Writing Resources
Ever since oil was struck at Baba Gurgur in 1927 the Republic of Iraq has played a major role in the world's oil market 1 In 1960 we hosted the Baghdad Conference and became one of the founding members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC aiming to coordinate and unify petroleum policies as well as to empower member states with more control over their natural resources As the second largest crude oil producer in this organization 2 geopolitical instability near our oil fields translates into major effects on the global oil market In 2006 the Iraqi Government recognized Kurdistan as a federal region still all hydrocarbon contracts and refined petroleum produced by the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG had to be signed by the central government and shipped through the State Oil Marketing Organization SOMO In 2011 the KRG signed a product sharing agreement with ExxonMobil Corporation to develop northern oil fields 3 reigniting flames of past conflicts In 2014 the same fields were taken by Daesh for oil smuggling representing a daily revenue of 700 000 4 The northern province of Kirkuk was reclaimed by the Iraqi Federal Government recently through a military campaign In spite of the animosity sparked by this enterprise coupled with last year s unconstitutional Independence Referendum Iraqi and Kurdish Prime Ministers met in late January 2018 to diplomatically reach an understanding 5 thereby alleviating tensions tremendously and adding even more stability to the Iraqi oil output Kirkuk s oil fields which had hitherto been under de facto jurisdiction of the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG could not be forced to comply with the 2017
