Gloom falls on Kurdish oil

Iraq’s autonomous northern province had bold energy plans, but mounting debts, conflict and subterranean trouble are taking their toll

FOR the Kurdish region of northern Iraq the energy honeymoon is over – at least for now. A slump in oil revenue resulting from depressed global prices is just one negative factor among a slew of problems facing the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). One of the key concerns for Iraqi Kurds is the degree to which it relies on a single oil-export route: the Iraq Turkey Pipeline (ITP) to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast. From 17 February until 11 March the ITP was closed, denying the KRG revenue from the 0.6m barrels a day of oil that would normally have been flowing through it. During the entire month of March, Kurdish oil exports averaged only around 327,000 b/d. The ITP was shut on the order