
Oil production in Iraq's Shiite-majority southern region has been steadily rising in recent years since the Rumaila, West Qurna Stage 1 and Zubayr supergiant oil fields were auctioned off to foreign companies in 2009. Sitting on 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, more than 80 percent of which is concentrated in the south, Iraq has the potential to rival Saudi Arabia's production rate of roughly 10 million barrels per day (bpd) within the decade. Iran is especially interested in the prospect of increased oil production in southern Iraq. Tehran has built a complex oil smuggling network that allows it to bring in significant revenues from southern Iraq's oil production. According to Stratfor sources, roughly 10 percent of Basra's oil production is smuggled, most of which ends up in Iran for export.