Iraq seeks backup export options as Basra loadings falter

Cabinet orders emergency package for boosting oil sales after dropping to a multi-decade low in May.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi (center right), Oil Minister Bassim Mohammed Khudair (far left), and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein (second from left) confer at a Cabinet meeting in Baghdad on June 2, 2026. (Photo credit: Oil Ministry)

Energy

Iraq begins oil leadership reshuffle, including major corruption arrest

As a new government takes power, high-level political shifts are starting to filter down through the leadership ranks of Iraq's oil sector.

Politics

Analysis: Worsening internal rivalries weaken KRG at key political juncture

Conflict between the KDP and PUK has driven dysfunction in Erbil and weakened Kurdish influence in Baghdad as a new government takes power.

Security

Akkas gas field falters despite increasing power needs

Even as wartime supply disruptions push Iraq toward a summertime electricity crisis, the Akkas gas field is producing at a fraction of its potential.

Interviews

Q&A: Bassim Mohammed Khudair, Deputy Oil Minister for Upstream

Iraq's top upstream oil official confirms that production, curtailed by war, is ready to surge back online — but only once ships can reliably resume Basra Gulf export loadings.