Conflict over Kurdistan oil transparency
Political disputes between Erbil and Baghdad have clouded a promising transparency initiative meant to protect Iraq's oil sector from mismanagement and corruption.
Iraq's top oil officials gather at the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad on April 3, 2013, for a celebration of Iraq's latest oil transparency report. Attendees included Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani (second left); Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi (third left); and Alaa Mohie el-Deen, the head of Iraq's Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (center). (BEN VAN HEUVELEN/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography)
ERBIL/BAGHDAD - When top Iraqi officials gathered on April 3 at Baghdad's Al-Rashid Hotel to celebrate the country's latest steps toward oil sector transparency, they marked the occasion with patriotic songs and optimistic speeches. But one key element was missing: Kurdistan.
Over the past year, Iraq's Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (IEITI) has struggled to incorporate the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region into its latest report, which sheds light on the country's 2010 production and sale of oil.
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