The Iraq Oil Equation

Iraq has the world's third largest proven reserves of oil, and they're barely tapped. This week, the price of oil reached $82 dollars a barrel — the highest in history. And Alan Greenspan says in his new memoir that, at least for him, the U.S. invasion of Iraq was "largely about oil."

Iraq's ocean of oil is a source of endless speculation, maneuver, sectarian tension, war and conflict — inside Iraq and out — over who gets what and how. The oil companies are circling. The world is thirsty.

Up next, On Point: the lowdown on the oil of Iraq, and its endless spillover.Guests:

Amy Jaffe, energy expert and fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute.

Flynt Leverett, former senior director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, former Middle East analyst at the State Department and CIA, he's currently director of the Geopolitics of Energy Initiative at the New America Foundation and author of "Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial by Fire" (2005).

Issam Chalabi, Iraq's minister of oil from 1987 to 1990.

Nathaniel Kern, president of Foreign Reports, a consulting firm providing political analysis for the oil industry.