Iraq, the IMF and the Oil Dilemma

The International Monetary Fund announced in July that it has approved a three-year, $5.34 billion loan for Iraq under the Stand-By Arrangement facility, which it said was focused on “implementing economic and financial policies to help the country cope with lower oil prices and ensure debt sustainability.” The promised financial assistance was made conditional on—among other things—Baghdad settling all debts to international oil companies (IOCs) without adding new debts. To satisfy that…

KRG Budget Calculation

There is often confusion and misunderstanding when analysts and journalists, especially among Kurdistan region observers, try to decipher how the region’s share of the federal budget is calculated. The budget itself is a public document. Being a law ratified by the Iraqi Parliament, it is published annually in the official gazette. However, the document contains a lot of summaries and nuances that are always subject to misunderstanding unless one has…

Strategizing Energy

Iraq’s first long term energy strategy launched in Baghdad June 12, is national in its dimension and impact and integrated in its coverage of all aspects of energy production and usage. The Integrated National Energy Strategy (INES), made up of a set of national policy objectives for the country and backed by a plan for the required policy (investment) commitments, infrastructure developments and institutional reforms, has been adopted by the…

The Nassiriya Challenge

It’s unique, it’s challenging and it’s complex, but Iraq’s oil ministry seems determined to make the first upstream-downstream integrated project in Nassiriya a reality. What’s more, forget the $ per barrel fee that was the basis of all previous service contracts. On this one, investors will make a return on their investment from a percentage of the revenues Iraq will rake, pretty much like the “profit oil” concept in production-sharing…