Taking a chance in Kurdish Iraq

The KRG referendum result and subsequent Iraqi army offensive against the Kurds underline how risky it is for companies involved in the export and sale of Kurdish crude

The long-standing energy issues on which Erbil and Baghdad disagree essentially relate to the differing interpretations on the part of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and the Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) over provisions of the Iraqi Constitution. In short, the KRG claims that it's entitled under the Constitution to enact its own oil and gas legislation, passing Law No 22 of 2007, the KRG Oil and Gas Law, under which the regional government granted itself powers to enter into production-sharing contracts (PSCs) with international oil companies (IOCs). The FGI asserts that the KRG Oil and Gas Law and the PSCs entered into by the KRG are unconstitutional and therefore invalid. The Bag