An economic forum will be held in Dubai in two months time in the hope of fostering economic development in the Kurdistan Region and attractiong more investors to the booming regional economy.

Shilan Khanaqa, Kurdistan Region’s representative to the United Arab Emirates told AKnews that the two-day conference will be held under the auspices of the Dubai Emirate and Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

No exact date was mentioned, but officials from Kurdistan, including ministers for tourism, and trade and industry, heads of investment boards and chambers of commerce, as well as a considerable number of Kurdish businessmen are expected to attend.

The conference will spotlight the high security and stability in Kurdistan to attract more investors, Khanaqaa added.

(Source: AKnews)

By Chris Bowers, British Consul General in Erbil. This article was originally published by Rudaw, and is re-published with permission by Iraq Business News.

After months of waiting, we look to be in the final stages of government reshuffle. Around the world that is a time when the political system takes a deep breath, scans the horizon and looks at what needs doing.

The arrival of a new set of ministers in Iraqi Kurdistan gives civil servants the opportunity to come up with some new plans, changes of direction, new initiatives. New ministers will want to set out their new messages; a clear sense of strategic direction.

Any responsible government faces similar challenges: ensuring the security of its citizens, enhancing their prosperity and the efficiency of services. It sounds so simple!

The new cabinet will be building from a strong base. Security is good – excellent when compared to the rest of Iraq – the economy is growing at around 10% and the KRG should have more money to spend this year than last year. A lot of cabinets around the world would be delighted to inherit that. More than that, the new cabinet will inherit a political mood of optimism and a recognition that society is going through radical and dynamic change – the bulk of it for the good. There is a mood of opportunity in the Kurdistan Region’s cities: the realization that the Region having been held back for so many decades is on the verge of doing something special. That is a valuable political commodity.

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)

AKE has compiled statistics covering violence in Iraq over the course of 2011. The average week saw 56 attacks, many of which included bombings targeting civilians on an indiscriminate basis. The Iraqi security forces also suffered numerous attacks and will likely remain a major focus for militant groups now that the US military has withdrawn from the country. A total of 1716 explosive attacks took place, with 78 of them involving suicide bombers. Eighty-three people were also kidnapped, with many remaining in captivity or unaccounted for.

Weekly Fatalities in Iraq - figures fluctuated throughout 2011

Casualties
AKE also documented at least 2893 fatalities over the year. However, the true figure is almost certain to be much higher. AKE figures are collated on a ‘spot’ basis, i.e. they are taken within 24 hours of a violent incident and do not take into account those who have died later from their injuries. The monitoring agency Iraq Body Count recorded a rise in civilian casualties in 2011, with 4,059 documented fatalities over the course of the year.

Q4 Conditions
Between October and December Baghdad was the most violent part of the country. The capital saw an average of 2-3 attacks per day, accounting for 38 per cent of all the violence in the country over the period. The next most hazardous province was Ninawa where the city of Mosul saw an average of 1-2 attacks per day. Other violent areas included the volatile and socially-mixed province of Ta’mim (Kirkuk) as well as the central provinces of Anbar, Babil, Diyala and Salah ad-Din.

Frequency of Incidents Oct-Dec 2011

Greener Pastures
The Kurdish provinces were very quiet, although they saw a small number of incidents, including cross border military operations by Iran and Turkey and a rise in localised social tensions in certain areas. The south of Iraq also saw very little violence. The quietest provinces in the whole of the country were Muthanna and Najaf which saw no major incidents of violence at all in the last quarter of the year. Even the oil-rich and previously troubled  provinces of Basrah and Maysan were far quieter than their counterparts in the centre and north of the country.

The Energy Sector
Such improvement in the southern region bodes well for the numerous companies looking to do business in the area in 2012. However, with ongoing violence, including a significant bombing in central Basrah the day before an oil and gas conference last year, security will likely remain a major consideration over the coming months for the industry.

Planning for 2012
AKE maintains a real-time security, political and travel risk report on Iraq, which readers can purchase here.  It contains risk assessment material, projections on how the security and political risk environment is likely to evolve over the coming year, travel guidelines and advice, as well as an archived database of analysis on the country stretching back to 2003. You can also obtain a free trial of our emailed intelligence by filling in your details here.

John Drake is a senior risk consultant with AKE, an international risk mitigation firm working in Iraq since 2003. You can follow him on twitter here, and you can view the company website here.

Prime Minister Barham Salih will hand over to former Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in a reshuffle of the Kurdistan Regional Government cabinet.

The move is part of the strategic alliance between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) which are in a coalition government. Under the agreement, Dr Salih was sworn in as prime minister for a two-year term in late 2009.

Yesterday Mr Barzani accepted the nomination of his party, the KDP, for the post of prime minister. He was selected because of his experience inside and outside government which is needed at a challenging time in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as well as the Middle East.

Mr Barzani will continue to focus on improving the living standards of the people of Kurdistan, strengthening government and independent instititutions and upholding international standards of human rights, freedom of expression and the rule of law.

He will continue the policy of developing Kurdistan’s oil and gas sector, implementing strategic projects, and promoting international trade and investment.

(Source: KRG)

Gulf Keystone has issued an update on its ongoing exploration and appraisal programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which includes the Shaikan block, a major discovery with independently audited gross oil-in-place volumes of between 8 billion barrels to 13.4 billion barrels calculated on the P90 to P10 basis with a mean value of 10.5 billion barrels.

Shaikan-4 Appraisal Well

The well testing programme for the Shaikan-4 appraisal well, drilled 6 km to the west of the Shaikan-1 discovery well, is ongoing with two well tests in the Triassic having been completed to date. Five further tests are planned in the Jurassic and Triassic.

In the course of the first well test conducted in the Kurre Chine C formation, Shaikan-4 achieved a flow rate of 563 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 3.65 mmscf/d of gas at a 328 psi flowing wellhead pressure.

In the course of the second well test, Shaikan-4 tested a thin zone at the bottom of the Kurre Chine B formation achieving a flow rate of 4,970 bopd and 7.0 mmscf/d of gas at a 1,101 psi flowing wellhead pressure with initial results indicating a 39 degree API fluid.

Shaikan-5 Appraisal Well

The Shaikan-5 appraisal well, 6 km to the north-east of the Shaikan-2 appraisal well, is currently drilling at a measured depth of 1,571 metres in the lower Cretaceous to the estimated total depth (“TD”) of 3,500 metres subject to technical conditions.

A member of the Dutch parliament, Van Bommel who is currently in Kurdistan Region on an official visit, said that the Netherlands is willing to increase its representation in the semi-autonomous region.

During a meeting with President of the Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani, he said that the goal of his visit to Kurdistan is to raise the level of Dutch representation in the Kurdistan Region to a “permanent representation” and to encourage Dutch companies to invest in the region.

Netherlands officially opened it’s consulate in Erbil in October of last year. The consulate, however , does not offer services like visas and passport renewal.

(Source: AKnews)

AKnews reports that the Kurdistan-Turkey economic forum kicked off on Wednesday in the Saad Abdulla Convention Hall in Erbil.

Abdul-Khaleq Mohammed, press secretary for Kurdistan’s Foreign Relations Office, told AKnews that the Turkish Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan arrived in Erbil last night, at the head of a 175-strong delegation of 25 government officials and 150 Turkish businessmen.

A considerable number of Kurdistan officials are also expected to attend the forum, which will be held in Erbil in the morning and in Sulaimaniyah in the evening.

(Source: AKnews)