Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has adjusted its official selling prices for its Basra Light and Kirkuk crude grades for March. In common with some other countries, Iraq’s oil is priced relative to regional benchmark prices: For shipments to US, contracts are priced are relative to the Argus Sour Crude Index (ASCI); Shipments to […]
Reuters, quoting Iraq's Minister for Transport, reports that a tender will be issued by the end of this year for the building of the multibillion-dollar 'Grand Faw' port south of Basra. Talks are ongoing with investors from Australia, France, Germany, Italy and the UAE to help finance the project. After a presentation of the project's […]
Vehicle imports through the Haji Omaran [Haj Omran, Haj Umran] border crossing (pictured) on the Iranian border north of Erbil have dropped by 73 per cent, from 2,000 cars per month in 2010 to 1,195 vehicles in the first two month of 2011, according to a report from AK News. Salar Omar, vehicles department official […]
A spokesman for the ministry of electricity has reported that plans are being considered to move the national grid underground, in order to prevent citizens illegally taking power supplies directly from overhead distribution lines. Musab al-Mudarres told AKnews that the practice of taking electricity directly from local power lines is widespread across Iraqi, and the […]
[Update: The National Investment Commission (NIC) has issued a statement on 22nd March 2011 on behalf of the Chairman of the Nineveh Investment Commission, denying these reports of contracts signed with South Korean companies.] The Chairman of the Nineveh Investment Commission said on Wednesday that it has signed investment contracts with 20 South Korean companies […]
Iraqi mobile operator AsiaCell has threatened to sue Kuwait-based telecoms provider Zain, after it allegedly distributed millions of unlicensed SIM cards, hitting AsiaCell's market share. It has also disconnected several million Zain Iraq subscribers whose lines have not been fully licensed by the Communications and Media Commission (CMC). AsiaCell, in which Qatar Telecommunications Co (Qtel) […]
WesternZagros Resources has announced that it has closed its previously announced private placement offering (the "Offering") of common shares of the Company (the "Shares"). The Company sold, through a syndicate of agents, 89,665,352 Shares at a price of Cdn$0.48 per share for gross proceeds of Cdn$43 million. The Shares issued under the Offering are subject […]
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. It has been a momentous few weeks in the Middle East as hopes and aspirations that had lain dormant for a generation or more have stirred. British Prime Minister Cameron visited […]
In an official ceremony, the Head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Department of Foreign Relations Falah Mustafa Bakir and the Chief of Staff to the President of the Kurdistan Region Fuad Hussein opened the new representative office of the KRG in France. During his speech, Mr Bakir noted the importance of this step in […]
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. The opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. […]
Hundreds of Iraqis protested against the government on Monday in a “Day of Regret” on the anniversary of the election that resulted in a second term for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. And in a move that has drawn criticism from many quarters, the security forces have shut down the offices of two small parties that […]
Shares in oil explorer Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) rose more than 6% to 304.9p on Wednesday following rumours of a bid for the company or its assets. The increase came despite British gas firm BG Group (LSE: BG) denying that it was interested in the company. "We do not comment on market rumours or speculation […]
