Iraq: NOC, Akkas gas project and the security issuenote

The Iraqi Oil Ministry has not set any new deadline for offers for the Akkas gas project. However, security and oil circles in northern Iraq agree that it is still too difficult to set up an effective permanent protection for the project, but state-owned North Oil Company (NOC) keeps looking for alternatives. The following 305-word article published in Iraq Information Report’s issue of June 27, 2008 talks about the new deadline. It also talks about the security issue, the alternatives and the difficulties. It also talks about the security equipment too, about what the Oil Ministry did and what intends to do in this regard.