KRG keeps registering growth

Isolated from instability in the south, the pioneers of the north’s independent oil industry are quietly pushing ahead

Attention on Iraq's oil sector typically focuses on the giant fields in the federally-governed south. But the independent oil industry in the autonomous north under the aegis of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been broadly flourishing over the past two years—despite nominal opposition from Baghdad on the grounds of alleged unconstitutionality. The KRG last published production data a year ago; but output is believed to be running at 450,000-500,000bl/d, and is gradually rising, chiefly on the back of renewed investment by the territory’s three stalwart foreign operators. A bedrock of around 200,000bl/d comes from the locally-managed Khurmala Dome portion of the giant Kirkuk field