A damaged building in Erbil following the Iranian strike
Iraq looks beyond headwinds for the upside in 2024
Optimism about Kurdish production increases contrasts with a messy security situation that could obstruct oil and gas progress
Iraq’s one-step-forwards, two-steps-back progress is continuing in 2024, with recent improvements in northern crude output clouded by a deterioration in the country’s wider security situation. An Iranian missile strike on the Kurdish capital of Erbil on 15 January coincided with a general uptick in militia violence in the country—regional fallout from the Israel-Hamas conflict. A drone attack on the Khor Mor gas field in the Kurdistan region on 25 January, damaging Emirati company Dana Gas’ liquid storage tank, has reinforced oil and gas companies’ vulnerability to militia violence in Iraq’s north. The incidents obscured some recent good news for Iraq: crude production is trending upwards ag
Also in this section
9 January 2026
The Latin American producer’s crude prospects rely on a multi-pronged approach where even the relatively easy wins will take considerable time, effort and cost
9 January 2026
While many forecasters are reasserting the importance of oil and gas, petrostates should be under no illusion things are changing, and faster than they might think
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
