Iraq: Oil Contracts and the Security Environment

Iraq’s Oil Ministry on April 14 published a list of companies that qualified to bid in the first licensing round for oil and gas contracts to develop Iraq's oil fields. Absent from the list were companies that have signed deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government. On the other hand, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has publicly recognized the Kurdish peshmerga forces as part of the formal Iraqi security apparatus. Should this cooperation extend to the energy sector, companies interested in the Kurdish energy sector might be able to breathe easier. The bottom line for all of this, however, depends on Baghdad’s ability to tame the insurgency and work out a power-sharing deal among Iraq’s warring factions.