Iraq cobbles together an oil deal

Erbil and Baghdad have struck an agreement on exports through Turkey, though many of the old problems could still ruin it

Are things looking up in Iraq's northern oil sector? In early September, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal one in Baghdad reached a deal resolving the five-month dispute over sales of Kirkuk oil via the KRG-operated export pipeline to Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The agreement reflected the broader effort in both Erbil and Baghdad to fix one political problem ahead of a bigger effort by both sides to expel Islamic State (IS) from Mosul. Yet factionalism in Kurdistan and Baghdad's own political chaos could yet ruin it all. Shipping Kirkuk crude through the KRG's infrastructure is a potentially big breakthrough. The months of stalemate starved both Erbil and Baghdad of e