Iraq At A Tipping Point As North Challenges South In Oil Showdown

In theory, the embargo on oil exports to Turkey from the semi-autonomous Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI) in northern Iraq imposed on 25 March 2023 by the Baghdad-based Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) in the south remains firmly in place. In practice, the Kurdish region is now producing around 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared to about 2,000 bpd only in the quarter immediately following the ban. “It is a direct challenge [by the KRI] to the authority of the Iraq government, which has repeatedly made it clear to [Iraqi] Kurdistan that all…