Federal Government Asks ExxonMobil to Pull Out of the West Qurna-1 Development and TPAO to Withdraw from Block 9

摘要

Relations between Iraq's federal government and international oil companies are never very easy, that is the least one can say. Most of the industry regards the contractual conditions offered by Baghdad as not very attractive, and foreign companies that eye the riches of the Kurdistan region - and more and more are doing so, see AOG, 16 Aug. and 16 Sept. - run the risk of being sanctioned by the federal Oil Ministry. There is nothing new in this observation, but in the case of two contracts that were signed following international bid rounds, the federal authorities are now asking foreign companies to sell their interests.