Iraq/Kurdistan: Kurdistan Regional Government Expects More Oil Investment, as Baghdad Relations Improve

Dec 17, 2014 | Hellenic Shipping News
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Foreign oil companies are likely to show increased interest in investing in Iraqi Kurdistan given improving relations between the regional and federal governments, including an interim oil exports deal, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Sunday on Platts Energy Week.

Kurdistan “is really an island of stability,” said Karwan Zebari, the KRG’s U.S. spokesman. “You have some very investment-friendly laws – production-sharing contracts. And this is what attracts a lot of these oil … companies. And I think you’re going to start seeing a lot more people coming in.”

Noting that the world has seen Kurdistan survive the “massive security threat” constituted by the Islamic State (IS) group, Zebari said that “especially with this deal, [the region has] proven to the world that this is an island of stability. This is an area where you can invest. This is an area that will stick around.”