Baghdad has begun implementing a three-month deal to enable payments for Kurdistan's civil servants, prompting political backlash.
Recent meetings show renewed efforts to set terms for reopening the export pipeline, but top-level political approval is hardly assured.
Iraq's natural waterways have little spare supply for oil fields that need more water injection to sustain reservoir pressure and hit higher production targets.
Fields in Kurdistan are raising production and selling into the local market, as output increases despite the ongoing northern pipeline closure.
Three monthly loans of $538 million promise temporary relief to pay civil servant salaries, but unresolved questions loom for Kurdistan's oil industry.
Fayadh Nema and Falah Alamri have deep relationships in the Oil Ministry and decades of experience with hot-button energy issues.
Baghdad takes a hard line against budget transfers to KRG as negotiations falter, prompting civil servant strikes and imminent protests.
High-level diplomacy has failed to make progress, and a recent U.S. legal filing from Turkey suggests a new phase of adversarial action.
Iraq is pushing the limits of its outdated southern export infrastructure as a dispute with Turkey is keeping the northern pipeline system offline.
One of Iraq's most prolific oil fields can only meet production targets if it can secure additional supplies of water to inject into reservoirs.
