Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture has completed a $30 million deal to purchasing nine helicopters from a French company, according to AKnews.

Kareem Tamimi, a spokesman for the ministry, said the deal was brokered initially two years ago, but did not mention the name of the company.

The French company will deliver one helicopter every three months, to train Ministry’s personnel and pilots to operate and work with the helicopters and to provide spare parts for them.

(Source: AKnews)

The Sunday Times, citing unidentified industry sources, reports that French oil and gas producer Total is close to securing exploration rights over several exploration blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan.

A deal could be announced within weeks, according to the newspaper.

Chevron and ConocoPhillips are also believed to be competing for rights in the semi-autonomous region, following the announcement last year that ExxonMobil had acquired six exploration blocks in defiance of central government in Baghdad.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Patrick Kron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alstom, and the Iraqi Vice Minister of Electricity, His Excellency Salam Kazzaz, signed on 11 December, in the presence of His Excellency Karim Aftan El Jumaily, Minister of Electricity, a contract worth approximately €400 million to build the 728 MW Al Mansuriya gas-fired power plant in the Diyala Governorate, northeast of Baghdad. The plant will consist of four units, based on Alstom’s GT13E2 gas turbine, and will be constructed under a turnkey contract, covering delivery of equipment and civil works.

The plant will add generation capacity to Iraq’s electricity network by providing enough electricity to the entire Diyala Governorate and a part of Baghdad, located 80 km away from the plant. The first unit of the plant is scheduled to be operational in early 2013. Equipment will be manufactured in Alstom’s factories in France, Switzerland and Germany. With more than 10 million operating hours accumulated worldwide, Alstom’s GT13E2 gas turbine has demonstrated superior operational performance and continues to provide reliable power to millions of consumers worldwide.

Commenting on the win, Mark Coxon, Senior Vice President of Alstom’s Gas business said:

“Alstom is proud to be participating in the reconstruction of Iraq’s energy infrastructure. I am positive that our superior gas turbine technology, offering outstanding availability and reliability, will support the country in building up secure electricity supplies for the future.“

In July 2010, Patrick Kron, Chairman and CEO of Alstom, and the Ministry of Electricity, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development and modernisation of Iraq’s electricity infrastructure. Under this MoU, Alstom is currently rehabilitating unit 1 of the Najaf gas-fired power station, 160 km south of Baghdad. The unit was out of operation for five years; the rehabilitation will allow the first turbine, recontribute again an output of 60 MW to the Iraqi electricity network.

Lafarge plans to triple cement production over the next two to three years at its plant in Karbala, according to Bloomberg.

Eric le Blan, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge’s partner MerchantBridge, told the agency that production at Karbala would increase from 576,000 tons of cement per year to at least 1.8 million tons by 2013 or 2014.

Demand for building materials in Iraq is expected to increase dramatically as the country develops its infrastructure and build 2.5 million homes by 2015. Annual demand for cement in Iraq is about 20 million tons at present and is expected to rise to at least 35 million tons by 2015, versus current domestic production of about 5 million tons a year.

The company expects to start breaking even in January.

MerchantBridge completed a $220 million deal with Lafarge in 2010, the world’s biggest cement company, under which they took over the Karbala plant on a 15-year lease from the government. Production at the time was about 300,000 tons.

MerchantBridge plans to pursue additional investments in Iraq next year, including in the electricity market, where multibillion dollar projects are under way to help resolve power shortages, le Blan said.

(Source: Bloomberg)

AFP reports that the Iraqi cabinet has approved a $540 million contract for French firm Alstom to build a 182.4 megawatt gas power plant in central Iraq.

Ggovernment spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement that the plant, which should be up and running 18 months after the signature of the contract, is to be built in Mansuriya in the Diyala province, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of the capital.

The cabinet chose Alstom over the Iranian company company Mabna “because the offer was more attractive and less expensive,” he said.

Alstom has already been selected to refurbish a gas power plant in the central province of Najaf.

(Source: AFP)

French engineering group Alstom has been awarded a contract to build an electrical power plant worth $550 million in Iraq, reports Reuters.

The award of the Mansuriyah plant contract was announced as part of a visit to Iraq by French Trade Minister Pierre Lellouche.

“The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister confirmed … the award of the Mansuriyah electrical power plant contract to Alstom for a total value of $550 million,” a statement from Lellouche’s office said.

Oil services group Technip will also sign two agreements relating to Iraqi oil fields on Wednesday, the statement said.

Alstom is already taking part in other projects in Iraq such as the Nineveh power plant and the Baghdad metro.

(Source: Reuters)

The State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP), part of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, has awarded the French-based Axens, a fully-owned subsidiary of IFP Energies nouvelles, the Basic Design and License contracts for the construction of the new refinery in Nassiriya, Iraq. Axens will supply the following process technologies for the refinery:

• H-Oil RC technology for the hydroconversion of 52,000 barrels per day (BPSD) of vacuum residue (VR). The H-OilRC plant will convert deeply VR to low sulfur distillates and produce a low sulfur residue.
• Prime-D™ – Gas Oil desulfurization hydrotreater. The 105,000 BPSD unit will produce ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) with less than 10 ppm of sulphur.
• Prime-K™ – Kerosene desulfurization hydrotreater with a processing capacity of 24,000 BPSD.
• Butane Isomerization unit – having a process capacity about 11,900 BPSD.

The refinery will have a capacity of 300,000 BPSD of domestic crude oil and will deliver high quality products mainly for the domestic market.

Iraq has recovered $116 million [139 billion Iraqi dinars] from bank accounts in France belonging to an official from ex-dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime, the country’s Commission on Integrity said in a statement.

The Commission said the funds comprised $106 million deposited in ‘French Arab Union Bank’ (UBAF), a French-registered bank whose shareholders include 19 Arab banks and Credit Agricole, and the equivalent of $10 million in foreign currency deposited in several banks in France.

It said it had obtained the funds with the help of the US embassy in Baghdad.

The announcement comes after the anti-corruption watchdog’s former chief stepped down earlier this month, citing political interference in his work.

He slammed Iraq’s leaders following his resignation, describing graft as “part of the struggle for power” in the country.

(Sources: AFP, Commission on Integrity)