Iraq’s Oil Politics: Where Agreement Might Be Found

In Iraq, oil contracting and revenue sharing are not simply technical or commercial matters but rather proxies for differing conceptions among Iraq’s communities of the country and their place within it.

Oil revenues account for over 95 percent of Iraq’s national budget, and in a state with a limited private sector, this means that how the country’s enormous oil bounty is handled has the potential to affect virtually all aspects of life.