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Federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government run very different oil sectors, and it is the latter that is currently exciting investors. But without political compromise – unlikely given the increasingly sour relations between the two regions – there can be no stable oil revenues for majors looking to develop Kurdish concessions

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have pledged to continue trading with Iran despite increasing pressure from the US. South Africa’s trade minister Rob Davies told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting of BRICS trade ministers in Delhi in March that the group was not bound by unilateral sanctions imposed by any country

Iraq has approved a $329m tender for UK oil and gas services company Petrofac to develop the untapped Badra oil field.

France’s Technip has won a Kuwait Gulf Oil Company contract to build a 110km pipeline between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, both onshore and offshore.

Baghdad has said it will ban US supermajor ExxonMobil from Iraq’s fourth oil and gas licensing auction scheduled for 30 May because of its deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). It has also warned France’s Total that it will face “full consequences” if it signs contracts directly with the Kurdish authorities.

Iran plans to increase its crude oil storage capacity in order to circumvent sanctions, according to the English language Tehran Times.

Qatar has quietly accumulated a 2% share in French energy giant Total, according to a report in French paper Les Echos. On 13 March, the paper said Qatar’s investment – built up since last summer – was worth more than E2bn ($2.7bn), making the emirate one of the oil major’s biggest shareholders.

There appears to be confusion between Baghdad and Erbil over the status of ExxonMobil’s contract with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG)(GSN 915/14, 913/9). On 16 March, Reuters ran a story quoting Iraqi oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi as saying: “We received a letter from Exxon on 5 March saying they are freezing the contract with the Kurds.”

Dubai has completed financing for phase one of the $1.08bn Al Sufouh tram project, to be built by a consortium of US and European companies.

Oil major ExxonMobil has broken its silence over its controversial production-sharing contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), although it did not comment on the resultant tension with Baghdad.

French oil major Total has bought a 40% stake in the Block 3 exploration licence, which it will operate. The licence covers 2,954 square metres in the eastern section of the Marib Basin

Iraq has nominated former oil minister Thamer Al Ghadban as next secretary general of Opec, according to a government spokesman.

Reports that a major pipeline in Eastern Province had been attacked – subsequently denied by the Saudi government – were enough to send oil prices to their highest level since 2008, a sign not so much of the fragility of oil supplies as market nerves.

Baghdad has said it is delaying bidding for the next round of exploration rights by more than a month to May 30.

Saudi Arabia has been keen to stress that it will make up for any shortfall in world oil markets. While he did not directly mention Iran, oil minister Ali Al Naimi told a London conference on 30 January that “any future shortages will be handled”.