An international arbitration ruling against Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) regarding its independent export of oil will hurt the KRG's oil industry and its investors, and it will give Baghdad enough leverage to make further changes to the region's oil and gas regulatory environment. On March 23, the International Chamber of Commerce's International Court of Arbitration ruled that the KRG could not export oil through a pipeline system that travels through Turkey to the port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea without Baghdad's approval. On the request of the Turkish government following the ruling, the Kurdistan Pipeline Company stopped oil flows through the pipeline, forcing the largest oil producers in Iraqi Kurdistan -- DNO, Genel Energy and Gulf Keystone Petroleum -- to divert flows to storage tanks. On March 26, Iraqi and KRG officials began discussing resuming the region's oil exports (450,000 barrels per day), but on March 27,...
