Kurdistan Region of Iraq's Energy Industry

Kurdistan Region of Iraq: New Alliances

Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s oil and gas industry was late to take off, despite discoveries in the region beginning in the 1920s. However, the region was highly successful at attracting major IOCs the mid-2000s, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Gazprom, Dana Gas and TotalEnergies. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq is an autonomous region of Iraq, although it held a unilateral independence vote in 2017 to mixed international reception. Throughout political upheaval and war it has remained steadfast in its payments to operators, underlining the nation’s resilience.

The region’s hydrocarbons industry is overseen by the Ministry of Natural Resources, which is independent from Baghdad’s Ministry of Oil. However, the country continues to struggle with its independent oil and gas law, which has been defined as unconstitutional by Iraq’s capital and lacks support from the national budget.

Heavy sour crude produced in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) began to be exported to the Ceyhan terminal in Turkey in 2014 through the KRG’s main pipeline that begins in the Kirkuk region and the DNO-Tawke pipeline. Further gas pipeline infrastructure has been planned to support the region’s planned rise in production.

The KRI requires investment to build up its power generation capacity to support a growing oil and gas industry, which remains the largest industrial consumer of energy.