Iraqi Kurdistan: Commercial realities hobble Erbil’s dream of oil autonomy

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and federal Ministry of Oil (MoO) in Baghdad have been locked in a long struggle over who controls Iraqi hydrocarbons and the revenue flows that go with them. Since 2007, the Erbil-based KRG’s strategy has depended, first, on creating facts on the ground via its alliances with international partners, and second, on the assumption that Baghdad ultimately could not afford to reject production capacity of 500,000 b/d or more.