Hummer H2

Iraq has 115bbn of known oil reserves.

That's five times as much as the US has. It's also the least explored of the major oil regions due to a multitude of facts, but mainly geo-political issues. Iraq is about the same geographical size as California. And California is a tad smaller than Texas. There are about 2000 oil wells drilled across Iraq. There are over a million in Texas alone.

Now even with the disparities of what's actually in the ground, size of wells etc, if you look at the facts, the picture of an incredibly undeveloped region is stark. If you extrapolate that out and use all the fancy metrics that Royal Dutch Shell, Heritage Oil, you name it, come up with, there's likely to be anywhere from 200-300bbn of further oil in Iraq. So the US (and the mighty UK) sit on about a quarter of the world's oil. That's like, $30 trillions worth of oil. It's reckoned that the 2003-present invasion has cost $1 trillion. That could figure into a 30 times return on initial investment. Warren Buffett would eat your children for just two times ROI.

Of course OPEC don't help themselves with being economical when it comes to what they really think, and their generally secretive ways. The price also fluctuates. The terror factor, plus associated insurance costs, always plays havoc with black gold on Nymex. In fact in September 2003 oil was at $25 a barrel. August 2005? $60 a barrel. December 2007? $99 a barrel. It sure has dropped off, but as a commodity, it is the one most susceptible to the vagaries of world politics. North Koreans making sub-standard nuclear factories with panel gaps in the concrete that would embarass an early 90's Virage owner will surely give everyone the heebie jeebies, let alone trigger-happy Texans. But there's no amount of soothing piano music Condoleeza Rice could play to assuage 'Dubya', when Israel and Palestine kicked off for the nth time, or a drunk lights a cigarette next to an transport pipe in Nigeria, toasting hundreds of people instantly. Too much going on at the same time (throw in Somalian pirates helping themselves to oil tankers) and the economy pays. So Iraq (back then) had to be invaded. There is oil there. And there looks like there is more than we thought.

I think about this a lot when I see some really lovely cars out and about. I think that when I was a kid that the Vector on my bedroom wall, that one day, I'd have a car like that. And that I work long and hard to get the things I will enjoy. One day.
Fast cars, big cars, expensive cars.....I'd hate to think that the world will change due to a political will to stop people using certain fuels, based on misinformation. When you understand that the use of coal in the UK is making a comeback (yes, that dirty fuel that we tried to kill off as an industry is once again being burnt in volume) due to rising energy prices you do then tend to look at what is the political angle to us to give up oil and embrace 'electrical' change. We're told it's an immediate necessity. That our classic Mustangs and Alfas will have to remain in the garage, museum pieces. And that's that.

Really?

Oh yes. The Hummer H2. The US Environmental Protection Agency has MPG figures for just about every production model that is licensed to be on American roads. But not for the H2. GM were too embarassed to release the figures. Now in London, we don't have big wide expansive areas to tootle around in. We have traffic jams throughout the centre. With this beast I reckon you'll get 7-8mpg. Tops.

Stats: 6.0 litre 325 brake V8, 4-speed Auto. 0-60 in 8.7 seconds.