Iraq oil: between the centre and the region

By Tariq Shafiq in the Middle East Economic Survey

No doubt many Iraqis have been following the recent declaration of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG’s) Minister of Natural Resources, Ashti Hawrami, published in the Iraq Oil Report of 14 May concerning the Iraqi government’s agreement to allow the export of oil produced by international oil companies (IOCs) under the sole jurisdiction of the KRG, based on contracts which the Iraqi central Ministry of Oil considers illegal and over which Mr Hawrami also chose to attack Iraq´s Minister of Oil, Husain al-Shahristani.