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As supporters of Shia Muslim firebrand Moqtada al-Sadr threaten to create chaos throughout southern Iraq, causing a partial shutdown of the country's revenue lifeline, oil officials and the interim government face their toughest test since the US-led occupation ended at the end of June. Exports are continuing, but at reduced rates, as the authorities struggle to contain the havoc that threatens to split the south from the central government.
The crisis is being dealt with in Baghdad by oil minister Thamer al-Ghadban, supported by a countrywide team of experienced technocrats. The structure of the industry, which was kept under tight control in the Saddam Hussein era and stacked with Baathist loyalists, is undergoing a step-by-step transformation designed to create greater efficiency and transparency. But the lengthy process can't be completed until a new constitution is in place providing the legal and regulatory framework for investment.
Iraq has had no shortage of outside advice on how to structure the industry....