As Iraq feels the brunt of lower oil prices, PM Mohammed al-Sudani has instructed the oil ministry to assess “operating and capital expenditure budgets” including those allocated this year to IOCs operating the country’s southern oilfields. The PM wants the ministry to “cancel or postpone unnecessary [spending] items without impacting planned production levels.”
The directive reported by local media this week comes after “the large fall in oil prices and its impact on the Federal budget” as per a 10 April memo which set an end-April deadline to receive a tally of the cuts. The PM met with IOC executives in Baghdad on 20 April. (CONTINUED - 151 WORDS)