Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Moving to federalism?

Hunt Oil has signed a deal with the Kurds - not the government in Baghdad - to hunt for oil in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Was it because the Kurds had passed a law allowing this and the national government had not despite Maliki's attempt to do so? Or was it a recognition that dealing with one of the 'federations' was the only way to get the deal done?

However, signing a contract is one thing. At least one other company, a small Norwegian oil company, has found and pumped oil in Kurdistan but has yet to get an export license so that it can sell the oil.

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