4th bid round delayed, Exxon still qualified

Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi (r) talks to reporters at the 159th meeting of the OPEC Conference in Vienna on June 8, 2011. Iraq's planned production increase and upcoming exploration blocks bidding round will challenge Saudi Arabia for primacy of the cartel. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)

The fourth bidding round is now scheduled for May 30-31, as the model contract evolves and IOCs get time to respond.

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    Gas fuels Kurdistan's power politics

    Iraq's Kurdish region is meeting nearly all its power needs by investing in natural gas fields – and, in a strategic calculation, it's willing to share.

  • DNO workers at the Tawke oil field in May 2010. The field is exporting as much as 70,000 bpd, but is curtailed by a political dispute over the legality of DNO's deal with the KRG.(BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report)

    Oil law struggles for daylight

    Parliament committee could press for formal validation of existing oil deals with Baghdad and KRG, but efforts are being overshadowed by political crisis.

Exxon deal stokes territorial disputes

An Iraqi soldier (R) and a Kurdish peshm

ExxonMobil risks violent reprisals because its controversial deals with the Kurdistan region are inflaming Iraq's internal territorial disputes, according to Iraqi leaders.

Energy

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Cabinet approves Shell gas deal

Basra flares

A final signing could come as early as next week, after Iraq's Cabinet approved Shell's deal to capture billions of dollars' worth of associated gas that is currently flared in Basra.

Business

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Iraq talks tough with Exxon

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani, then Oil Minister at the Jan. 25, 2010, signing ceremony for West Qurna 1 with executives from ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell. (BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report)

As negotiations with Exxon begin, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani said the Iraqi government won't condone contracts signed with Kurdistan.

Interviews

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Q&A: Barham Salih

Barham Salih, prime minister of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government, in his office in Erbil. (BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report)

Shortly after signing watershed deals with ExxonMobil, the KRG's prime minister discusses the resource curse, the U.S. withdrawal, and the future of Kurdistan's oil sector.