After a series of internal meetings at Iraq’s Oil Ministry over the past two weeks, talks with several international energy companies have begun with the aim of finally kickstarting developments on the country’s key non-associated gas fields, a senior source who works closely with the Ministry exclusively told OilPrice.com last week. “It’s finally sunk in that the jig’s up with the U.S. and Iran [Washington’s previous granting of waivers to Iraq to keep importing gas and electricity from Tehran], which means everyone’s now scrambling around trying to work out how they’re going increase gas output to levels that prevent rolling blackouts all year round,” the source said. “There are good options available to it [the Ministry], but they all have major political consequences attached, so the decisions in the coming weeks won’t be straightforward,” he added.
