Iraq’s northern Ninevah province is working on its own independent energy legislation to regulate oil development within its borders, a Kurdish source tells MEES. The development could not be confirmed by press time, but it chimes with a number of developments on the ground, as Baghdad increasingly shapes federal oil policy with a view to placate provincial governments.
The Ninevah oil law specifically mentions cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). While not confirmed, Ninevah governor, Athil al-Nujayfi, has grown closer to the Kurds of late, with energy cooperation a main plank of the emerging Kurdish-Ninevah axis. The province is receiving electricity from the KRG and appears to have given a tacit green light to the KRG’s award of areas partly lying inside Ninevah territory to ExxonMobil (MEES, 19 July). (CONTINUED - 676 WORDS)
