KRG shuts border with Syrian Kurds, cutting oil artery
Tanker trucks at the Lanaz refinery in Erbil, which has received much of its crude oil feedstock from Syria. (Photo credit: Lanaz Company)
SULAIMANIYA/ERBIL - Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has shut down its border with northeast Syria, including an oil trade that was generating tens of millions of dollars per month for the Kurdish-led administration in Rojava.
The closure, which started in mid-December 2021, has forced the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) to sharply slash its oil production — damaging a financial lifeline for a putative U.S. ally, which faces threats from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) militant group, the Assad regime, and the Turkish government.
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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.
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.
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.
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.