Restraining the game-changer: A decade of uneven development in the petroleum sector

The development of the Iraqi petroleum sector during the period 2008−18 represents, from all related aspects, a distinct phase in the sector and in its role in the national economy. The petroleum sector comprises three different but interrelated sub-sectors through critical forward-backward linkages: upstream (including exploration, field development and production); midstream (pipeline, storage, export terminals); and downstream (crude refining, gas processing, petroleum product distribution and petrochemicals).