Top Energy Stories

Iraqi crude production ticked upward in April. Nationwide output averaged 4.09 million barrels per day (bpd), up slightly from March. Fields controlled by the federal government produced about 3.62 million bpd, while the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) produced about 469,000 bpd, according to an Iraq Oil Report analysis based on data gathered independently from every producing field. For more details on OPEC dynamics and the spare Iraqi capacity waiting to come back online, read the full story on Iraq Oil Report.

Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is taking new steps towards reducing the environmentally disastrous practice of gas flaring. The latest sign of progress is the impending completion of a power plant that will be fueled by associated gas from the Sarqala oil field. The 165-megawatt plant, built by British company Aggreko in Garmian, in the southeast of the Kurdistan region, was connected to the power grid on May 1. For more details on the project and other developments in the KRG's gas sector, read the full story on Iraq Oil Report.

Dhi Qar's new governor inherited an array of crises afflicting both residents of the province and the oil sector. A shut-in by job seeking protestors at the Dhi Qar refinery has led to fuel shortages, while protests have continued at other facilities, including offices of the state-run Dhi Qar Oil Company (DQOC), which manages oil fields in the province, as well as the Oil Products Distribution Company (OPDC) and an Oil Pipelines Company depot. In one of his first interviews with English-language media since taking office, Gov. Ahmed al-Khafaji spoke about his efforts to end the refinery sit-in by providing jobs, his aspirations for attracting private-sector investment, and the relentless crises his province is confronting. "Honestly," he said, "since my first days [on the job], I have been working on dealing with emergency issues." Read the full transcript on Iraq Oil Report.

Iraq by the Numbers

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National News

The Kurdistan region is drifting toward authoritarianism. Following a series of sham trials of anti-government activists and journalists, Chloe Cornish reports for the Financial Times on a messy reality that stands in contrast to the KRG's carefully curated international image as a bastion of democracy and free expression. One form of speech that is tightly policed is any potent criticism of the ruling Barzani family, especially during moments of political vulnerability. Last year, when the government could not afford to pay civil servant salaries and the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was facing outcry even in its historic strongholds, the government arrested five journalists and activists who had spoken out against the party. Their day in court was marred from the start by a presumption of guilt. Before the trial, KRG Prime Minister Masrur Barzani publicly accused the defendants of being spies. The proceedings were condemned by Human Rights Watch for "violations of fair trial standards as well as high-level political interference." The trial has put a "spotlight on the authoritarian drift of a quasi-state dominated by two families," writes Cornish. The KRG has said the trial was fair and the judiciary is independent.

Journalists and activists are facing deadly threats in Baghdad and throughout southern Iraq. Many have been assassinated by paramilitary groups as they walk the streets or drive home at night, according to Louisa Loveluck and Mustafa Salim, reporting for the Washington Post. In one recent incident that was caught on video, activist Ehab al-Wazni was shot dead in his car by a gunman in Karbala. The next day, the journalist Ahmed Hasan survived bullet wounds to the head and shoulder. An activist in Karbala said, "It’s a message to us all... no matter what we do, the situation will always remain the same. Those death squads will always be in power." The violence threatens to undermine the integrity of Iraq's national elections, which are scheduled to be held this October. Many of the entrenched political parties are associated with armed groups that are actively targeting activists who might otherwise seek office as reform-minded candidates looking to overhaul the political system and improve the rule of law.

Lockheed Martin is withdrawing its maintenance crews from Iraq. The company is contracted to take care of Iraq’s ailing fleet of F-16 fighter jets, but it said Monday that its staff would be pulling out, following repeated attacks by Iranian proxy groups on the Balad airbase. This is not the first time such attacks have forced Lockheed to leave, but the company rarely makes such decisions public. For the New York Times, Jane Arraf writes that the decision to leave Balad is expected to ground the few remaining F-16s that were combat-ready. Lockheed cited employee safety as "top priority." The move is unlikely to affect Iraq's military capacity much, since the fleet was already in such a state of disrepair that the U.S.-led coalition removed the Iraqi jets from coalition tasking orders. Many Iraqi officials have denied or obfuscated the problems with the F-16 program because it has fed an ecosystem of corruption at Balad, which Iraq Oil Report documented in an investigation last year.

Iraq is putting in place a new nightly curfew. The plan had been to impose a full lockdown for 10 days, aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, but those plans have been downgraded, according to Layal Shakir, reporting for Rudaw English. The nightly curfew will be in place from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m., according to a statement from the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. Shops, restaurants, cafes and malls will re-open after Eid, but swimming pools, cinemas and massage centers will remain closed. Shisha smoking is also banned, as is travel between provinces, said the statement. Government institutions will close between May 17 and May 20, said the statement.

Former interpreters for the British military are fearing for their lives. Reporting for the Independent, Bel Trew interviews former translators who worked for the British from 2018 until 2020 at Camp Taji, 40 kilometers north of Baghdad. They told Trew that personal information given to the British was shared with Iraqi security forces, and has now ended up in the hands of Iran-backed paramilitary groups that regularly threaten to kill Iraqis working with foreign forces. Coalition forces across Iraq are increasingly coming under militia rocket attacks, and calls become ever louder for foreign troops to leave, adding to the fears of the former interpreters. There are still around 1,400 UK military and civilian personnel in Iraq as part of the anti-IS operations.

Did the PUK participate in the assassination of Qassim Soleimani? In a cinematic account of the events leading up to the January 2020 drone strike, published by Yahoo News, Jack Murphy and Zach Dorfman report that the Counter-Terrorism Group, which is affiliated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) political party, played a critical role, as a CTG agent disguised as a baggage handler allegedly helped identify Soleimani at the Baghdad airport. The story also describes how, in the moments leading up to the killing, a Delta Force sniper live-streamed images from a spotting scope back to the U.S. embassy. The PUK has denied any involvement in the operation.

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