Iraq's Oil Minister is bullish on the country's production targets setting another record this year.
Newly released official data for January and February show reduced federal oil sales – more evidence of Iraq's efforts to comply with an OPEC quota agreement.
"Black Force" special police left key energy sites in Kirkuk, but the political tensions that produced the dramatic showdown remain unresolved.
The prospective 300,000 bpd facility, located in the Fao area, would produce fuels for export - a proposition that could pique investor interest.
"Black Force" special police took over the North Gas Company headquarters Sunday, and continue to occupy the IT-1 station, as tensions over Kirkuk energy resources escalate.
The "Black Force" special police unit of the PUK party briefly took over Kirkuk's IT-1 facility - a sign of deteriorating intra-Kurdish political rivalries.
Oil sales are down by about 5 percent since January, as Iraq cuts production to comply with an OPEC agreement and diverts some crude flows to domestic refineries.
On the Mosul outskirts, the IS group's Iraqi oil refining hub – recently seized by Iraqi forces – shows how the militants used savvy management to fuel their killing machine.
At a checkpoint outside one of Iraq's largest refineries, canine units catch suspected IS operatives driving a tanker truck.
In a sign that Kurdistan's oil sector is shedding some of its legal and political risk, KRG crude will now supply the refineries of Russia's largest oil company.
