The energy industry in Iraq
Iraq sits in the top 5 of oil producing countries in the world and is the second largest producing country in OPEC. It's also the second largest exporter of oil in the world, with large amounts being exported to China, India and Europe. However, Iraq is currently only extracting oil from a fraction of its reserves and there is huge potential in the future for the industry to grow rapidly as the country becomes more stable and is free from the sanctions that held it back over the last 30 years. As a result, between 2009 and 2010, contracts were signed with international partners to build a staggering 14 new oil fields and today, all the major international oil companies, including Shell, BP, Petronas, Gazprom and Exxon operate in the country.