Months after the end of the war and the fall of Saddam Hussein the country's three refineries are still only running at 70% of their 550,00 barrels per day pre-war capacity.
Regular sabotage of the country's extensive pipeline system also continues to drain millions of dollars from the nations coffers each day.
The US administrators have estimated that every day 2,500 tons of oil products, valued around $200,000 are stolen and smuggled out of Iraq.
As a consequence, the national State Oil Marketing Organisation and US contractor Halliburton are continuing to import required oil products from overseas.
