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New details of KRG oil deals reveal latent risks

Workers measure the pressure at the Central Processing Facility at the Tawke oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. (SEBASTIAN MEYER/Metrography/Iraq Oil Report) When the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) decided to walk away from an oil deal with Baghdad, in June, it gambled that it could generate a more stable revenue stream – and help remedy a crippling financial crisis – by exporting all of its oil independently.But four months later, new details of the KRG’s independent oil exports reveal a tenuous financial situation. While the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) has increased the region’s overall income, it is also accumulating billions … This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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How Climate Change Is Threatening Iraq’s Fragile Security

Iraqi protesters chant slogans as they wave national flags during a demonstration against corruption in Tahrir Square in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, October 16, 2015. In a telling exchange during the first Democratic primary presidential debate earlier this month, the candidates were asked to articulate the greatest threat to US national security. “It’s certainly the chaos in the Middle East,” answered Lincoln Chafee, the former senator and governor of Rhode Island who later dropped out of the race. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders responded to the question by citing the “global crisis of climate change.” Whether you agree with either candidate’s assessment, it’s a mistake to talk about global conflict and climate change without highlighting how the two phenomena are inextricably linked. Extreme weather and resource scarcity exacerbated by climate change are worsening the effects of war, from the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa, with civilians often bearing the brunt of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Cholera spreading in Iraq, suspected case reported in Syria – UN health agency

WHO is mobilizing 510,000doses of oral cholera vaccine to help control the cholera outbreak among high-risk groups. Photo: UN OCHA Iraq 27 October 2015 – The World Health Organization ( WHO ) announced today that it would start vaccine treatments for cholera beginning this weekend to prevent further outbreaks in Iraq, where the disease has now been confirmed in 15 out of 18 governorates, while the agency also reported a suspected case was also found in northern Syria. WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told the regular press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, that the latest laboratory tests had confirmed 1,942 cases and two deaths in 15 out of 18 governorates in Iraq. “On 31 October, WHO will begin, in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, the oral cholera vaccine treatment, and will use 510,000 of the global stock pile to ensure that 255,000 internally displaced persons and refugees in the affected […]

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Who Really Controls Iraq? Inside Iran’s Powerful Proxy Armies

When social media began to light up with pictures of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani rallying Shiite militiamen and Hezbollah soldiers ahead of Russia and Iran’s joint effort to retake the city of Aleppo, some wondered where all of these fighters came from. After all, even though the IRGC has now all but admitted it sent soldiers to Syria for the offensive, it wasn’t as if the entire Iranian army marched in overnight and if you believe the reports from the frontlines, the ground force marching on Syria’s largest city looks quite a bit different from the depleted SAA which was all but decimated just two months ago. Those who have frequented these pages lately know exactly where those troops came from. Some are Hezbollah fighters and the rest were ordered to the Syrian frontlines from Iraq by Soleimani himself. We predicted this would happen months ago and now […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kurds pay out for oil exports

British company Genel Energy announced it received a payment from the Kurdish government for oil exports through Turkey. File photo by Mohammed al Jumaily/UPI LONDON, Oct. 20 (UPI) — British energy company Genel Energy became the latest company working in the Kurdish north of Iraq to announce government payments for exports. Genel, which operates in the Taq Taq oil field in northern Iraq, announced it received a $16.5 million payment from the Kurdish government for exports through a pipeline running north to Turkey. The Kurdish government in Iraq in early August announced it would allocate some of its revenue to international oil companies on a monthly basis to help cover their expenses. The Kurdish north hosts some of the larger oil fields in Iraq and while the Kurdish government said crude oil exports are its principle source of revenue, it said it recognized energy companies operating in the region […]

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BP, China’s CNPC to unveil oil alliance: sources

A BP logo is seen at a petrol station in London January 15, 2015. BP Plc and China’s CNPC [CNPET.UL] will next week unveil a strategic alliance to develop oil resources in Iraq and other regions, industry sources said on Friday. The deal, one of several high profile deals to be signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to London, will aim to bolster cooperation between the two companies in Iraq, where they are developing the giant Rumaila oilfield. Rumaila, in southern Iraq, is the world’s second largest oilfield and produced 1.34 million barrels per day in 2014, according to BP’s website. The two companies will also seek to expand into new joint ventures in other parts of the world, according to the sources. No clear production or investment targets are expected to be included in the deal, they said. State-owned China National Petroleum Corp is Asia’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kurdistan Oil Payment Raises Hopes for Western Energy Companies

The $12 million payment to Gulf Keystone comes amid greater optimism about the semiautonomous Kurdish government’s ability to pay oil companies , which say they are owed over $1 billion for crude exports from the region. Kurdistan has failed to pay the companies as it wages an expensive fight with Islamic State and is struggling to pay its own government workers. Adding to the woes, oil prices are down by more than half in the past 15 months and Kurdistan is arguing with Baghdad over oil sales. But the increase of oil exports in recent months and the KRG’s independent sales from the Ceyhan oil terminal in Turkey have raised enough revenue for the government to cover its domestic budget as well as pay the oil companies, said Tony Hayward , the chairman of Genel Energy GENL 5.39 % PLC, the largest international oil producer in the region, and […]

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Kurdish Oil Producers Rally as Gulf Keystone Receives Payment

Oil producers operating in the Kurdish area of Iraq rallied Thursday after Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. received its second payment from the regional government for crude exports. The Kurdistan Regional Government paid Gulf Keystone $15 million for exports of crude from the Shaikan field this month, the company said in a statement Thursday. Its shares advanced as much as 13 percent, while fellow producers in the region DNO ASA and Genel Energy Plc gained as much as 9.8 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively. “This October 2015 payment follows a similar payment in September,” Gulf Keystone said. It’s in line with pledges from the KRG to resume regularl compensation to international oil companies for exports from the region, it said. Oil producers in the semi-autonomous region are receiving the first scheduled compensation this year after getting caught in a dispute over revenue sharing between authorities in the northern Kurdish enclave […]

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IEA Expects Iraqi Oil Output to Remain `Broadly Flat’ Next Year

Oil production from Iraq, the world’s fastest source of supply growth last quarter, will remain similar to current levels next year as the slump in crude prices and the cost of fighting Islamic State militants hamper the government’s ability to invest in new capacity, the International Energy Agency said. Volumes are expected to stay at about 4.2 million barrels a day, matching third-quarter output, the IEA said in its monthly report. While the country has “performed better than many had anticipated,” there are signs of strain, the agency said. Iraq, the biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia, pumped a record 4.4 million barrels a day in June, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Output last quarter rose by a third from a year earlier, the world’s fastest supply growth, according to the IEA. “Oil’s collapse and Iraq’s severe financial crisis have forced the […]

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KRG ruling party ejects rivals, escalating political crisis

Riot police rush to confront protestors in downtown Kalar on Oct. 10, 2015. (AREZ MOHAMMED/Iraq Oil Report) ERBIL – The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) ruling party has begun using its control of security forces to unilaterally expel its most potent political rivals from government – dramatically destabilizing a region already roiled by war, economic crisis, and popular discontent. Security forces answering to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani, who continues acting as president after the expiration of his term on Aug. 19, prevented KRG Parliament Speaker Yousif Mohammed, a member of the rival Gorran party, from passing a checkpoint into the Kurdish capital of Erbil on Monday. KDP-aligned forces also barred Gorran ministers from entering government offices. "An effort has been orchestrated as a military coup d’état against the Parliament, a legitimate institution," Mohammed said. KDP leaders said they were reacting to a series of arson attacks […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple