THE POLITICS OF OIL
Iraq and Kuwait produce one-fifth of the total oil output of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
Their oil accounts for an estimated 5% of daily U.S. consumption: the United States buys about 200,000 barrels of oil daily from Kuwait and 500,000 to 600,000 barrels from Iraq.
In the first half of 1990, OPEC produced about 23.5 million barrels of crude oil per day; world production outside the Soviet Union and its former satellites was about 52 million barrels daily.
Iraq is one of the major producers of the 13-member cartel, with a daily production quota of 3.14 million barrels. That equals Iran’s quota and is second only to Saudi Arabia’s 5.1 million barrels.
Kuwait’s quota is 1.5 million barrels per day out of an estimated production capacity of 2.2 million to 2.5 million barrels per day.
In the first six months of 1990, the United States imported 49.9% of its oil. It produced 7.3 million barrels a day, the lowest in 29 years.
Kuwait’s huge oil reserves are backed by one of the largest financial reserves in the world. It has more than $100 billion in surplus petrodollars, mostly invested in the United States, Britain, West Germany, France and other industrialized countries.
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