Baghdad, July 7 – The Iraq crisis fallout for the Kurdish region is, it seems to be facing hard times, as energy companies are wary of investing heavily in the area. They won’t unless they are convinced they have a trouble-free way to market the oil.
“Oil companies are very wary about touching what is considered a hot commodity,” Denise Natali, an expert on Kurdish affairs at the National Defense University in Washington, was quoted by New York Times as saying. The expert rues Kurds’ lack of pipeline and other wherewithal such as the storage capacity and the political support for a seamless export.
While the Shiite-dominated Iraq government is suffering the onslaught of the Islamic militants, the autonomous Kurdish region that has seized control of the oil-rich Kirkuk is prepararig for a referendum on independence.
However, that is easier said than done, as its inability to sell oil supplies abroad or refine them have heavily impacted its economy. Kurds – whose population is spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran – is said to be facing opposition from powerful forces in its tracks of independence, with the US telling it to be a part of united Iraq and join a national unity government.
Its economic partner Turky also bauks at talking Kurds’ independence, what with a substantial Kurdish population within its border looking to worsen things for itself. While Israel has supported Kurds’ independence, the association may not be very fruitful for them, Times has said.
While experts see Kurdistan, capable of moving 60,000 barrels a day to Turkey, a world-class producer, as it sits on a seal of oil, the United States has been opposing “the Kurds’ exporting their own oil, fearing that could lead to the breakup of Iraq”, the report adds.
-INDIA TODAY
