Iraq's Latest Attempt To Corner Asian Oil Markets

Every new crisis is a formidable opportunity to try new things, oftentimes merely to have another go with methods that have failed in the past but should work better now. Cognizant of the pricing developments in the Asian market, the Iraqi state oil marketing company SOMO has announced that from 2021 onwards it would introduce a new medium sour grade to its set of available grades – Basrah Medium. The concept of Basrah Medium is by no means a complete novelty, it has been mooted for more than 2 years already as a necessary step to mitigate…