A focus piece on Iraq’s licensing round for PE’s August issue, where the full article can be found.

KIRKUK EXEMPLIFIES much of what is still undermining Iraq’s progress from a violent, post-dictator and divided country to a wealthy oil-producing state. The city, which shares its name with the country’s most famous oilfield, is also claimed by Kurds who reject the authority of the central government in Baghdad; and in late June a deadly bomb killed more than 30 people in one of its markets. A couple of weeks earlier, a truck bomb killed scores more.

The latest bomb happened, by no coincidence, on the day US troops began withdrawing from Iraqi cities. It was another reminder of the kind of legacy that the US Army may leave behind. Thanks to a sandstorm that knocked back the government’s schedule by a day, the attack also coincided with a televised auction to award service contracts to international oil companies (IOCs) for the country’s eight biggest oilfields, Kirkuk among them. (…) The rest is for subscribers, I’m afraid.