Iraq’s oil sector has come under the spotlight ahead of next week’s general election, with many seeing oilfield development as a key factor in the country’s economic recovery.
The deals struck with foreign oil firms at the second round of auctioning last year are seen as a crucial part of current Prime Minsister Nouri al-Maliki’s re-election campaign.
“It remains impossible to predict the election’s outcome, particularly on specific policy areas such as energy. It seems likely that the government will initially be relatively weak—at least during the first half of its tenure,” said Samuel Ciszuk, Middle East energy analyst at IHS Global Insight.
“The result for oil companies—and service companies hoping to pick up lucrative associated contracts—is of course a rather high degree of continued political uncertainty. A major concern is that if the next government fails to build internal cohesion security could deteriorate nationwide,” he adds.
“The upside of this uncertainty, however, is that a shaky government fighting for cohesion is more likely to leave the oil companies to their own devices.”
