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Oil Minister Ihsan Ismaael gave an in-depth interview to Iraq Oil Report this week. Speaking with Lizzie Porter at the Oil Ministry headquarters in Baghdad, Ismaael discussed a wide range of topics. One of the ministry's biggest strategic priorities is capturing more associated gas that is generated as a byproduct of crude oil production, much of which is currently burned as waste instead of being monetized and used. Ismaael gave updates on negotiations with prospective investors over the Ratawi gas hub, which would process gas generated at several Basra oil fields. Dry gas fields are a priority, too. The minister expressed optimism about finding investors for Mansuriya and Akkas, where a decade's worth of development efforts have been consistently delayed by security dynamics. And Ismaael addressed several energy-related issues he is navigating with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), including the equitable distribution of OPEC cuts, the shape of the 2021 national budget, and a lapsed commercial deal to refine federally produced crude in a KRG refinery. Read the full transcript on Iraq Oil Report.

Can Iraq's upcoming elections offer any real path to change? One key demand of the October 2019 protest movement was a revised electoral law that might give independent candidates a better shot against entrenched political elites. But now that the law has been amended, activists are encountering major obstacles as they try to take their agendas from the protest square to the ballot box. Reporting for Reuters, Amina Ismail and Charlotte Bruneau profile activists in Nassiriya who are trying to enter the political system they once condemned as fundamentally corrupt. Hussein al-Ghorabi fled Nassiriya four months ago when he was threatened by an armed group. Now, he wants his Beit Watani (National Home) party to oppose sectarian power sharing and corruption. But Muhannad al-Mansouri, a 34-year-old activist who also fled the city, fears any attempts by activists to participate in elections scheduled for October will be thwarted. The biggest concern is paramilitary groups that the government has failed to control. Not only were hundreds of protesters killed during anti-government uprisings at the end of 2019, but several activists have been kidnapped or assassinated in recent months, and activists like Ghorabi have been forced to flee for their safety. "We face the threat of weapons and militias," Mansouri said. "How can we freely take part in elections in these conditions?"

One prong of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's strategy for confronting armed groups has focused on border crossings. By establishing a stronger presence of conventional security forces at border points, Kadhimi is seeking to reduce the ability of rogue actors to siphon customs revenue and import weapons. "Guns, ammunitions and rockets used to pass through the border crossings," said Omar al-Waeli, the government's top border and ports official, in an interview with Shelley Kittleson for Al-Monitor. "The situation has vastly improved since then." Kittleson reports from the Trebil border crossing with Jordan, the Al Qaim crossing with Syria in Anbar, and the Zerbatiya crossing with Iran in Wasit province, where she finds that anti-corruption measures have improved coordination and increased customs revenues collection.

How To Transport Personnel in a Pandemic

A message from FronteraSky:

IOCs and oil service companies need smart, integrated transportation and logistics support now more than ever. FronteraSky has years of experience operating in Iraq, offering a full range of transportation services:

• immigration services;
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• arranging private air transport and charter flights;
• managing every step of covid-19 compliance, from safe
  quarantine to testing;
• medical evacuations.

Whether you are flying to Baghdad, Erbil, Basra, or military installations in Iraq, FronteraSky will make transportation efficient, comfortable, and safe. To learn more about how they can help you, e-mail them at info@fronterasky.com.

And to hear directly from FronteraSky President Carlos Barbosa, read his interview with Iraq Oil Report.

More National News

The U.S. military has reduced its troop presence by half. Following through on plans made by the Trump administration, the latest withdrawals leave about 2,500 American soldiers in Iraq, according to John Davison and Ahmed Rasheed, reporting for Reuters. It's not clear how that might change under President Joe Biden. A Pentagon official told Reuters that the Biden administration is conducting a review of troop numbers and positions, including in Iraq. The U.S. troop presence has been a lightning rod for anti-American sentiment, especially since former President Trump ordered the assassination of Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis on Iraqi soil in January 2020. But even some once-skeptical Iraqis now say the U.S. military is helpful. The Reuters report highlights the perspective of Abu Arkan Ibrahim, a man who fought against the Americans in Fallujah in 2003, but now says U.S. troops in recent years have helped to suppress remaining IS fighters and rein in Iran-backed militias. Given the alternatives, Ibrahim said, he would like the U.S. military to stick around. The IS group still has thousands of fighters waging a guerrilla-style insurgency, and in December the U.S.-led coalition carried out 10 strikes against militant targets in Iraq. U.S. troops still make up the bulk of the anti-IS coalition; other countries are contributing about 900 troops.

The U.S. should seek to rebuild its influence in Iraq from the ground up. In an essay for War on the Rocks, Raad Alkadiri and Christine van den Toorn observe that the Trump administration's actions in Iraq, which were strategically oriented around putting pressure on Iran, have eroded U.S. credibility in Baghdad. "Flying officials in with lists of demands and then flying them out again smacks of a lack of commitment, and Iraqi leaders will not take Washington’s views seriously," they write. To turn things around, the authors suggest the Biden administration should not just frame its relationship with Iraq around security cooperation or countering Iran. Rather, the U.S. can help stabilize the Iraqi economy with technical assistance towards structural reforms, and help the country make sure that elections this October are free and fair.

Iraq should hold its security forces accountable for rights abuses. Writing for the New Arab, Belkis Wille describes a 2018 visit to the Ishaqi camp for internally displaced persons, which was run by paramilitary groups operating under the government's al-Hashid al-Shabi (Popular Mobilization) program. A researcher for Human Rights Watch, Wille was inundated by women listing the names of men who were missing and presumed killed. A few weeks ago, near the site of that camp, authorities discovered a mass grave including the remains of more than 50 people, including children as young as eight to 10 years old. Wille argues that UN-mandated international justice is lopsided if it only focuses on crimes committed by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) militant group and not on Iraq's state-sanctioned security forces.

Oil Companies Face New Regulatory Hurdles

A message from New Frontiers:

International oil companies, oil service companies, and other contractors in Iraq face a major new compliance challenge. The oil sector has long enjoyed a de facto exemption from some Iraqi regulations, including Ministry of Labor requirements associated with social security and work permits. But in September 2020, the government started enforcing the rules on foreign oil contractors. If they don't comply, companies risk severe consequences — including payment delays, visa problems, and exclusion from tenders.

To learn more about these latest challenges, Iraq Oil Report spoke with Steve Rahola and Mustafa al-Janabi, two key leaders of New Frontiers Business Consulting. For more than a decade, New Frontiers — which is also known by its Kurdish-language name, Asteki Nwe — has been on the ground navigating Iraq's bureaucracy, gaining the experience and relationships necessary to help foreign companies. Read the full interview here.

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