Politics

Analysis: Iraq’s 2025 election results

Preliminary results paint a picture of the balance of power in the next Parliament and the dynamics likely to shape government formation and the energy sector.

Security guards stand at the entrance to a polling station in Basra on Nov. 11, 2025. (ALI AL-AQILY/Iraq Oil Report)

Oct 29, 2008

Iraq Oil Report must read: Q&A with Iraq oil revenue auditor Joe Christoff

Plus: *Barzani and Bush meet in Washington *SOFA update *Alive in Baghdad: How do Iraqi youths spend their free time? *Iraq Press Roundup *Much more Q & A: Joseph Christoff of the U.S. Government Accountability Office talks with the Council on Foreign Relations’ Greg Bruno about Iraq’s oil revenue. The GAO and Christoff’s analytical reports […]

Oct 28, 2008

Oil for Soil: Crisis Group proposes ‘grand bargain’ on Iraq oil land dispute

Plus: *Iraqi Kurd-central government tension escalates *Iraq limits oil companies to one lead role in oil deals *Former SCOP Chief Khawaja’s recommendations *U.S. threatens Iraq aid and other SOFA developments *Basra worker protest *Iraq Press Roundup *Much more Oil for Soil: the International Crisis Group is proposing what its calling a "grand bargain" to head […]

Oct 27, 2008

Maliki, oil and gas committee to meet on Iraq oil law

Draft version received in Parliament Sunday, kicked back to council of ministers for legal clarification Plus: *Japan envoy meets on Iraq oil *Chinese team expected in November *Industry Ministry workers demand pay promise *Reaction to U.S. attack on Syria-Iraq border *KBR accused of sticking U.S. taxpayers, shocking American workers in Iraq *Fallujah sewage project at […]

Oct 23, 2008

Iraq oil not part of OPEC cuts

Iraq not bound by quota; struggling to reverse decline Plus: *Walid Khadduri on the return of Big Oil to Iraq *Iraq presidency council gives oil smuggling law OK *SOFA Update: English text and analysis *Labor Minister target of suicide bomb *Iraqis suffer for lack of basic services *The Mahdi Army bides its time *Much more […]

Sep 19, 2008

State Dept. says Iraq oil trust fund bill could derail revenue sharing and oil laws

Plus: *Oil Minister Shahristani blames KRG oil deals for oil law delay *Top two on Parliament energy committee dispute oil issues *Former South Oil Co. head made official ministry adviser *Parliament sends electricity crisis to special committee *Kurdish MPs want Iraq-U.S. draft deal altered, fearing attack *Elections law debate postponed *Ethnic tensions expanded, explained *Much […]

Sep 17, 2008

U.S. Senators push for Iraq oil trust fund

Plus: *Parliament held up on election law *Voter registration low *Alive in Baghdad: Getting to School in Iraq The Bush administration would press the Iraqi government to adopt an oil trust fund for distributing revenue or risk economic assistance under a bill proposed by Sens. Hillary Clinton and John Ensign, Ben Lando reports for United […]

Aug 24, 2008

Even Obama needs more than Biden to make sense of Iraqi oil deals

Barack Obama’s approach to Iraq is strikingly similar to that of the Bush administration and John McCain. In theory, the addition of Joe Biden to Obama’s ticket could change this, but over the last weeks and months there have been interesting moves by Biden to remove most traces of his "Iraq plans" from the public […]

Aug 5, 2008

Iraq hoarding oil profits?

The soaring price of oil will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion by year’s end an American federal oversight agency has concluded in an analysis released on Tuesday. The unspent windfall, writes James Glanz for The New York Times, from oil sales from 2005 through 2008, […]

Aug 3, 2008

Kucinich enters Iraqi oil fray

The Oil for Iraq Liberation bill, introduced by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, will prevent U.S. based oil companies from development of and investment in petroleum resources of Iraq. "Recently we have seen evidence of a concerted effort to pressure the Iraqi government into privatizing Iraqi oil fields against the will of its citizens. We have […]

Jul 29, 2008

Neocon, Perle exploring Iraqi oil business

Influential former Pentagon official Richard Perle has been exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan, write Susan Schmidt and Glenn R. Simpson for The Wall Street Journal. Perle, one of a group of security experts who began pushing the case for toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein about a decade ago, has been […]