Baghdad risks wasting its moment

Political paralysis is preventing Iraq from capitalising on renewed international enthusiasm for upstream investment

Iraq’s oil sector is, by short-term metrics, enjoying the rude health to be expected of a major producer during an extended market bull run. Monthly export revenues hit a five-decade high in March, followed in April by a substantial rise in output—taking the country to within a whisker of filling its Opec quota for the first time this year. A series of recent announcements from the Ministry of Oil (MoO) indicated that the windfall was being duly deployed to renew development spending at state-managed oilfields. However, opportunities to lay the foundations for long-term output growth are being squandered because of political paralysis. The country remains without a permanent government nine