Iraqi officials reported on Thursday that the Kurdistan Regional Government had begun pumping oil from two oil fields near the city of Kirkuk. The city itself, which has long been a site of contention between the Baghdad government and the KRG, fell under Kurdish control after Iraqi Army units withdrew last month. Since then, the […]
Brazil: Multi-national consortium wins offshore production rights amid protests
A consortium made up of Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petrobras, Shell, Total, and Chinese companies CNPC and CNOOC has won a production license for the offshore Libra oilfield. The 35-year license to the deep-sea field–which is thought to be rich enough to potentially double Brazil’s oil reserves–was auctioned off by Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency. The consortium […]
The New War for Afghanistans Untapped Oil – Antonia Juhasz – The Atlantic
In her feature for The Atlantic, journalist Antonia Juhasz argues that struggles for natural resources–oil and gas in particular–could be responsible for an increase in violence in Afghanistan during 2012, and that the Pentagon has thus far failed to recognize this new reality. I experienced the Taliban surge firsthand this past November, and can offer a […]
China’s CNPC begins oil production in Afghanistan | Reuters
(Reuters) – A Chinese firm has started extracting oil from the Amu Darya basin in northern Afghanistan, mining officials said, a key moment in the country’s quest to pay its own way. Afghanistan signed a 25-year contract with National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) last December covering drilling and a planned refinery in the northern provinces of […]