Top Energy Stories

Iraq's Oil Ministry is threatening to take aggressive international legal action to stop the Kurdistan region from continuing to export crude oil independently of Baghdad. In a letter sent to oil traders and other crude buyers dated Aug. 23, which was obtained by Iraq Oil Report, Alaa al-Yassiri, the head of Iraq's federal oil marketing company (SOMO), warns that Iraq is planning to take "firm legal action... against all parties involved, in order to block loadings of those unlawful cargoes originating from Iraq including but not limited to those from Kurdistan Region." The threats appear to signal the Oil Ministry's return to the hawkish enforcement posture it took in 2014, when it filed lawsuits and made legal threats that blocked tankers from delivering KRG crude cargoes to foreign ports, in one case causing a fully laden ship to wait at sea for six months and ultimately preventing KRG oil sales to the U.S. For more details on the legal threats and Kurdistan's response, read the full story on Iraq Oil Report.

The Kurdistan region's Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) has initiated an appeal of a Baghdad court's July decision to invalidate four contracts with international oil companies — a move that could delay any attempted enforcement action by the Oil Ministry. In a hearing on Aug. 21, Judge Mohammed Ali Mahmoud Nadeem of the Karkh Commercial Court in Baghdad confirmed that the four defendants — Norway's DNO, UK-listed Genel Energy, Canada's Western Zagros, and U.S. firm HKN — had been sent summonses to appear at an appellate hearing. Lawyers for the MNR were apparently able to initiate the appeal on behalf of the defendants even though the four companies have avoided showing up in court in any formal capacity. Read the full story on Iraq Oil Report.

Iraq has ambitions to improve electricity supply using solar power, but those plans are being delayed by disputes over payment terms, inexperience among senior officials in dealing with solar agreements, and Baghdad's political deadlock. While many projects have been announced and awarded, Iraq has not yet signed finalized power purchase contracts with any international solar power firms — raising doubts about the government's ability to meet its goal of generating up to 12 GW of electricity from solar power by 2030.“Up until now, no power purchase contract has been signed," said Ammar Kadhim, director general for planning at the Electricity Ministry. “Because it’s a new experience, the discussions have taken a long time – longer than was expected." Read the full story on Iraq Oil Report.

National News

Sadr's supporters again call for judiciary to suspend Parliament, by AFP:

Populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's camp on Friday refiled a petition for Iraq's judiciary to suspend parliament to clear the way for fresh elections amid a months-long political deadlock.

A source within the judiciary said it would give its response on Tuesday to the second such motion within a month submitted by the Sadrists.

... The judiciary already said last Sunday that it lacks the authority to dissolve parliament as demanded by Sadr, who is engaged in a standoff with Shiite political rivals.

Followers of Sadr, in defiance of the rival pro-Iran Coordination Framework, have for weeks been staging a sit-in outside Iraq's parliament, after initially storming the legislature's interior.

On Tuesday, the Sadrists also pitched tents outside the gates of the judicial body's headquarters in Baghdad for several hours.

The judiciary, in its ruling on Sunday, said "the Supreme Judicial Council has no jurisdiction to dissolve parliament", citing "the principle of a separation of powers."

Guns and troops pile into Baghdad's Green Zone as threat of violence looms, by Suadad al-Salhy for Middle East Eye:

As the Iraqi public nervously watched the Sadrists withdrawing [from the Supreme Judicial Council headquarters] on TV and social media, the commanders of the Popular Mobilisation Authority (PMA), a governmental paramilitary umbrella group that includes Sadr's Iran-backed rivals, met in Baghdad.

... Several moves were agreed upon in the meeting. The commanders decided to raise the readiness of the PMA's forces in the Green Zone, adding an additional 6,000-8,000 troops to the troops already deployed in and around the district.

... "At the beginning, our decision was not to interfere," said a senior PMA official. He told MEE that members of Sadr's armed faction were among the protesters at the judiciary.

"Sadr's use of Saraya al-Salam fighters to besiege the building of the Supreme Judicial Council and threaten the judges of the Federal Court with physical termination forced us to take a different position," he said.

U.S. service members in Syria suffer "minor injuries" in attack on bases, by Louisa Loveluck, Sarah Dadouch, Rachel Pannett and Erin Cunningham for the Washington Post:

Three U.S. service members suffered minor injuries on Wednesday when Iran-backed militants fired rockets at two military bases in northeast Syria, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

U.S. forces responded with attack helicopters, the statement said, destroying three vehicles and equipment used to launch some of the rockets. It said initial assessments indicated that two or three suspected militants were also killed.

The attacks on the bases in Deir al-Zour province took place Wednesday night, the military said, and came just one day after U.S. forces conducted airstrikes in Syria targeting infrastructure used by groups with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

... The tit-for-tat escalation between U.S. forces and Iran-aligned groups could threaten negotiations to salvage the nuclear deal with Tehran — an agreement President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018.

“The United States does not seek conflict with Iran, but we will continue to take the measures necessary to protect and defend our people,” Centcom said in its statement Wednesday.

Commentary and Analysis

Vote to nowhere: why Iraq doesn't need another snap election, by Hamzeh Hadad for the European Council on Foreign Relations:

Sadr has attempted to strongarm the judiciary into dissolving parliament, to no avail. And he seems to regret forcing the MPs he controls to resign. He now aims to regain his parliamentary power while appearing to have made revolutionary changes to the political system. Therefore, another snap election would come in response to his machinations rather than more organic protests of the kind that led to the 2021 vote.

... Sadr’s strategy involved pitching his revolutionary rhetoric to resonate with Iraqi Shias during the Ashura procession. He hoped to initiate and control a protest movement similar to the one that led to last year’s election. But the attempt has failed because most Iraqis are aware of the ways in which Sadr and his unruly followers use corruption and violence to achieve their political goals. Sadr was left in a position where he claimed to speak on behalf of ordinary Iraqis but, in reality, was just one more powerful figure stripping away the legitimacy of the state in an attempt to become Iraq’s top Shia political leader.

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