ABSTRACT
The Iraqi oil production and transport are vulnerable to two different threats from within. If the Kurds pose a rival political authority in the north; it is the rampant corruption and mismanagement in the south. The emergence and expansion of the Islamic State in large swathes of Iraq and Syria resulted in systematic smuggling of oil. According to the Oil & Gas Journal, Iraq held 143 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves at the end of 2015, representing 18% of proved reserves in West Asia and almost 9% of global reserves. The script of Iraq’s oil policies is woven into a succession of wars. According to Kurdish sources, Iran offered to construct gas and oil pipelines to south Kurdistan. The oil pipeline would carry oil from the Kurdistan region to Iran, where it would be refined and sent back to Kurdistan.
