Iraq

ISIS, Turkey And Oil – The Bigger Picture: Interview With Pelicourt

As the terrorist attack in Paris sparks worldwide fear of similar reprisals and a bloody shootout and hostage situation in a five-star Mali hotel exacerbates those concerns, global energy security reels under the pressure of unfathomable geopolitics. In an exclusive interview with Oilprice.com, Robert Bensh—managing director and partner at Pelicourt, a Western-owned oil and gas company navigating tricky conflict zones—discusses:

• The terrorist threat to global energy security
• What ISIS is really after
• The bigger oil picture for ISIS
• Why Iraq can’t cope
• Why Iraqi Kurdistan has disappointed
• Why loose and shifting alliances spell geopolitical disaster
• Whether it’s all as doom-and-gloom as it seems…

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Iraqi Government Threatens Action Against Kurds as Oil Exports Set to Begin

For two centuries the Kurdish people have been fighting for independence from their Arab neighbors. The Kurdish region is located along the border where Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria meet. The Kurds have been subject to repression and often genocide but continue to fight for independence. Today we will look at the most recent economic skirmish between the new Iraqi government and the Kurds. At first, it may appear that it is simply a battle for Oil revenue but there is more to it than that.

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"Offshore Oil Rig" by num_skyman

India’s Energy Ties with Iran Unsettle Washington

India’s relentless search for hydrocarbons to fuel its booming economy has managed the rather neat diplomatic trick of annoying Washington, delighting Tehran and intriguing Baghdad, all the while leaving the Indian Treasury fretting about how to pay for its oil imports, given tightening sanctions on fiscal dealings with Iran.

On 7 June the US State Department reluctantly announced that it was renewing India’s six-month waivers for implementing sanctions against Iran, along with seven other countries eligible for waivers from the sanctions owing to good faith efforts to substantially reduce their Iranian oil imports. In New Delhi’s case, it is the U.S. and EU-led sanctions rather than any willingness on India’s part that has seen a fall in its Iranian oil imports. India is the second-largest buyer of Iranian oil, a nation with whom it has traditionally had close ties. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that India, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Taiwan had all qualified for an exception to sanctions under America’s Iran Sanctions Act, based on additional significant reductions in the volume of their crude oil purchases from Iran.

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The Making of Kurdistan: Oil, Investment and a Turkish Gamble

They say, “politics makes strange bedfellows” and nowhere is that more apparent than in the middle east. Oil and the massive investment returns it can bring can turn friends into enemies and enemies into friends in rather short order.  Up until recently Turkey has been at odds with the Kurds in Northern Iraq but all that is

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