How Vulnerable Is Iraqi Oil Production?

Just as Iraq has increased its crude oil production and export capacity over the past decade, the recent flare-up of tensions in the Middle East suggest that OPEC’s second-largest oil producer could become a “vulnerable supplier,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its January Oil Market Report on Thursday. Early this month, the U.S. killed Iran’s most powerful and visible military leader, Qassem Soleimani, at the Baghdad airport in Iraq.   Retaliation from Iran came several days later, when Tehran fired…