One month after Parliament passed legislation designed to help restart the pipeline to Turkey, implementation is mired in old disagreements.
Three monthly loans of $538 million promise temporary relief to pay civil servant salaries, but unresolved questions loom for Kurdistan's oil industry.
Fayadh Nema and Falah Alamri have deep relationships in the Oil Ministry and decades of experience with hot-button energy issues.
Baghdad takes a hard line against budget transfers to KRG as negotiations falter, prompting civil servant strikes and imminent protests.
High-level diplomacy has failed to make progress, and a recent U.S. legal filing from Turkey suggests a new phase of adversarial action.
Imminent ministerial-level visits to Baghdad and Ankara are likely to address major challenges to restarting Iraq’s northern exports.
Increasingly frequent attacks deep inside KRG territory pose danger for civilians and underscore challenges for diplomacy.
A splintering of opposition groups in Iraqi Kurdistan is complicating efforts to meet Iranian demands for secure borders in order to avoid more drone and missile attacks.
Construction is underway on a new pipeline to bring gas supplies from the Khor Mor field up to Dohuk.
The KRG has received 598 billion dinars under the new budget law — a fraction of its theoretical monthly entitlement.
Key details remain unresolved, including the lynchpin issue of whether oil companies will get paid enough to enable KRG fields to restart.
