KRG Contracts Conundrum

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced earlier this month that the oil ministry approved the two production sharing contracts for the Tawke and Taqtaq fields, signed before the constitution was drafted, for a variety of reasons which to his mind justify the legalization by Baghdad. A day after Mr Maliki was interviewed, the Kurdish Prime Minister Barham Saleh was quoted as saying that “all contracts” signed by the KRG received…

Pumping Up Khurmala

Erbil – It seems that Baghdad and Erbil have reached a tacit agreement on how to divide the contested oil fields between the region and the rest of the country. Or that’s at least what seems to be happening in Khurmala Dome, one of three major domes making up the giant Kirkuk oil field. Khurmala Dome, which has de-facto become the Khurmala oil field, is the least developed of the…

Thamir Al-Ghadhban

Thamir al-Ghadhban, former Iraqi Minister of Oil and Chairman of the Advisory Commission at the Prime Minister’s office, gives his take on the latest developments in Iraq’s oil sector and analyses future trends in an interview in Baghdad with Ruba Husari. Q: How do you expect a new government following the March 7 legislative elections to deal with the signed contracts? Is there a risk that the legality of those…