Archive | 2010

Currency Counterfeiters Caught in Basra

An Iraqi police source said that army forces arrested a gang of currency counterfeiters during a security operation in Basra 550 km south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The official source said that the gang consisted of two people, and the security forces found nearly $90,000 [105 million Iraqi dinars] of counterfeit currency on site, […]

France Pushes to Remove Iraq from Chapter VII

The French Ambassador to Baghdad, Boris Bouillon, said on Tuesday that he wants to remove Iraq from UN Chapter VII, despite the difficulties they face, pointing at the same time the desire of French companies to enter the Iraqi market. In an interview with Alsumaria News, the Ambassador said, “France has a strategic vision towards […]

Weatherford CEO Sees More Oil Services Mergers

Reuters reports that the Chief Executive of Weathford International, one of the largest suppliers of goods and services to oil companies, said the oil services industry needed more consolidation. Weatherford is currently operating in Iraq's al-Bazerkan oilfield in Amara. "We need to get larger," said Bernard Duroc-Danner, citing the fact that oil services companies face […]

European Union to Open Office in Erbil

The European Union (EU) will open a representative office in Erbil in the near future, an EU official said on Tuesday. The European Union Chief of the Judicial Development Program, Michael Kassan, told AKnews that the Union has requested authorization from officials in the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad to open a representative office in the […]

France Opens Research Institute at Erbil's Citadel

Prime Minister Barham Salih [Barham Saleh] and France’s Ambassador to Iraq today opened a French centre for research inside Erbil Citadel, the world’s oldest continuously inhabited settlement. As well as launching the Iraq office of l’Institut Francais du Proche-Orient (IFPO - the French Institute for the Near East), Prime Minister Salih and Ambassador Boris Bouillon […]

WesternZagros Reports on Kurdistan Operations

WesternZagros Resources, the Canadian-listed oil and gas exploration company with operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, reported on its operations this morning. The TSX market has not yet opened, but shares in WesternZagros have risen 50% over the past week. The text of the company's statement follows:

Iran Re-Gains Third Place in Oil Reserves War

Just a week after Iraq finally re-stated its oil reserves, jumping from fourth to third place ahead of Iran, the Iranians have decided to re-state their oil reserves. And by a strange coincidence, they have re-taken their place ahead of Iraq. The moves comes ahead of an OPEC meeting on Thursday; oil reserves and production […]

Shell Already Reports Success at Majnoon

Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB) has already raised oil production from Iraq's Majnoon field to 70,000 barrels a day, up from 45,000 barrels a day previously, the company's Chief Executive, Peter Voser, said on Tuesday. The risk of operating in Iraq has increased in recent months, but operations are still going well, he said. The […]

Interview with Gavin Jones on Radio Dijla

Gavin Jones, Director of Iraq Business News, and Partner at consultancy firm Upper Quartile, was recently interviewed by Iraq's Radio Dijla.  The full transcript is shown below: Radio Dijla: How do foreign investors look at the Iraqi market today? Gavin Jones: There are three main reasons for foreign investors committing to a market – a […]

Iraq Ups Oil Prices for US and Asia, Drops Prices for Europe

Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has raised the official selling prices for its Basra Light and Kirkuk crude grades for October loading to the U.S. and Asia, but dropped prices to Europe. In common with some other countries, Iraq’s oil is priced relative to regional benchmark prices: For shipments to US, contracts are priced […]

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