Iraq’s Oil Ministry has given the final technical approval needed to formally launch the Dhi Qar and Wasit state oil companies, which officials in the two up-and-coming oil provinces have demanded as a measure of rights to a degree of autonomy. The move coincided this week with an Iraqi Cabinet decision to endorse, in principle, the formation of new provinces of Anbar province’s Fallujah, Salahaddin province’s Tuz Khurmatu, and Ninewa province’s Ninewa Plains and Tal Afar.