Iraq/Kurdistan: Why Kurdistan Can't Sell Its Oil

May 26, 2016 | Seth J. Frantzman, National Interest
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In an interview published in February 2015, Donnie Macdonald, the president of oil giant Chevron’s operations in Iraq, had glowing praise for the Kurdistan autonomous region in north of the country. “The Kurdistan region is still relatively under-explored and we believe the region has potential to become a prominent player in the oil industry”—powerful words during unsettling times. By February 2015, Islamic State had already made fourteen attacks in the direction of Kirkuk, one of the major oil-producing areas in northern Iraq. A bit over a year later, the seven-hundred-mile front line between Kirkuk and Sinjar that is defended by Kurdish forces may be stabilized, but the oil issue is growing increasingly complex. With protests undermining the Iraqi central government's stability, and Kurdish aspirations for independence, the right to export oil is at the heart of a political impasse and economic crisis.