The barrel of sovereignty is exported on American orders. Baghdad responds and Erbil smiles.
The barrel of sovereignty is exported on American orders. Baghdad responds and Erbil smiles.
10-6-2025
Information / Exclusive ..
In a familiar scene where roles are repeated, Baghdad and Erbil signed an oil agreement with a “pure American flavor.” It is no secret that its details were drawn up there, behind glass doors in Washington, not under the dome of the Iraqi parliament or in federal government offices.
The agreement was made under American orders, and Baghdad complied, and Erbil smiled, as it came before the elections and at a timing not devoid of political cunning. It includes clauses that appear technical on the surface, but are, in essence, strategic, granting Kurdistan continued extraction, albeit with symbolic oversight from Baghdad, which has conceded many rights and funds of its citizens for fear of imminent American punishment.
Observers pointed out that the agreement set the cost of extracting a barrel of oil from the southern fields at only $4, while extracting a barrel of oil from the region reaches $16. There is no consolation for justice in the difference in production and extraction prices, with the biggest winners being the ruling families and their parties in northern Iraq.
For his part, member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Moeen Al-Kadhimi, confirmed that American oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region are directly contributing to Iraq’s losses in oil revenues, as a result of manipulating extraction costs with the aim of achieving huge profits at the expense of the Iraqi people.
Al-Kadhimi told Al-Maalouma that “American oil companies operating in the region are making huge profits, while the Iraqi state is bearing increasing losses due to the high costs of production and extraction, which serves its interests in these fields.” He indicated that “the government’s continued silence regarding American pressures supporting the continued presence of these companies constitutes a clear violation of national sovereignty.”
He added that “the presence of these companies in the region perpetuates the plunder of national wealth under the guise of foreign investments, which is unacceptable and does not serve Iraq’s economic interests.” He pointed out that “the government is required to take a firm stance on this issue, which has become a burden on the national economy.”
Oil expert Hamza Al-Jawahiri explained that the cost of exporting Iraqi oil via the Turkish port of Ceyhan ranges between $12 and $16 per barrel, which is equivalent to double the cost of extraction from the south via the Gulf, which does not exceed $6 per barrel.
In contrast, US Senator Marco Rubio blessed the agreement between Baghdad and Erbil, reinforcing the hypothesis that it was not merely a “local oil understanding,” but a purely American measure, taking into account the interests of US energy companies that lead investment in the region and know exactly where the barrels are going.
Conversely, Kurdistan is playing its game intelligently, knowing when to halt exports, when to restart pipelines, when to threaten independence, and when to seek Baghdad’s favor. The current period represents a “golden timing” policy for the regional government, which moves oil ships according to geopolitical rather than economic conditions. As for Baghdad? It is adept at waiting and delaying, sometimes signing agreements without knowing what it has signed.
In the end, the oil is pumped, the agreement is implemented, the Americans invest, officials in Baghdad smile, and the people wait for someone to tell them what was agreed upon in their name, thus transforming the barrel of sovereignty into an agreement on American orders.
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