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19 June 2013
By John Lee. Paulson & Co, the hedge fund run by John Paulson (pictured), has bought Cdn$70 million [$68.6 million USD] of WesternZagros 4.00% Convertible Senior Unsecured Notes (“Convertible Notes”). A portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement have been used to repay the remaining Crest Energy International (“Crest”) debt of US$44.5 million plus [...]
Posted in Investment, Oil & Gas0 Comments
19 June 2013
By John Lee. Gulf Keystone has announced the commencement of the Company’s drilling campaign to explore deeper, yet untested horizons of the world class discovery at the Shaikan field, which the Company operates. Shaikan-7, the first deep exploration well on the Shaikan block, is targeting the mid to lower Triassic and, potentially, Permian horizons, spudded [...]
Posted in Oil & Gas0 Comments
19 June 2013
The United Nations welcomed the launch of the National Environment Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP) in Baghdad on Monday, on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification. “This is a landmark step, the first ever national strategy for the environment and a blueprint for sustainable development in Iraq,” said Martin Kobler, the Special [...]
Posted in Public Works0 Comments
19 June 2013
By Abdel Hamid Zebari for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. With the continuously deteriorating security and political situation in Syria, and the growing fighting between government and opposition forces, many Syrian citizens — particularly Syria’s Kurds — have been forced [...]
Posted in Security0 Comments
18 June 2013
By John Lee. The Missan Oil Company (MOC) has announced that new oil rigs are being installed at the Halfaya oil field to increase the number of new wells in the second stage of developing the field. The Director General of the company said that two new rigs belonging to PetroChina have already arrived and [...]
Posted in Oil & Gas0 Comments
18 June 2013
Philippine companies are looking at opportunities for trade and investments in Iraq. Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. (pictured), President of the Philippine Exporters Confederation (Philexport), the umbrella organization of Philippine exporters, told Philippine Star: “Iraq has expressed interest in importing raw and finished products from the Philippines, including electronics, auto parts, polypropylene granules, furniture, processed foods, fresh [...]
Posted in Industry & Trade0 Comments
18 June 2013
By Ahmed Mousa Jiyad. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Iraqi EITI Report 2011: The Need to Act Promptly, Effectively and Properly This contribution was based on PowerPoint presentations I delivered before “EITI Beyond Compliance Report Analysis Workshop” organised by Revenue Watch [...]
Posted in Ahmed Mousa Jiyad0 Comments
18 June 2013
The US Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hoshyar Zebari, on Sunday to discuss a number of issues. Mr. Kerry praised the breakthrough made in the country’s political situation and the Prime Minister’s visit to the region of Kurdistan, stressing that the US administration always urges Iraqi leaders to adopt [...]
Posted in Security0 Comments
18 June 2013
President Masoud Barzani met with US State Department senior advisor Brett McGurk to discuss the recent political developments in Iraq and in the wider region. Mr. McGurk lauded the recent rapprochement between the Erbil and Baghdad, including the visit to Erbil by Prime Minister Maliki and his meeting with President Barzani. He expressed US government’s [...]
Posted in Politics, Security0 Comments
18 June 2013
“The current security situation in Syria, along with the desire to protect my children, forced me to leave my home,” said Samira, a middle-aged Syrian mother who fled home with her four children months ago. “We are living in precarious conditions in a crowded place, but, alhamdulillah, we are safe and healthy, receiving food and [...]
Posted in Healthcare, Security0 Comments
17 June 2013
By John Lee. France24 reports that Chevron has signed another oil exploration deal in Iraqi Kurdistan. The contract, under which Chevron will acquire an interest in and operatorship of the Qara Dagh block production sharing contract, is the company’s third in the autonomous region; it was previously barred from working in non-Kurdish parts of the country [...]
Posted in Oil & Gas0 Comments
17 June 2013
By John Lee. India’s external affairs minister, Salman Khurshid, starts a two-day visit to Iraq on Wednesday, during which he will hold talks with top Iraqi leadership on issues including the supply of oil. Khurshid, the first senior Indian leader to visit Iraq since 1990, is expected to call on Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, and [...]
Posted in Oil & Gas0 Comments
17 June 2013
By John Lee. Volvo Trucks has inaugurated joint service centres in the Iraq cities of Baghdad and Basra, reports Construction Week Online. The service centres, built in collaboration with local country distributor ZamZam Spring, will service trucks made by Volvo and Mack, part of the Volvo group. Stefan Soenchen, Iraq country manager of Volvo Trucks, [...]
Posted in Construction & Engineering, Transportation0 Comments
17 June 2013
By Reidar Visser. The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It is reproduced here with the author’s permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq [...]
Posted in Politics, Security0 Comments
17 June 2013
A year ago I wrote a post called “Will the Banks Get More Time,” in which I argued that most of the ISX-listed banks weren’t going to make the central bank’s deadline of June 30, 2012 to reach IQD 150 bn in paid-up capital. I posted pretty much the same thing back in May, 2011 [...]
Posted in Mark DeWeaver on Investments and Finance0 Comments
16 June 2013
By Hiwa Barznjy. This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Iraqi Kurdistan has a sea of oil and politicians are eager to exploit the resource. But one expert says oil extraction must be more carefully managed. [...]
Posted in Oil & Gas0 Comments
