Energy news: Kurdish oil

The Iraqi Kurds are officially extracting and exporting oil all on their own.

The oil is flowing north through a pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean port and hydrocarbon shipment hub Ceyhan.

The big question here is how the profits from the resulting revenues will be shared and invested, as well as what this will do to relations between the KDR and the central Iraqi government. Will this help smooth the way for development and integration or only create more conflict between between the two bodies? I predict that latter.

However, as a fast developing Iraqi Kurdistan continues to benefit Turkey economically, it may have the effect of helping the latter, which has taken on the role of mediator in several major regional issues, to have a greater interest in pushing the KRG and the central government into negotiations and drawing up more practical government structures to facilitate development in the rest of Iraq.