15 May 2024
Can Iraqi Kurdistan's gas ambitions flourish from regional turmoil?
Publication date: 01 July 2014
Gas Strategies Group
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EC4A 4AD
ISSN: 0964-8496
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The semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has developed ambitious plans for its burgeoning gas industry over the past two decades – plans largely opposed by the federal powers in Baghdad. But over the past two months the prevailing political landscape has been swept aside, with Iraq engulfed by sectarian violence and vast swathes falling under the control of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants. So, with the country seemingly on the brink of break up and Turkey now apparently lending at least tacit approval for a KRI breakaway from Baghdad, can Erbil emerge from the chaos to fulfil its ambitions as a global gas supplier – or will it too fall victim to the deepening conflict? Gas Strategies looks at the implications of the latest upheaval, both positive and negative, in the light of Kurdistan’s separatist aspirations.