BP’s High-Stakes Return to Kirkuk

The history of the British Petroleum Company (bp) in Kirkuk and Iraq can be traced back to the 1920s, when the company—later named BP—spearheaded the operations of locating, exploring, producing, and exporting crude oil from Baba Gurgur in Kirkuk, which was considered the world's largest oilfield at the time. The exploitation of Kirkuk's oil lasted until the early 1970s, when the then-Iraqi government nationalized the crude oil industry after a decade of challenges. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S. alliances, bp's presence…