Iraqi Energy Sector 2021: Year in ReviewIraq's oil production recovered steadily in 2021 — rising from just over 4 million barrels per day (bpd) in January to nearly 4.5 million bpd in December — as the OPEC-plus group continues to loosen its pandemic-era quota policy. Nationwide production rose sharply in November and December to 4.41 million barrels per day (bpd) and 4.47 million bpd, respectively, according to a field-by-field count by Iraq Oil Report. The strong finish to the year brought Iraq's daily production average for 2021 up to 4.197 million bpd, above the 2020 average of 4.108 million bpd, but well below the annual record of 4.766 million bpd, which Iraq averaged in 2019 before OPEC-plus was forced to make deep production cuts in response to the demand destruction and crashing prices resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. For more details — including insight into the spare capacity Iraq has developed to ramp up production further — read the full story on Iraq Oil Report. 
Iraq's nationwide oil exports averaged 3.681 million bpd in December, capping a year of steadily increasing crude sales. The country sold 3.437 million bpd of crude in 2021, almost identical to the 3.436 million bpd average of 2020. The federal government earned $75.634 billion from oil exports in 2021, nearly double the $41.948 billion generated from oil sales in 2020 — a reflection of higher global oil prices. For more details, read the full story on Iraq Oil Report. 
It was a mixed bag for the Iraqi Kurdistan Region's energy industry in 2021 as irregular payments and regulatory uncertainty raised red flags for investors. Overall production from fields managed by the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) averaged just 458,000 barrels per day in 2021, compared with an average of 470,000 bpd in 2020, according to field-by-field data compiled by Iraq Oil Report. The year was not without its bright spots: the gas sector is set to grow significantly thanks to a U.S. loan for the Khor Mor gas field, and oil field development activity that companies started in 2021 could yield increasing output in the new year. For more details, read the full story on Iraq Oil Report. 
Top Energy StoriesIraqi Kurdistan has shut down its border with northeast Syria, including an oil trade that was generating tens of millions of dollars per month for the Kurdish-led administration in Rojava. The closure, which started in mid-December 2021, has forced the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) to sharply slash its oil production — damaging a financial lifeline for a putative U.S. ally, which faces threats from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) militant group, the Assad regime, and the Turkish government. For years Iraqi Kurdistan has been the primary export market for crude from northeast Syria. Crude has been exported from Syria via both tanker trucks and a small pipeline, with the total trade recently averaging tens of thousands of barrels per day. For more details on the border closure, read the full story on Iraq Oil Report. Iraq is considering setting up a sovereign wealth fund into which it would deposit 1 percent of oil export revenues each month to finance renewable energy projects and build up a cash reserve for future generations. A document prepared by the Ministerial Council of Energy, obtained by Iraq Oil Report, sets out the objectives of the proposed fund, as well as its structure and governance. It also includes models of the types of project finance it could provide to solar energy projects once established, either through direct loans or in partnerships with investors. The timing is right to start the fund immediately, according to Oil Minister Ihsan Ismaael, because Iraq has just finished paying $52.4 billion in reparations for the invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990 and 1991. Iraq has gradually paid that bill over the course of two decades through a mechanism set up by the UN, which has automatically siphoned between 3 and 5 percent of the country's oil revenues. For more details on the proposal, read the full story on Iraq Oil Report. The Iraqi government is attempting to take over ExxonMobil's operating stake in the West Qurna 1 oil field rather than approve a sale to international investors. In a Jan. 5 statement, the Oil Ministry said the Iraqi Cabinet had "approved the Iraqi National Oil Company's acquisition of ExxonMobil's share in West Qurna 1." Minister of Communications Arkan al-Shaibani and Basra Oil Company (BOC) Deputy Director General Hassan Mohammad Hassan subsequently clarified that BOC, which is a subsidiary of INOC, would be the field operator. The field is currently producing over 460,000 barrels per day (bpd), which is more than one-tenth of the country's overall output. Read the full story on Iraq Oil Report. National NewsGulf News: Iraq's high court suspends re-elected Parliament speaker Iraq’s top court Thursday provisionally suspended the newly-appointed speaker of parliament, while judges consider an appeal by two fellow deputies claiming his re-election by other lawmakers was unconstitutional. The Federal Supreme Court decided “to suspend the work” of influential MP Mohammad Al Halbousi on a temporary basis, while it investigates the process of his election. The move impacts the workings of parliament, as lawmakers cannot meet without the speaker. One of parliament’s first tasks must be to elect the country’s president, who will then name a prime minister tasked with forming a new government Despite Al Halbousi’s suspension, the clock has not stopped ticking on the 30-day deadline to elect a new president that began at the parliament’s inaugural session, the court said.
Reuters: Explosion hits building of Iraqi Parliament speaker's party An explosion from a hand grenade hit the headquarters of Iraqi parliament speaker Mohammed Halbousi's Taqaddum party in Baghdad early on Friday wounding two guards, police sources said. ... A similar incident hours later targeted the Baghdad headquarters of the Azm party of another Sunni Muslim politician, Khamis al-Khanjar, police said, but caused only light damage.
New York Times: Rockets target U.S. Embassy in Iraq Four rockets targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Thursday night, the latest in a series of aerial attacks amid Iranian threats and political violence as Iraq’s factions struggle to form a new government. The Iraqi military said one rocket had landed inside a school across the street from the U.S. Embassy in the heavily fortified Green Zone, with shock waves from the blast slightly wounding an Iraqi child and an Iraqi soldier. There were no immediate reports of casualties or details about damage from the other three rockets.
Al-Monitor: IRGC-linked factions step up activity against Kurdistan Region of Iraq Iran-linked Shiite armed groups operating in Iraq have recently stepped up their messaging against, and possibly attacks on, forces operating in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) amid accusations of their enjoying overly close relations with the United States. ... Some attacks on peshmerga forces in recent months may have been conducted by these groups, as Islamic State (IS) attacks on forces operating under the KRG also continue. Eight Katyusha rockets were fired after 7 p.m. on Jan. 7 at Kurdish peshmerga forces in Pirde near Altun Kupri, a town that lies about 40 kilometers northwest of the city of Kirkuk on the main road between Erbil and Baghdad. The rockets were shot from the eastern and southern sides of their targets. A few days before, a peshmerga fighter had been shot and injured by an unidentified gunman in another village in the Kirkuk province. ... A February 2021 attack on Erbil, in which over a dozen rockets were shot at a base hosting US-led coalition forces at the Erbil International Airport and residential areas of the city, was at that time claimed by a shadowy group that many say is likely to be a front group for other Iran-linked armed groups with political wings in Baghdad. Two people were killed and over a dozen others were injured. Two months later, there was the first known explosives-laden drone attack on US forces in Erbil. Iran-linked groups praised the attack but did not claim it. Other drone attacks have occurred on the airport in the intervening months.
Al-Monitor: Iraq records first omicron cases Iraq has detected its first cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, the health ministries in both the central government and Kurdish region said [Jan. 6]. The Iraqi Ministry of Health said five cases were discovered in the northern province of Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan. An unknown number of foreign diplomats in the capital Baghdad also tested positive, the ministry said.
The National: Iraq issues 98 arrest warrants for government officials Iraq issued 98 arrest warrants for government officials last October, the country’s integrity commission said on Thursday, as corruption continues to blight the country after decades of conflict and instability. The arrests included current and former ministers, undersecretaries and former deputies, as well as former and current governors and director generals of several ministries, according to a statement from the commission. ... The country's integrity commission has arrested many senior officials in the past, but many politicians manage to dodge investigation due to their affiliation with powerful political groups that are able to exert pressure on the judiciary.
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