Iraq’s economic and fiscal crises, which came to the forefront this year following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, were bound to happen at some point. What corona and the ensuing drop in oil prices and declining demand for oil did is accelerate the timing, according to the recently released Iraqi government white paper, a report of the Emergency Cell for Financial Reform. What the paper doesn’t predict is that…
Tag: federal budget
Iraq, the IMF and the Oil Dilemma
The International Monetary Fund announced in July that it has approved a three-year, $5.34 billion loan for Iraq under the Stand-By Arrangement facility, which it said was focused on “implementing economic and financial policies to help the country cope with lower oil prices and ensure debt sustainability.” The promised financial assistance was made conditional on—among other things—Baghdad settling all debts to international oil companies (IOCs) without adding new debts. To satisfy that…
2012 Production Challenge
Iraqi oil production has been slowly, but steadily, ramping up in the last three years, from an average of 2.336 million b/d in 2009 to 2.358 million b/d in 2010, to an average of 2.66 for the first eight months of this year, according to oil ministry official figures. With this, exports have also risen by almost 300,000 b/d, from a 2009 average of 1.9 million b/d in 2009 to…
Shiltagh Aboud
Basrah Governor Dr Shiltagh Aboud lays down his expectations from international oil companies in an interview with Ruba Husari in his office in Basrah Feb. 4th, 2010. Q: Five of the oil fields development contracts awarded recently concern fields in the Basrah province, how do you see the benefits beyond the oil sector? A: I personally consider that the organization of the bid rounds and the participation of companies from…