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China Snubs Washington With Big Oil Deals In South Iraq By Simon Watkins - Jan 21, 2021, 6:00 PM CST
There are three major troubling factors for new U.S. President Joe Biden. In the recently agreed US$2 billion five–year prepayment oil supply deal between the Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) in Baghdad and China’s Zhenhua Oil. First, is that the deal is straight out of the playbook that Russia used to gain control over Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern region of Kurdistan in 2017. Second, according to various sources close to Iraq’s Oil Ministry spoken to by
OilPrice.com last week, this deal between Russia’s Rosneft and the government of Kurdistan (the KRG) meant that Moscow was able to cause such disruption in the budget payments-for-oil deal between Kurdistan and Baghdad that the resulting financial crunch for the FGI pre-disposed Baghdad to look beneficially at the China proposal in the first place. This implies clearly that Russia and China
Iraq has reduced annual supplies of Basra crude oil to several Indian refiners by up to 20% for 2021, industry sources said, in a rare move by OPEC`s second-largest producer which is trying to meet its obligations under the group`s production deal.
Iraq was the top oil supplier to India in 2020 and a reduction in long-term Basra crude supplies could erode Baghdad`s market share in the world`s third largest oil importer and consumer.
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Iran Expands Its Sphere Of Influence With Iraqi Energy Deals By Simon Watkins - Jan 14, 2021, 3:00 PM CST
Iraq announced two deals with countries that Iran hopes can be gradually moved further into its sphere of influence. One of the two, Lebanon, is already seen by Tehran as a key player in the Shia crescent of power that it has been meticulously developing for years - as a counterpoint to the U.S.’s own sphere of influence centred on Saudi Arabia - that stretches from Syria and Lebanon through Iraq and Iran and then south into Yemen.
According to comments last week from Iraq’s new Oil Minister, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar, following a meeting in Baghdad with his Lebanon counterpart, Raymond Ghajar, Iraq will begin exporting fuel to Lebanon this month. The geopolitical imperative underpinning this announcement cannot be overstated, given that Iraq itself suffered from extreme power shortages over the summer and remains subject to intermittent power failures
ISHM: December 24, 2020 - January 7, 2021
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Kadhimi Says Government Ready For Showdown As Militias Issue Brazen Threats; Parliament To Discuss 2021 Budget On Saturday; Fatah Calls For Removing U.S. Forces – On December 25, PM Kadhimi warned “outlaw” militias that his government was “ready for a decisive confrontation if necessary” while stressing that he had called for de-escalation after a tense standoff in Baghdad. Kadhimi’s Defense Minister warned that a continuation of militia attacks on diplomatic missions could “lead the country into civil war.” On December 26, a senior member of Kataib Hezbollah threatened to “cut off the ears” of the Iraqi PM, warned him not to “test the resistance’s patience.” On December 29, Parliament received the draft 2021 budget, which the Cabinet approved on December 21. The budget includes IQD164 trillion in spending with an estimated deficit of IQD71 trillion. Parliament is set to begin discussing the
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