Page 10 - MEOG Week 03 2023

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Baghdad and Erbil close in on deals

IRAQ THE Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional A budget was never passed for 2022, with
Government (KRG) has this week announced that for 2021 having also significantly overshot
the signing of deals with Iraq’s federal govern- its deadline. Meanwhile, Kurdish leaders said
ment that appear to suggest a breakthrough may they hoped the new regime in Baghdad could
be within reach. help expedite the signing of a new oil and gas
Speaking to local press, Masrour Barzani said law after the previous one was torn up by the
that a set of “preliminary understandings” had Supreme Court last February.
been agreed that ‘resolve’ issues including those At that time, Iraq’s Supreme Court ruled that
pertaining to the oil industry, when he led a the KRG should deliver the “entire production
Kurdish delegation’s visit to Baghdad. The group of oilfields in Kurdistan” to the state oil marketer
met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Somo. It added that all the KRG’s contracts with
al-Sudani. international oil companies (IOCs) and foreign
Barzani said: “We felt that there is a positive governments covering exploration, production,
atmosphere and a good opportunity to resolve exports and sales were invalid and that details
issues with the federal government on the basis should be provided to the Ministry of Oil (MoO)
of the constitution and within the framework of in Baghdad for auditing.
the political parties’ agreement to form the gov- When a new federal government was belat-
ernment and the ministerial agenda approved by edly appointed in October – after 12 months of
the Iraqi Council of Ministers.” delays – Barzani expressed optimism that a new
The parties discussed topics including the oil and gas law could be drafted, suggesting that
KRG’s share of the 2023 federal budget and the “entities and individuals” had misinterpreted
drafting of an Iraqi oil and gas law. and “violated” the country’s 2005 constitution.™

Iran could reduce working week

to save gas amid worsening crisis

IRAN TEHRAN could switch to a three-day work by heavy US sanctions keeping out investors, is
week to help officials deal with Iran’s worsening widely seen as the cause.
energy crisis. Recent calls to citizens by the government
Iran’s petroleum minister Javad Owji has pro- and the state’s National Iranian Gas Co. (NIGC)
posed the emergency measure to the presidential to curb energy consumption have pretty much
office, Mehr News reported on January 11. fallen on deaf ears. Ministers have noted that
There has been record usage of both electric- Iran’s gas usage per capita is double that of China.
ity and gas in Iran in recent weeks amid plum- Mazandaran Gas Co., a subsidiary of NIGC
meting temperatures. There are fears of alarming that serves consumers in localities near the
electricity and gas outages this winter if energy Caspian Sea, said on state broadcaster IRIB on
use is not curbed. Weather forecasts indicate Iran January 11 that homes found to be empty would
faces a new wave of cold from next week. be disconnected from the gas grid manually by
While Iran has the second largest gas reserves roaming teams of engineers to shore up available
in the world, the gas is not being exploited gas supplies.
extensively or fast enough to comfortably meet On January 6, Iran’s piped gas supplies to
the needs of the population of 85mn. A lack of Turkey, accounting for roughly 10% of Turkish
investment in gas exploration and production, gas usage, were abruptly stopped by Iran, which
and in gas distribution networks, partly caused claimed a technical glitch.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 18•January•2023