According to a report from Reuters, Spain's Repsol is the latest large international oil company (IOC) to consider potential investments in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq. Repsol's move, which risks it being blacklisted from investment in the rest of Iraq, follows recent investments in Kurdistan by U.S.-based Marathon Oil and Murphy Oil. Repsol has […]
American oil-services company Weatherford International announced on Monday that it has completed the drilling of 20 oil wells in southern Iraq, at oilfields including Rumaila and Bazergan. Work is continuing at another 70 wells. The company's Director, Ramzi al-Harithy, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency during the recent Oil & Gas Exhibition in Basra that his […]
Iraq’s housing fund is falling short of its goals and will struggle to raise fresh capital after spending more than two-thirds of its budget, its director said in an interview with Bloomberg. The fund, which started in 2005 with 300 billion Iraqi dinars ($257 million), has spent 210 billion dinars building 14,000 homes in Iraq, […]
Basra will be Emirates' first Iraqi destination since the airline postponed the launch of flights to Baghdad earlier this year citing "operational reasons", according to Reuters. "The city's recent growth has paved the way for numerous multinational companies and industries to invest in infrastructure and we have seen strong potential from a number of our […]
An adviser in the Iraqi government has said that the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has instructed the Interior Ministry to combat corruption at border crossing points. Ahmed al-Shihani told AKnews that the Prime Minister called for action to be taken following official reports about rising corruption at Iraq’s border crossings -- particularly the borders with […]
The Minister for Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government, Ashti Hawrami, told Reuters that he expected talks in Baghdad on the formation of a new government to lead to an imminent breakthrough on the issue of oil exports from Kurdistan. “I am confident that the leadership between Kurdistan and Baghdad will address these issues […]
Production from Iraq's West Qurna 1 oil field should more than triple to 750,000 barrels a day in three years time, an oil official said on Sunday. The 8.6 billion barrel field, which is being developed by a consortium including ExxonMobil and Shell, currently produces 234,000 barrels per day, Madhi Swadi, the head of the […]
Reuters, citing "industry sources familiar with the matter", reports that U.S. oil major ExxonMobil and its partners have awarded a contract to oil services firm Schlumberger to drill 10 wells in Iraq's West Qurna 1 oilfield. The contract award was finalised a few days ago but a final contract is yet to be signed by […]
The Maysan Communications Department has embarked on a project to set up a fiber-optic communications network in the city of al-Amara, according to a report from Aswat al-Iraq. “Engineers and technicians in the department started works on a project to build a high-quality fiber-optic communications network,” Ali Mahmoud, head of the department, told the agency. […]
The Middle East Association will be leading its ninth trade mission to Iraqi Kurdistan in Spring 2011. This will be held from 27th Feb until 4th March, with the possibility of extending a stay to coincide with the Erbil Building Exhibition (3rd - 6th March). Kurdistan is an important emerging market, and the mission will […]
The Iraqi Central Bank announced recently an increase in its reserves of foreign currency to more than $ 50 billion, up from $ 41 billion at the end of the first half of 2010. Mohammed Salih, an advisor to the bank, said in an interview with Radio Free Iraq that this increase is attributable to […]
Iraq's Central Bank has reportedly granted new banking licences to four new private banks, each with capital of 250 billion Iraqi dinars [$212 million]. This reportedly brings the number of private banks operating in Iraq to 35. Meanwhile, an economic advisor to the Prime Minister is quoted as saying that a package of incentives is […]
