Tigris and Euphrates, once home to the famously lush Hanging Gardens of Babylon-may have to rein in its oil production increase targets due to a shortage of this essential resource. The head of the Basra Oil Company (BOC), Ihsan Ismail, told a CWC southern Iraq conference in Istanbul in October that the aim was
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