Iraqi Kurdistan's Energy Reserves: Investor's Paradise or Poisoned Chalice?

Jul 25, 2019 | Energy Reporters
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When Masrour Barzani, who recently became the prime minister of semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, named long-serving Iraqi Kurdish natural resources minister Ashti Hawrami his deputy prime minister for energy affairs, he signalled the singular importance of the region’s oil sector to Kurdish aspirations for economic viability and autonomy from Baghdad. Iraq Kurdistan is the Middle East’s “last truly under-developed oil and gas frontier”, and the potential prizes for successful investors are extraordinarily high – as are the risks.