For the two families that govern the Kurdistan Region of Iraq — the Barzanis and Talabanis — the Islamic State’s rampage across Iraq this past summer represented an unprecedented opportunity. Taking advantage of the Iraqi army’s complete collapse, the Kurds captured the oil-rich area around Kirkuk on June 11.
Soon after taking Kirkuk, President Masoud Barzani called for a referendum on independence. And he has — since 2008 — advocated circumventing Baghdad and selling Kurdish oil directly on the international market with Turkey’s help. All of this struck the rest of Iraq as opportunism.
In the eyes of the K.R.G., however, it’s an insurance policy if Iraq collapses.… Seguir leyendo »
Tema: Irak ha estado incrementando su producción de gas y petróleo en los últimos años, aunque el reparto de las rentas de sus hidrocarburos ha sido una fuente de conflictos con los kurdos en el noreste, que reivindican un mejor reparto de los beneficios, y entre las facciones chiíes del sur que compiten por beneficiarse de un sistema clientelar. Tercera en discordia, la insurgencia suní avanza ahora hacia el centro y oeste del país para competir con kurdos y chiíes por la renta de los hidrocarburos.
Resumen: La producción iraquí de petróleo ascendió en mayo de 2014 a 3,4 millones de barriles diarios (mbd), casi tres veces más de la producción que tenía antes de 2002.… Seguir leyendo »
Oil is the lifeblood of the Iraqi economy, accounting for nearly 90% of government revenues and about two-thirds of GDP in 2009. Such dependence often opens the door to abuse of revenues by those in power and few would have predicted, amid that turmoil following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, that Iraq's oil industry would one day be among the most transparent in the region.
The so-called resource curse afflicting many developing countries that are rich in natural resources can be avoided by instituting good governance measures based on transparency and accountability.
Since May 2003, proceeds from export sales of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas have been deposited in accounts held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, known as the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI).… Seguir leyendo »
Reports that a number of international oil companies are on the brink of signing contracts with Iraq have prompted a furious reaction in certain parts of the media and on Capitol Hill. The deals have been widely characterized as no-bid contracts, implying that Big Oil has somehow used its political clout to muscle in on Iraq and renewing suspicion that the whole U.S. intervention in Iraq was primarily a grab for natural resources. In the Senate, senior Democrats have argued that the contracts would heighten Iraq's sectarian tensions, and those lawmakers are threatening to cut financing for some nonmilitary programs in Iraq if the deals go ahead without prior passage of new hydrocarbons legislation.… Seguir leyendo »
Cuando la cuestión iraquí pierde relevancia en la campaña electoral norteamericana, consecuencia del retroceso del horror y la disminución del número de soldados muertos, el futuro de las relaciones de EEUU con Irak (alianza militar y estratégica) y la explotación de los hidrocarburos pasan a primer plano. El Gobierno de Bagdad acaba de autorizar el retorno de las grandes petroleras mediante "contratos de servicio a largo plazo", precaución semántica para obviar las críticas del nacionalismo y elevar la producción en yacimientos cuyos medios técnicos quedaron obsoletos.
Con los precios del crudo en subida libre, las noticias de Irak suscitan algún alivio en el pesimismo de la crisis.… Seguir leyendo »
Once oil passed $140 a barrel, even the most rabidly rightwing media hosts had to prove their populist credibility by devoting a portion of every show to bashing Big Oil. Some have gone so far as to invite me on for a friendly chat about an insidious new phenomenon: "disaster capitalism." It usually goes well - until it doesn't.
For instance, "independent conservative" radio host Jerry Doyle and I were having a perfectly amiable conversation about sleazy insurance companies and inept politicians when this happened: "I think I have a quick way to bring the prices down," Doyle announced. "We've invested $650bn to liberate a nation of 25 million people, shouldn't we just demand that they give us oil?… Seguir leyendo »
Lack of electricity is still a big problem in Iraq, and there’s lots of blame to go around. Much of it goes to the usual suspects: too many insurgent attacks, too few experienced engineers and technicians. But there’s another factor, big and getting bigger, which you probably haven’t read about. It’s one that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his bureaucrats could solve quickly, if they wanted to: Iraq’s Ministries of Oil and Electricity are at loggerheads.
While they bicker, Iraqis seethe. During a cold snap this January in Iraq, I spent a morning interviewing people on the streets of Falluja. Over and over again, I heard variations on two basic themes: appreciation that the coalition had driven the insurgents out of town, and anger over the inability of their government, with American assistance, to provide them with more than an hour or two of electricity each day.… Seguir leyendo »
Although "the judgment of history" has a sonorous ring, it doesn't necessarily require the long gestation that phrase might imply: sometimes there's no need for the owl of Minerva to hang around waiting for the sun to go down. When one eminent historian, Sean Wilentz of Princeton, pronounces bluntly that George Bush the Younger is "the worst president in American history", and another, Tony Judt of New York University, calls the Iraq war "the worst foreign policy error in American history", not many of us will argue with them.
And yet history still doesn't know the half of it. It has long since ceased to be a matter for debate that the Iraq adventure began in mendacity and ended in calamity.… Seguir leyendo »
Glad tidings from Baghdad at last. The Iraqi parliament has gone into summer recess without passing the oil law that Washington was pressing it to adopt. For the Bush administration this is irritating, since passage of the law was billed as a "benchmark" in its battle to get Congress not to set a timetable for US troop withdrawals. The political hoops through which the government of Nouri al-Maliki has been asked to jump were meant to be a companion piece to the US "surge". Just as General David Petraeus, the current US commander, is due to give his report on military progress next month, George Bush is supposed to tell Congress in mid-September how the Maliki government is moving forward on reform.… Seguir leyendo »
Even as one of the principal architects of the Iraq war washes his hands of the whole bloody mess, there is still only a vague understanding of the real reason behind the invasion, but evidence of the intense interest of the international oil companies continues to build. Only last week, ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson said in London: "We look forward to the day when we can partner with Iraq to develop that resource potential." Despite their interest and influence, however, the decision to attack was not taken in the boardroom. Iraq was indeed all about oil, but in a sense that transcends the interests of individual corporations, however large.… Seguir leyendo »
Today more than three-quarters of the world’s oil is owned and controlled by governments. It wasn’t always this way.
Until about 35 years ago, the world’s oil was largely in the hands of seven corporations based in the United States and Europe. Those seven have since merged into four: ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP. They are among the world’s largest and most powerful financial empires. But ever since they lost their exclusive control of the oil to the governments, the companies have been trying to get it back.
Iraq’s oil reserves — thought to be the second largest in the world — have always been high on the corporate wish list.… Seguir leyendo »
Under the national hydrocarbon law approved this week by Iraq's Council of Ministers, oil will serve as a vehicle to unify Iraq and will give all Iraqis a shared stake in their country's future. This is a significant achievement for Iraqis' national reconciliation. It demonstrates that the leaders of Iraq's principal communities can pull together to peacefully resolve difficult issues of national importance.
Resolving concerns about control of oil is central to overcoming internal divisions in Iraq. The country has the third-largest oil reserves in the world, and more than 90 percent of federal income comes from oil revenue. The effective and equitable management of these resources is critical to economic growth as well as to developing a greater sense of shared purpose among Iraqi communities.… Seguir leyendo »
Por K. S. Karol, periodista francés especializado en cuestiones del Este (EL PAIS, 05/04/03):
A comienzos del mes de febrero, la alianza París-Berlín-Moscú contra la guerra estadounidense en Irak suscitaba muchas dudas. Los politólogos rusos no estaban seguros de que Francia y Alemania, aliados históricos de Estados Unidos, se mantuvieran firmes frente a la resolución británico-estadounidense en el Consejo de Seguridad. Y en Francia y en Alemania se decía que, tras perder un larguísimo enfrentamiento con EE UU, Rusia no estaría dispuesta a emprender uno nuevo. El tiempo ha disipado esos temores. Las presiones de Washington no han hecho mella en la decisión de la "vieja Europa" ni en la de la joven "democracia" rusa.… Seguir leyendo »
La primera gran aparición del petróleo en la escena mundial se da cuando, antes de la Gran Guerra, la Marina Real británica opta por sustituir el carbón como combustible. Otro episodio muy posterior ya tuvo por protagonista a Sadam Husein, al Kuwait para hacerse con el control de los destinos mundiales del petróleo. Aunque la tecnología del «microchip» abarca todo un nuevo territorio, el mundo todavía depende de ese incesante bombeo que extrae oro negro de las entrañas de planeta. El petróleo -como dice Daniel Yergin en su crónica épica del crudo- está estrechamente emparejado con las estrategias nacionales, con la política global y con el poder: «El petróleo -y el gas natural- son los componentes esenciales de los fertilizadores que sostienen la agricultura mundial; el petróleo hace posible transportar los alimentos a las grandes ciudades, proporciona el plástico y las sustancias químicas que son los cimientos de la civilización contemporánea, una civilización que quedaría colapsada si los pozos petrolíferos quedasen de repente exhaustos».… Seguir leyendo »
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