An engineer walks across the Zubair oil

An engineer walks across the Zubair oil field in southern Iraq on January 21, 2010. Zubair produces around 227,000 barrels of oil per day, according to information released by Iraq's oil ministry last year, and has reserves of around four billion barrels. A consortium led by Italian energy giant ENI -including China's Sinopec, Occidental Petroleum Corporation of the United States and Korea Gas Corporation of South Korea- have agreed to terms with the Iraqi government to exploit the Zubair. AFP PHOTO / ESSAM AL-SUDANI (Photo credit should read ESSAM -AL-SUDANI/AFP via Getty Images)