23 April 2003 The first Iraqi oil production since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime is set to restart next week from the northern Kirkuk complex, but would be limited to supplying the domestic market in terms of crude for refineries and natural gas for power stations, according to a senior Iraqi official. The plans show Iraqi officials taking the initiative on this and other aspects of the war-damaged oil…
Tag: Somo
Early Power Play Points to Iraq Challenges
22 April 2003 Intriguing power plays erupting in postwar Iraq underline the conundrum faced by Opec when it meets later this week to plot out a production strategy that ministers hope will stave off a price collapse before the group has to make room for Iraqi oil exports. But further delays to the establishment of an interim Iraqi administration to oversee the short-term rehabilitation of the country’s oil sector could…
Who Runs Somo
7 September 2001 A fresh shakeup in the Iraqi oil industry has left Oil Ministry employees — not to mention industry observers and traders — puzzled as to who is in charge of Somo, Iraq’s influential state marketing organization. The latest change came shortly after a reshuffle among top echelons at the ministry and at key state energy companies. Last month, Oil Minister Amer Rashid appointed Somo’s former executive director,…
Iraq-Russia: What Now?
16 July 2001 Using its oil as both weapon and bribe, Iraq — thanks to Russia and some of its Arab neighbors — has thwarted US attempts to revamp the 11-year-old UN sanctions regime, and end Baghdad’s control over oil smuggling. For Washington, which launched the initiative in February as a cornerstone of its Mideast foreign policy, it’s back to the drawing board. A Russian “nyet” to the Anglo-American ideas…