Iraqi oil: Violence, wrapped in mayhem, inside chaos

The situation in Iraq is bad, really bad!

And the instability and violence is negatively affecting the oil industry.

Iraq cannot increase its production or expand its capacity since its oil infrastructure has been hobbled by crime and sabotage. Northern Iraq is rich in oil, but exports via a pipeline through Turkey have been effectively halted for years.
To make matters worse, Iraqi legislation to set ground rules for the country’s oil policy has stalled. “It looks like everything is stalling regarding the constitution and other legislations, like the Iraqi oil,” Muhammad-Ali Zainy, senior energy economist and analyst with the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London, told New Europe on June 13.

A former Iraqi government oil official, Zainy, blamed the problems in legislation on disagreements between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government over the oil law. The dispute is over the oil wealth of the country. According to the law, the Iraqi National Oil Company should be revived and be given several oil fields to secure its existence.

New Europe News