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A hydrocarbons law in Iraq is in the offing, which could provide a stable revenue-sharing platform for years to come, but big obstacles remain to be resolved, leaving Iraqi Kurds in political and financial limbo, while the Kurdish regional oil industry stutters even as big gas developments are being promoted.

The Iraqi government has said it plans to launch a sixth licensing round in the near future, as it makes a renewed effort to boost domestic production of natural gas and reduce imports which it says are costing the state some ID10trn ($6.9bn) a year.

Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Baghdad on 5 February for talks on energy and security issues. UAE justice minister Abdullah Sultan bin Awad Al-Nuaimi had been in the Iraqi capital on 4 February.  Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal Bin Salman Al-Saud had also been in Iraq on 2 February.

The slow progress being made by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani’s government in addressing the multi-billion dollar 'Theft of the Century' scandal further highlights the failure by consecutive Iraqi PMs to tackle the deeply-entrenched graft in Iraq's ruling classes.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani removed Mustafa Ghalib Makhif as governor of the Central Bank of Iraq on 23 January, following a 7% fall in the value of the dinar over the past two months. Makhif had held the job since 2020. He has been succeeded by Ali Mohsen Al-Allaq.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammad Shia Al-Sudani travelled to Berlin in January for an official visit – his first to Europe since taking office in October. Energy and security issues dominated the agenda, with discussions about potential Iraqi gas supplies to Germany and the ongoing work by Siemens Energy to rehabilitate Iraq’s electricity sector, following a deal with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity in 2019.

Kuwait Projects Company (Kipco) subsidiary Burgan Bank said on 10 January that it had gained approval from Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) to sell its 51.8% stake in Bank of Baghdad to Amman-based Jordan Kuwait Bank (JKB). The value of the transaction was not revealed, but Burgan said it would help it to avoid a rise in its non-performing loans ratio.

After the excitement of the Fifa World Cup in Qatar in November and December, a rather smaller soccer tournament opened on 6 January in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The 25th running of the Gulf Cup features the six Gulf Co-operation Council member states alongside Iraq and Yemen. It is the first time the tournament has been held in Iraq since 1979.

GSN Risk Grade: D4↓ Election delay: The federal Supreme Court is due to hear several cases in the coming days over the decision by the Kurdistan Region parliament to postpone elections that were due on 1 October.The parliament voted on 9 October to extend its term until end-2023 due to disputes between parties over the election law.

Anti-corruption drive: Corruption remains a critical problem, which Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani’s government will be judged on. Sudani said on 11 December the government had recovered another ID134bn ($92m) stolen from the General Commission of Taxes, in a case known as the ‘Theft of the Century’. It took the total recovered to ID317bn, out of some ID3.7tn reported stolen.

With a new government in place in Baghdad and a new oil minister in the shape of industry veteran Hayan Abdulghani, Iraq is looking to cement recent progress in its oil and gas sector, building on crude production that rose to average 4.5m b/d output at end-2022.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani has had a busy diplomatic schedule since taking office on 27 October, with trips to Jordan on 21 November for talks with King Abdullah II, followed by a visit to Kuwait on 23 November to meet his counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. There has been speculation he may soon travel to Saudi Arabia too.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force revived its drone, artillery and missile attacks on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) on 14 November, around five weeks after a previous wave of attacks had ended. IRGC officials said they were targeting the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan (Komalah), which they view as terrorist organisations.

Iraq’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani is a veteran of the post-Saddam Hussein political scene. He was governor of Maysan province in 2009-10 and then served as human rights minister in Nouri Al-Maliki’s administration, from December 2010 to October 2014.

A list of the 22 members of Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani's cabinet, covering agriculture, communications, culture, defence, education, electricity, finance, foreign affairs, health, higher education and scientific research, industry and minerals, interior, justice, labour and social affairs, migration and displacement, oil, planning, trade, transport, water resources, and youth and sports.