On flying from Dubai to Iraq’s Kurdistan region at night, the geography below is written in unmistakeable orange-yellow flames.
The lines of burning unwanted gas map out the Rumaila and West Qurna oilfields in southern Iraq, then the historic northern Kirkuk field. Driving from Erbil to the northern city of Dohuk, another big flare crowns a mountain at the Shaikan field.
This wasteful combustion vividly shows how Iraq and its Kurdistan region are simultaneously bound together and divided by oil — and its mismanagement.
Last October’s elections were followed by a year of wrangling, protests, outside pressure, and a mix of sporadic and calculated violence, before Iraq finally confirmed a new prime minster, Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, on October 27.
The Kurdish parliament has delayed its own elections for a year, until late next year.
The new government combines the pro-Iranian Co-ordination Framework, Sunni parties represented by parliamentary speaker Mohammed Al Halbousi, and the Kurdish parties, of which the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) will each receive two ministerial positions.
Notably excluded, despite winning the most seats last October, is Moqtada Al Sadr’s movement. In attempting to dominate a new government excluding the Co-ordination Framework, Mr Al Sadr overplayed his hand and Iran orchestrated opposition.
On Wednesday, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s prime minister, Masrour Barzani, told an audience in Dohuk that he was assembling a team to “settle all outstanding issues” with the Baghdad government, including a new federal hydrocarbon law. There is much to settle.
The struggle to seize the prize of the new government opened old wounds of energy sector contention that have pained Baghdad-Kurdistan relations ever since 2003.
On February 15, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court, in a ruling widely seen as politicised, abruptly took up a decade-old case and declared that the Kurdistan Region’s oil law from 2007 was unconstitutional.
The law gave the region the right to manage its petroleum sector independently of Baghdad, and to sign contracts with international companies for exploration and development.
Following this case, the Ministry of Oil launched lawsuits against several international oil companies over their allegedly illegal contracts with the KRG and told major oil service firms such as Halliburton and SLB that they will not be awarded work in the south, unless they stop their activities in the Kurdish region.
In April, missiles from Iran hit a house of Baz Karim, a prominent oil businessman and KDP backer, in Erbil, and others landed near his company’s refinery. Rockets also fell on the Khor Mor field, operated by a consortium led by Sharjah-based Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, halting work on an expansion, although they did not cause serious damage and the perpetrators are unclear.
These actions were mostly seen as measures to pressure the KDP to fall into line with the Co-ordination Framework in forming the new government. But there was also speculation they were warnings to the Kurdistan region not to co-operate with Israel and not to send gas to Turkey, where it would compete with Iranian supplies.
The Supreme Court stepped in again in September to rule that the newly-reinstated Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) was also unconstitutional. INOC would have theoretically taken over operations in the Kurdistan Region as well, but was also seen as a power-grab by the previous oil minister.
In July, the then Iraqi oil minister, Ihsan Ismaeel said that an arbitration case filed in 2014 between Iraq and Turkey was nearing a judgement.
Baghdad’s complaint is that Ankara has allowed the KRG to use the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to export oil independently of the central government, and that this violates the treaty governing the pipeline’s operations, signed in 1973 and updated in 2010. It is claiming $26 billion in damages.
Expectations are that the tribunal will find in Baghdad’s favour, even if the quoted amount is exaggerated. It is unlikely that cash-strapped Turkey will pay, but it may find a compromise that could cut out the Kurds and put oil exports and payments back under Baghdad’s control. The cat-and-mouse game of suing tankers carrying Kurdish oil on the high seas might resume.
Potentially, about 400,000 barrels per day of Kurdish oil exports and another 78,000 bpd the region transits on behalf of Baghdad could be at risk. That would be dangerous for world markets if more oil is required to replace sanctioned Russian crude next year, and if Opec+ again raises production targets. And the economic impact on the Kurdistan region would be catastrophic.
These legal cases also threaten the prospect of gas exports from the Kurdistan region. It is one of the few European neighbours that could send substantial additional gas, enough to replace 10 per cent or more of prewar Russian supplies, by pipeline.
Mr Barzani also mentioned the possibility of providing Kurdish gas to the rest of Iraq, which suffers from endemic shortages of fuel and electricity, and buys unreliable supplies of Iranian gas at costly rates.
But such projects need major international financing, which legal uncertainty will deter. Russia may encourage its allies in Tehran to hinder gas exports that would compete with both their positions in the Turkish market. The Iranian government, reeling under massive protests at home, may lash out again in Iraq. Ankara itself will be wary while it works out the arbitration ruling.
And the Kurds themselves are divided: most of the gas is in the south of the region, controlled by the more Baghdad-friendly PUK, and would have to pass through KDP areas to reach Turkey. Bafel Talabani, the PUK’s co-chair, said that if gas contracts were not transparent, “they will have to export gas pipelines over Bafel Jalal Talabani’s dead body”.
Iraq in general, and Kurdistan in particular, could be a critical component of the new emerging European energy security model.
Gas flares today that poison the air and pollute the planet could instead be lighting Iraqi homes and warming European ones. But this will only happen if the EU can make a firm stand on what it wants, and work with the US to mediate a durable cure for Iraq’s energy ills.
Robin M. Mills is CEO of Qamar Energy, and author of The Myth of the Oil Crisis
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
2021 World Triathlon Championship Series
May 15: Yokohama, Japan
June 5: Leeds, UK
June 24: Montreal, Canada
July 10: Hamburg, Germany
Aug 17-22: Edmonton, Canada (World Triathlon Championship Final)
Nov 5-6 : Abu Dhabi, UAE
Date TBC: Chengdu, China
The Energy Research Centre
Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
"In the 1990s, we found out about global warming so we focused on energy savings and tackling the greenhouse gas effect.”
The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.
The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
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Indian origin executives leading top technology firms
Sundar Pichai
Chief executive, Google and Alphabet
Satya Nadella
Chief executive, Microsoft
Ajaypal Singh Banga
President and chief executive, Mastercard
Shantanu Narayen
Chief executive, chairman, and president, Adobe
Indra Nooyi
Board of directors, Amazon and former chief executive, PepsiCo
Results
Male 51kg Round 1
Dias Karmanov (KAZ) beat Mabrook Rasea (YEM) by points 2-1.
Male 54kg Round 1
Yelaman Sayassatov (KAZ) beat Chen Huang (TPE) TKO Round 1; Huynh Hoang Phi (VIE) beat Fahad Anakkayi (IND) RSC Round 2; Qais Al Jamal (JOR) beat Man Long Ng (MAC) by points 3-0; Ayad Albadr (IRQ) beat Yashar Yazdani (IRI) by points 2-1.
Male 57kg Round 1
Natthawat Suzikong (THA) beat Abdallah Ondash (LBN) by points 3-0; Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Ahmed Al Jubainawi (IRQ) by points 2-1; Hamed Almatari (YEM) beat Nasser Al Rugheeb (KUW) by points 3-0; Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) beat Yu Xi Chen (TPE) by points 3-0.
Men 86kg Round 1
Ahmad Bahman (UAE) beat Mohammad Al Khatib (PAL) by points 2-1
Men 63.5kg Round 1
Noureddin Samir (UAE) beat Polash Chakma (BAN) RSC Round 1.
Female 45kg quarter finals
Narges Mohammadpour (IRI) beat Yuen Wai Chan (HKG) by points.
Female 48kg quarter finals
Szi Ki Wong (HKG) beat Dimple Vaishnav (IND) RSC round 2; Thanawan Thongduang (THA) beat Nastaran Soori (IRI) by points; Shabnam Hussain Zada (AFG) beat Tzu Ching Lin (TPE) by points.
Female 57kg quarter finals
Nguyen Thi Nguyet (VIE) beat Anisha Shetty (IND) by points 2-1; Areeya Sahot (THA) beat Dana Al Mayyal (KUW) RSC Round 1; Sara Idriss (LBN) beat Ching Yee Tsang (HKG) by points 3-0.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
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MATCH INFO
Qalandars 112-4 (10 ovs)
Banton 53 no
Northern Warriors 46 all out (9 ovs)
Kumara 3-10, Garton 3-10, Jordan 2-2, Prasanna 2-7
Qalandars win by six wickets
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
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The biog
Profession: Senior sports presenter and producer
Marital status: Single
Favourite book: Al Nabi by Jibran Khalil Jibran
Favourite food: Italian and Lebanese food
Favourite football player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Languages: Arabic, French, English, Portuguese and some Spanish
Website: www.liliane-tannoury.com
Brief scores:
Day 1
Toss: India, chose to bat
India (1st innings): 215-2 (89 ov)
Agarwal 76, Pujara 68 not out; Cummins 2-40
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
