Iraqi oil sector: Fighting against all odds
Iraq’s myriad troubles will not stop its crude output from growing again in 2016, says oil minister Adil Abdul al-Mahdi
Islamic State (IS) controls large swathes of the country’s north and west. Conflict has displaced at least four million citizens. Kirkuk and its oil have been subsumed into an expanded Kurdish region, which is itching for independence. Basrawis are demanding more money from Baghdad. War has rendered the country’s biggest refinery, Baiji, inoperable. The slump in oil prices has wrecked Baghdad’s budget. Yet somehow Iraq hangs on and somehow its oil sector continues to defy the gloom. “Iraq lived with sanctions and we can deal with this,” says Adil Abdul al-Mahdi, the country’s oil minister. Not just survive, either. Abdul-Mahdi believes Iraqi production, now at 4.35m barrels per day, will
Also in this section
4 December 2025
Time is running out for Lukoil and Rosneft to divest international assets that will be mostly rendered useless to them when the US sanctions deadline arrives in mid-December
3 December 2025
Aramco’s pursuit of $30b in US gas partnerships marks a strategic pivot. The US gains capital and certainty; Saudi Arabia gains access, flexibility and a new export future
2 December 2025
The interplay between OPEC+, China and the US will define oil markets throughout 2026
1 December 2025
The North African producer’s first bidding round in almost two decades is an important milestone but the recent extension suggests a degree of trepidation
