Stealing Oil

A segment on CBS.com highlights what is considered the "most lucrative" job on the black market—stealing oil and selling it on the black market. Every year, stolen oil accounts for a $5 billion dollar "industry" of sorts in Iraq. Smugglers will fill up their trucks, bribing officials along the way to their final destination, where the oil will be sold for twice its original price at illegal gas stations.

The smuggling of oil seems to reflect a lot of the problems in Iraq— corruption runs rampant, and the extensive black market which this corruption fosters severely limits the economy of the country. What's particularly interesting is that many of the oil smuggling operations are run by militias that in turn have ties to political parties. According to the video, over 200 people have been accused by a state prosecutor of crimes, but many officials are able to wriggle out of prosecution by citing a legal clause that protects them.

However, what's more troublesome about the illegal oil market is that the fuel will often go to insurgent groups in the region, which is, for obvious reasons, dangerous for American interests in the region.

Although it is regrettable that this is happening, I must say that I don't blame the truck drivers who smuggle the oil. If I had the option of selling oil to one depot for a certain price, but also had the option of selling to another depot for twice the other price (and tax free!), I think I would choose the latter over the former.

And yet, it is very problematic that it seems pretty much everyone—the militias, insurgents, and political parties—all have their hands in the cookie jar. Because of the recent lost revenue from oil, (according to this newspaper article), the Iraqi government is having trouble paying for basic public services, like sewage treatment and power. I'm sure that the illegal market in stolen oil, which saps so much revenue from the legal market, is not helping the efforts to provide Iraqi citizens with basic human needs.