. Medical and Hospital News .




.
ENERGY TECH
Big Oil faces crisis with Iraq over Kurds
by Staff Writers
Erbil, Iraq (UPI) Sep 20, 2012


Top international oil companies operating in Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish enclave are heading for a showdown with Baghdad, which brands their deals with the independence-minded Kurds as hugely detrimental to Iraq's drive to become a major oil power.

"The dispute highlights a power struggle over oil between Erbil, the Kurdish capital, and Baghdad, which wants oil companied to focus on large but financially less attractive southern oilfields so it can meet national crude production targets," the Financial Times reported.

Kurdistan has signed production contracts with more than 40 companies in recent years, mostly small companies and wildcatters. But deals with major outfits like Exxon Mobil, who led the way into Kurdistan in October 2011, and more recently Chevron, Total of France and Russia's Gazprom, have dramatically changed the equation.

They've incensed the coalition government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, for whom quadrupling Iraq's national oil production to 10 million-12 million barrels per day in the next few years is paramount.

The Financial Times quoted Toby Dodge, an Iraq specialist at the London School of Economics, as saying, "With the big majors going north and getting much better terms, Exxon has to be punished -- otherwise Iraqi oil policy falls to pieces.

"What can the Iraqi government do that doesn't scare the majors off? That's what they're wrestling with," observed Dodge, who has advised oil companies on working in Iraq.

The deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil have became a serious threat to Baghdad not just because the companies defied the central government, but because it fears this will encourage the Kurds' long-cherished ambition of an independent homeland with oil and gas as its economic base.

That could seriously impede Baghdad's energy strategy, on which postwar reconstruction hinges, while bolstering the aspirations of other regions that have been talking of more autonomy.

These include most notably the Shiite-dominated south where two-thirds of Iraq's known oil reserves of 143.1 billion barrels are located.

Maliki, aghast at the prospect of seeing Baghdad-controlled oil reserves reduced, has found himself with few viable options in blocking the shift toward Kurdistan by major oil companies he needs to develop Iraq's megafields and generate the revenue for reconstruction.

Kurdistan sits on 45 billion barrels of oil and that figure is likely to swell as exploration expands.

The KRG at present can produce some 150,000 bpd but expects to boost that 200,000 bpd by October, with 1 million bpd a possibility.

At present, that's pumped into the state pipeline network, with twin export lines running from the northern Kirkuk oilfields -- which the Kurds claim is historically theirs: another dispute with Baghdad -- to Turkey's Ceyhan terminal on the Mediterranean.

But already the KRG is trucking modest amounts to northern neighbor Turkey, which despite a history of conflict with the Kurds is becoming the KRG's most important ally.

Turkey, which has ambitions of becoming the regional energy hub, has offered to build a 1.5 million bpd pipeline from landlocked Kurdistan to Ceyhan that will bypass Iraq's export grid.

The regional politics remain extremely sensitive on this. Turkey, which has problems with its own secessionist Kurds, is hesitant about fostering notions of independence among Iraq's Kurds, but the idea has deepened Baghdad's concerns.

So for the moment, Nouri still has a few cards to play. He cannot take harsh retaliatory action against Exxon Mobil and the others because that would scare off future investment that's still badly needed.

At the same time, while the KRG's terms are more liberal and potentially more lucrative than the restrictive, standard flat-fee production deals that Baghdad insists upon, Exxon Mobil and others cannot expect the same scale of production in Kurdistan, even if the pipelines to Turkey are ever built.

The Kurds, not yet prepared to make a final break with Baghdad, have an Achilles heel: the alliance between their two main factions, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The KDP, led by KRG President Massoud Barzani, controls northern Kurdistan, the PUK, led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, dominates the south.

They have a long history of rivalry that has frequently erupted into open warfare over the last few decades, even when they were supposedly fighting Saddam Hussein's repressive regime.

Maliki may seek to exploit this tribal curse as the two parties renegotiate a 2005 power-sharing agreement.

Related Links
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com




.
.
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
...
Buy Advertising Editorial Enquiries




.

. Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle



ENERGY TECH
Nexen shareholders approve takeover by China's CNOOC
Ottawa (AFP) Sept 20, 2012
Nexen shareholders on Thursday overwhelmingly approved Chinese state-owned energy giant CNOOC's $15.1 billion takeover bid for the Canadian oil and gas company. A new public opinion poll, however, shows Canadians strongly opposed to the deal, which has yet to be approved by regulators. The proposed takeover would be China's largest foreign investment and its largest energy deal, accordin ... read more


ENERGY TECH
EU offers Italy 670 mn euros in quake aid

Norway supplies $168M for famine relief

Haunting 'Land of Hope' part shot on location in Fukushima

Japan slams brakes on $63 billion in spending

ENERGY TECH
ITT Exelis announces new capability in GPS interference, detection and geolocation

Countdown: a month to go to Galileo's next launch

Monitech Announces Zero-Installation Tracking System for Automotive Industry

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Complete First Launch Exercise for Next Generation GPS Satellites

ENERGY TECH
Seeing fewer older people in the street may lead low-income adults to fast-track their lives

Some gains but many mysteries as Alzheimer's epidemic looms

Stress breaks loops that hold short-term memory together

How early social deprivation impairs long-term cognitive function

ENERGY TECH
Rapid urban expansion threatens biodiversity

Study of giant viruses shakes up tree of life

Britain grants first licence for badger cull

US zoo gets quick peek of newborn panda

ENERGY TECH
Cambodians fight malaria with the push of a button

Elton John cites US discrimination of HIV inmates

Yosemite extends hantavirus alert to 230,000

Precautions for Tick-Borne Disease Extend "Beyond Lyme"

ENERGY TECH
Chinese man wrongly sent to labour camp: panel

H.K. students protest over 'brainwashing' classes

China villager bombs local government office

China's Wen says property controls still needed: Xinhua

ENERGY TECH
US authorities botched Mexico gun-running probe

Drug threat behind Brazil buying Seahawks

Chinese, US ships conduct joint anti-piracy drill

China, US conduct joint anti-piracy drill: Xinhua

ENERGY TECH
High-frequency stock trade risky, unfair: experts

China vows ongoing support to resolve euro crisis

Spain bailout fears rattle eurozone again

China pledges continued support to resolve euro crisis


Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

.

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement