Mideast Iraq The Oil Question

FILE – In this Dec. 13, 2009 file photo, Iraqi laborers work at the Rumaila oil refinery in Zubair near the city of Basra, Iraq. The turmoil in Iraq has thrown the OPEC member?s ambitious plans to boost oil production into doubt, threatening to crimp its most vital economic lifeline. Northern oil fields imperiled by the militants? advance have been shut down, and companies have begun evacuating workers elsewhere in the country. Iraq?s Kurdish minority has moved to solidify control over the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas, weakening Baghdad?s claims to the energy riches buried beneath while bolstering the Kurds? aspirations of greater autonomy. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani, File)