A huge infrastructure project

I think this is amazing, for a lot of reasons.

There's a big infrastructure deal in the works in the Persian Gulf. The Iraq Ministry of Oil has decided to buy the creation of am artificial island, from a Dutch marine construction company, Boskalis. Their plan involves the creation of two new pipelines and four new marine docks to create an island that will enable Iraq, through its Basra Oil company, to add 3 million barrels per day to its export capacity.

It is amazing because I tend to think of infrastructure projects at this level as a thing of the past -- where "past" means Dwight Eisenhower and Robert Moses.

Of course oil rigs and such get created, especially in the Persian Gulf. But this is a three-year construction project that could be disrupted at any time during that run by war or violence short of war, and that could easily end up a dead loss for Iraq or Boskalis if that happens. It's a gutsy move.

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