Energy

Iraqi wartime production cuts reach 3.6 million bpd

Iraq is navigating acute logistical and infrastructure challenges to maximize refinery consumption and exports while the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

Workers from the state-run Iraqi Drilling Company (IDC) work on a well at the West Qurna 1 field in Basra in March 2026. (Photo credit: IDC)

Jul 22, 2008

Kirkuk oil exports resume following debt payment to Turkey

Turkey restarted loadings of halted Iraqi oil exports on Tuesday after Iraq paid $50 million of a total $100 million debt, a senior source from the state pipeline company Botas told Reuters. An Iraq oil ministry official had said earlier Iraq's Kirkuk oil exports to Turkey had been halted after a Turkish court ordered the […]

Jul 20, 2008

Refinery back up in Iraq’s Anbar province, yet oil is “finished”

"Iraq has many underexplored and underexploited fields, but who can tell what's going to be happening with Iraq?" said Paul Sullivan, economics professor at the National Defence University in Washington, DC. The remark was made in a recent discussion on energy, security and development at the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan. […]

Jul 17, 2008

Iraq limits no-bid oil contracts to one year

The Iraqi government is planning to limit no-bid contracts being negotiated with several major oil companies to one year to avoid overlap with longer-term deals expected to be signed next June, the Associated Press reported. The no-bid contracts have sparked controversy because several major Western firms have been involved in the discussions. There are concerns […]

Jul 10, 2008

Iraqi oil ministry schedules major energy conference

Reuters reported that the Iraqi Oil Ministry said the country will hold a major oil and gas conference in October to allow foreign oil firms to get a better understanding of the country's energy potential. The Oct 17-19 energy conference and exhibition will be the first event of its type in Iraq since the U.S.-led […]

Jul 8, 2008

Chomsky speaks on Iraqi oil

The deal just taking shape between Iraq's Oil Ministry and four Western oil companies raises critical questions about the nature of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq — questions that should certainly be addressed by presidential candidates and seriously discussed in the United States, and of course in occupied Iraq, where it appears that […]

Jul 6, 2008

Iraqi oil … on both sides of the pond

Here's a thought experiment from The Wall Street Journal: Assume that Iraq's democratic government declared it was nationalizing its oil industry, a la Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, while excluding American companies from the country. How do you think U.S. politicians would react? With angry cries of "ingratitude" and "this is what Americans died for"? Of […]

Jul 3, 2008

Iraq oil deals raise questions

Bush administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with close ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the regional Kurdistan government that ran counter to American policy and undercut Iraq’s central government, a Congressional committee has The conclusions were based on e-mail messages and other documents that the committee […]

Jul 1, 2008

Iraqi oil: Deal or no deal?

"The United States was not involved in any decisions to award contracts, to make determinations of what kinds of contracts would be offered, to provide advice over what kinds of contracts would be offered. These are technical experts that we have working in the Iraqi Oil Ministry, who are similar to the technical experts we […]

Jun 25, 2008

Iraq oil deals in the north have wildcatters optimistic

Plus: *Korea National Oil Corp. gets two new Iraq Kurd deals *and made third parties to two existing deals *Chinese and Turkish firms added to Baghdad deals named It could be the new age for wildcatters, or just the new age of Iraqi oil development, but the monthly gathering of operators in Iraq's Kurdistan region […]

Jun 23, 2008

Iraq oil deals in Baghdad talks as KRG signs with Talisman

Iraq's Kurdish government has signed two oil deals with Canada's Talisman Energy as meetings begin in Baghdad over controversial oil issues, Ben Lando reports for United Press International. Calgary-based Talisman now has a 40 percent interest in the project operated by WesternZagros, the subsidiary spun off from Marathon. The production sharing contracts the Kurdistan Regional […]