When the Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan went looking for someone brave enough to pump billions of dollars into developing its large oil and gas reserves, it found a man who has never been accused of lacking courage: Igor Sechin, an old friend of Russian president Vladimir Putin. The chief executive of Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned oil company, has ignored fears of conf
Read More
Last month, protests broke out in Basra after the Iranian government cut one-third of the total electricityused by Iraq’s second-largest city. Demonstrations against power shortages and other longstanding grievances such as unemployment quickly spread throughout Iraq’s Shia-majority south, leading Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to dismiss his minister of electricity. Ir
Read More
The longest-serving American in Iraq's oil sector gives an insider's account of tactical victories, strategic blunders, and hidden agendas in post-2003 reconstruction. By BEN LANDO of Iraq Oil Report Published Tuesday, May 22nd, 2018 Gary Vogler was a veteran of the U.S. Army, Mobil Oil, and ExxonMobil when he joined the Pentagon's pre-invasion Energy Infras
Read More
Since the ratification of Iraq’s constitution in 2005, Iraq has struggled to interpret clauses 111 and 112, which stipulate that oil is the property of the Iraqi people and its revenues should be shared equitably. Several draft laws on hydrocarbon management, energy sector regulation, and oil revenue distribution have remained stalled because of differences between the federa
Read More
As Baghdad prepares to send large back payments to Tehran, any misappropriation could threaten the flow of electricity to Iraq and bolster sanctioned entities in Iran. Iraq and Iran's close trading ties are heavily unbalanced in Tehran's favor—$6.5 billion of Iranian exports to Iraq versus $60 million in the other direction. This disparity extends to electricity, where Iran
Read More