Home
Oil and Politics in Iraq
On: Sun 11/03/2012 9:19
More / New York Times
translation / range
spent a delegation from the International Energy Agency two days in Baghdad during which he held recently with senior Iraqi officials in order to create the annual report on the oil sector in the country. Some estimates say that Iraq has a large reserves in the world, is also planning to conduct an international auction of oil and gas in May. Without the law, however, oil and gas, and with a political system is divided, the report of the International Energy Agency will take care and focuses on the political obstacles more than oil energy.
This week, Baghdad announced that oil production has increased to more than three million barrels per day for the first time in thirty years. And the Iraqi government said that oil exports will rise after the introduction of La Marsa floating at the end of the week. In December Energy Agency said that oil production in Iraq can be up to the rate of 4.36 million barrels per day, half the production of Saudi Arabia. With this Agency has warned that the split in the political system can be an effective barrier more than anything else. Did not settle the political system after the invasion never, tensions have flared in Baghdad when he accused Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi to terrorism after the departure of U.S. forces directly. Says Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan that an al-Maliki "was part of an attempt to marginalize and humiliate opponents, and a sign of unwillingness to deal large national."
may be Iraq a democratic country of the theoretical side, but it is slow in building the political front, especially when it comes to passing the oil and gas law, who is suffering from delays. Cole described the policy without a stable Iraq "is not achieving anything about the oil law." Cole adds that Maliki may be able to use harsh tactics to try to control things like the federal budget and the political influence. For their part, Kurdish leaders strongly rejected the involvement of non-Exxon Mobil, the world's fourth licensing round due to its contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government. Where grumbling Deputy Prime Minister Ruz Nuri Shaways, MP for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said in a statement that the Baghdad opposed to what "economic openness" and "trade development", which denounced the Baghdad of any deals mono with the Kurdish government as illegal, even though Cole stated that the central government can not do much in this regard.
says Cole, "Iraqi government is facing two types of problems on the development of oil, as it is still very weak and can not provide security for Western companies and their employees. In addition, it is still suffering from the economic recession, making it fears that are exploited by these companies, are forced to make deals a severe scare big investors. "
Iraq can benefit from its strategic location in the Middle East. The neighbor Turkey is keen to be the focus of energy moving through the passage of some oil and gas pipelines job in the world through them. In the south, the Strait of Hormuz transmits about 20% of oil exported to the world. Cole says, "With this, Iraq is politically closed countries."
may have passed the federal budget for this year a temporary political victory for the owners, but in the long run is unlikely to be able to claim that he is authorized politically in a country depends heavily on oil revenues in federal. Baghdad sometimes tend toward Iran, has been reinforced by high oil prices, the position of prime minister. Iraq, however, may find himself practiced the game because of geopolitical tug regional interests to Washington. Cole warns that "Iraq is very weak at the present time." Expected to publish the International Energy Agency report on Iraq in October as a prelude to its view of the full energy for the year 2012. While voicing optimism about the oil sector in Iraq after the war, she said Executive Director of the Agency Maria van Hoeven that politics stand in the way of comprehensive development.
the other hand, Iraqi officials say in the affairs of the oil that Iraq has started to load crude oil from new export routes in the Persian Gulf. They added that the pumping began on Thursday morning, a rate of twenty thousand barrels per hour. The new course is the first of the five courses will be charged as a whole about five million barrels per day, and trading is scheduled to conduct the result of 900 thousand barrels per day. Export capacity in the new Iraq will help bring in needed cash to rebuild after decades of war and international sanctions.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
