With the announcement last week that the president of Russian state oil proxy Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, met one-to-one with Iraq’s Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, and its Oil Minister, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail, to discuss further co-operation, it appears that Iraq’s long-standing game of playing the U.S. and Russia off against each other in return for economy-sustaining financing may finally be drawing to a close. “Russia wants a firm commitment and it’s tired of waiting,” a senior oil and gas industry source who works closely with Iraq’s Oil Ministry told OilPrice.com last week. Iraq’s game with the U.S. ever since the superpower toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 has been to pretend that it would co-operate fully with the Washington’s plan to use Iraq not just for oil supplies but also as a base from which to further consolidate its power in the Middle East, as it was back then. Iraq, […]