On both the September 21 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor and that day's broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, host Bill O'Reilly offered misleading data to praise the post-war rehabilitation of the Iraqi oil industry. Calling Iraqi oil exports “one success story in Iraq that hasn't been told” O'Reilly stated that Iraqi oil production was at “98 percent of capacity.” But his assertion that Iraq is pumping close to capacity ignores the larger issue that the capacity level -- the total volume the nation is capable of producing -- has decreased from pre-war levels, a decline that has steepened in the first six months of 2005.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) -- a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy -- Iraq's maximum capacity is currently 1.9 million barrels per day. Current production is meeting this capacity, averaging about 1.9 million barrels per day from January to June 2005. What O'Reilly neglected to mention is that Iraq's pre-war capacity was much higher: Iraq's oil production reached its historic high of 3.7 million barrels per day in 1979 and averaged 2.52 million barrels a day in January and February of 2003. Although current Iraqi oil production is near capacity, it is far from achieving pre-invasion levels, much less meeting Vice President Dick Cheney's April 9, 2003, boast that production might reach 3 million barrels a day by the end of that year. An EIA analysis of Iraq's energy outlook stated: “Most analysts believe that there will be no major additions to Iraqi production capacity for 2-3 years.”
In addition, Iraqi oil production has actually declined since 2004. In April and September of 2004, production reached a post-invasion high of 2.3 million barrels a day. No month in 2005 has surpassed 1.9 million barrels a day.
From a September 21 interview with businessman Donald Trump on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
TRUMP: Let me tell you something: If it all fell apart, we wouldn't be charged any more, believe me. If that whole mess fell apart, we wouldn't be charged more. And what about Iraq? What's happening with the Iraqi oil? We're spending $400 billion --
O'REILLY: It's now up to about 98 percent of capacity. That's one success story in Iraq that hasn't been told; they are pumping the oil out.
From the September 21 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
O'REILLY: Well, it's not a bad question. He's tried to explain it, but has not really sold it, so that people like you understand it. But it's 68 percent of the country that doesn't understand if you pull out of that place, another terrorist state arises from the ashes then allies themself with Iran and Syria, and you've got a catastrophe. Right now we've got a -- basically it's a standoff, with the United States and Iraq making progress. For example, the Iraqi oil now is being pumped out about 100 percent of what it was before with the war. That's a huge, huge factor in that country, because revenue comes in.