Iraq's Kurds Seek Independence: What Impact for Oil Markets?

[corbe]

Iraq's Kurds Seek Independence: What Impact for Oil Markets?

By Angelina Rascouet and Khalid Al Ansary
‎September‎ ‎20‎, ‎2017‎ ‎4‎:‎00‎ ‎PM

Iraq’s Kurdish provinces plan to vote in a referendum on independence on Sept. 25, a poll that regional and Western powers, not to mention the central government in Baghdad, have decried as a catalyst for greater instability in a region gutted by war. At stake are the petrodollars that have helped sustain the Kurdish Regional Government’s semi-autonomous rule after a budgetary deal with the federal government fell apart. Some of this oil wealth lies in disputed areas where the referendum will be held.


1. Why should the oil market care about this referendum?

<..snip..>

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-20/iraq-s-kurds-seek-independence-what-impact-for-oil-markets

[corbe]

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Wars are fought over oil, and there are a lot of oil fields, including one really big one in the area of Iraq's Kurdish population.

This is not a gimme that they achieve independence, especially as both Iran and Turkey would then have more problems with their own Kurdish population seeking to be autonomous.