Exxon’s Leap into Kurdistan

It was only a question of time before it became public. ExxonMobil’s move into Kurdistan region of Iraq was surrounded with lots of hush hush from the time it signed in October, until the moment the ministry of natural resources (MNR) in the KRG decided to score a fantastic public relations coup. Now that it is public, where does this leave the regional and the federal governments and what fate…

Budget 2011: Who Gets What

The Iraqi 2011 federal budget voted by parliament today includes two items that are related to payments to oil companies. It stipulates a payment of $1.75 billion as participation in the production cost of oil exported including under contracts of international oil companies signed with the Kurdistan region. The second item is an allocation of $2.73 billion for investment projects of international oil companies. The budget assumes the export of…

Adnan Al-Janabi

The chairman of the oil and energy committee in the Iraqi parliament, Adnan al-Janabi, spells out his plans to speed up the legislation of the pending oil sector laws and the role of his committee in resolving the conflict between the KRG and the federal government, in an interview with Ruba Husari in his office in Baghdad Feb.19. Q: What role do you see for the oil and energy committee…