Top StoriesInsurgents from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) militant group are evolving their tactics and launching increasingly bold attacks, as they continue to exploit chronic security gaps in northern Iraq's disputed territories. In the most recent incident, late Tuesday night, two people were killed and four wounded after militants disguised as Kurdish Asayesh security forces set up a fake checkpoint near the Nasalah village in Garmian — a multi-district administrative area controlled by the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that includes the Gazprom Neft-operated Sarqala oil field. "This area has been very safe, and Daesh elements never reached this area even in 2014," said Haval Ibrahim, a spokesperson for the Garmian administration. "This is the first time such a security problem happened in this area and terrorist elements have dared to set up a fake checkpoint." For more details on the latest attacks and evolving insurgent tactics, read the full story on Iraq Oil Report. Iraq's southern ports are getting a badly needed upgrade, according to Farhan Muhssin al-Fartousi, the director general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI), in an interview with Iraq Oil Report at his Basra office. The Grand Fao port project, which is currently being built by South Korea's Daewoo, will be a major hub of commerce, including six berths for oil products. Work is ongoing. Until that is complete, the Khor al-Zubair port will continue to be used for oil product exports, and capacity is set to increase. Fartousi also discussed tensions between GCPI and Iraq's state-run oil companies over whether new oil-related export infrastructure should be built under a deal with the UK's Petrofac, or whether the GCPI should take responsibility. Read the full interview on Iraq Oil Report. Iraq by the NumbersIraq’s crude oil production surged in August to 4.23 million barrels per day (bpd), the country's highest output since April 2020. Fields under the federal government's control accounted for the month-on-month increase, rising from 3.72 million bpd in July to 3.78 million bpd in August. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which manages its oil sector independently of Baghdad, produced 454,000 bpd in August, down slightly from 459,000 bpd in July. For more details on Iraq's production outlook and OPEC-plus dynamics, read the full story on Iraq Oil Report. 
The Iraq Oil and Financial Dataset gives subscribers hundreds of datapoints covering both federal Iraq and Kurdistan, updated monthly, including:
- Production data gathered independently from every producing field
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Click here for a free sample. More Iraq NewsABNA: Iran oil minister appoints special envoy on Iraq Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji has for the first time appointed a special representative for petroleum issues involving the neighboring Iraq. Owji on Monday appointed Seyyed Abbas Beheshti as his special envoy for Iraq issues while saying in a decree that position was created due to the significance of Iraq in the Iranian government’s policies and decisions. In his appointment decree, Owji said the new envoy would coordinate with the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) and the Central Bank of Iran to accelerate payments of arrears owed by Iraq to Iran.
New York Times: ‘There is chaos’: Iran-backed militias battle activists in Karbala Karbala, the southern Iraqi city whose gold-domed shrines attract Shiite pilgrims from around the world, has become a flash point in Iraq’s internal conflict over the presence of dozens of powerful Iranian-backed militias. Instead of being known mostly as a place for quiet prayer and study, it has become a cauldron of competing armed groups and political interests. The militias, helped by ineffective police and largely futile government efforts to bring the killers of activists to justice, seem to be winning. Nearly every major militia has a presence in Karbala. The protest movement there has largely gone underground, battered by threats, arrests and killings of its leaders.
Reuters: Braving intimidation, hundreds of Iraqi women run for parliament A powerful mix of insecurity and traditional prejudice against more liberal female politicians put Awatef Rasheed off running for parliament when she returned to Iraq in 2014 after years abroad. Seven years later, with Iraq less unstable, Rasheed has decided to contest a Oct. 10 election for the assembly, even if abuse and intimidation of women would-be lawmakers persist. Today, she is one of the 951 women, representing close to 30% of the total number of candidates, running for election to the country's 329-seat Council of Representatives.
CNN: U.S. formally returns Gilgamesh tablet to Iraq U.S. officials on Thursday formally returned the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet to Iraq after the Justice Department had deemed that it "entered the United States contrary to federal law." "The tablet is a treasure to the world. And it will now return to its home," said Stacy White, the acting principal deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, during a Smithsonian Institution repatriation ceremony in Washington, DC. The artifact -- inscribed with a portion of "Gilgamesh," an epic poem considered one of the world's oldest works of literature -- had been purchased by US craft store Hobby Lobby at a 2014 auction. The privately owned arts and crafts retailer, whose president is also the chairman of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, bought the clay tablet for display in the museum from an international auction house for $1,674,000.
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