Q&A: Oil Minister Ihsan Ismaael
BAGHDAD - Iraq is pushing forward with key gas sector developments as well as increasing refining capacity – with the aim to cut energy imports in half by the end of 2021, Oil Minister Ihsan Ismaael said.
In an interview at his Baghdad office, Ismaael said the long-sought objective of bringing new investors to both Mansuriya and Akkas gas fields is nearing a breakthrough, while discussions for a potential gas hub at Ratawi now center around three companies: Honeywell, Lukoil and Total.
Ismaael – who previously headed the South Gas Company and then the Basra Oil Company – took the post of Oil Minister in Mustafa Kadhimi’s cabinet in June 2020, as Iraq was in the midst of contending with an oil price crash and navigating an increasingly strict OPEC-plus quota.
With oil revenue constituting the vast majority of Iraq’s income, Ismaael found himself caught between domestic pressure to maximize oil revenue to combat Iraq’s pressing financial crisis, and external pressure from Saudi Arabia to abide by production cuts to shore up global oil markets. The production issue remains at the fore, and Ismaael said Iraq will make good on its quota commitments, but said the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) needs to participate.
Oil and revenue disputes with the KRG – an issue that Ismaael’s last five predecessors have also dealt with – are also front-and-center: the 2021 budget remains hung up on the oil-for-revenue sharing scheme, and the KRG’s independent export system is the crux of Baghdad’s multi-billion dollar arbitration case against Turkey. Ismaael has already invited the KRG's new Minister of Natural Resources – Kamal Atroshi, who Ismaael speaks highly of – to Baghdad “to sit together to discuss how we can make our future relations healthier and more cooperative.”
Ismaael also discussed the delay in signing contracts from the fifth bidding round, gas cooperation with the KRG, and various options for financing needed oil and gas sector developments.
If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial.
All sources quoted or referenced spoke to Iraq Oil Report directly and exclusively, unless stated otherwise. Iraq Oil Report typically grants anonymity to sources that can't speak without risking their personal safety or job security. We only publish information from anonymous sources that we independently corroborate and are important to core elements of the story. We do not provide anonymity to sources whose purpose is to further personal or political agendas.
Iraq Oil Report Commitment to Independence
Iraq Oil Report strives to provide thoroughly vetted reporting and fair-minded analysis that enables readers to understand the dynamic events of Iraq. To meet this goal, we always seek to gather first-hand information on the ground, verify facts from multiple angles, and solicit input from every stakeholder involved in a given story.
We view our independence as an integral piece of our competitive advantage. Whereas many media entities in Iraq are owned or heavily influenced by political parties, Iraq Oil Report is wholly owned by several of its employees. In a landscape that is often polarized and politicized, we are able to gather and corroborate information from an unusually wide array of sources because we can speak with all of them in good faith.
To fund this enterprise, Iraq Oil Report depends on revenue from both advertising and subscriptions. Some of our advertisers and subscribers ‐ including companies, governments, and NGOs ‐ are also subjects of our reporting. Consistent with journalistic best practices, Iraq Oil Report maintains a strict firewall that removes business considerations from editorial decision-making. When we are choosing which stories to report and how to write them, our readers always come first.