Cheap Cars

The southern city is steadily improving but still has a long way to go

IT TAKES over an hour to drive the length of Rumaila oilfield in southern Iraq. The view is dreary—scrubland and rusting tanks—but the prospects are tantalising. When Rumaila’s deposits were discovered, it was the second-biggest oilfield in the Middle East, if measured together with its adjacent sister field at West Qurna. Other big fields, at Majnoon and Nahr Umar, are nearby. Clustered to the west and south of the Zagros Mountains, which loom across the border in Iran, this is a geological El Dorado.

For three decades, thanks to wars and economic sanctions against Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s fields have limped along, badly run, producing far less than they should have. But change is on the way. BP signed a technical-services contract for Rumaila last year, the first company to clinch a deal in open bids. Its operations, together with its partners from Chinese and Iraqi state-owned oil companies, are gaining momentum. The paint is fresh on new drilling rigs. Housing and canteens are being built close to the oilfield, along with a football pitch. Output is going up, though no one will say how fast. …

View full post on All Stories

• No Need to Feel Bad about your Financial Capabilities, Just Procure a Personal Loan
• Bank of America stops foreclosures across the country, expanding review of mortgage documents
• Daihatsu to launch budget car in Southeast Asia
• Indictment related to mortgage fraud
• Tesla, other electric vehicles poised to enter the mainstream
• Day one of our US midterm elections live blog
• Mortgage exit fee win may hurt us
• Many homes still worth less than mortgage
• American Physicians Capital, Doctors Co. Merger Completed
• Six Banks Fail