As we reported yesterday, the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has fired the electricity minister, Raad Shallal, following highly questionable energy deals conducted almost a year ago. It was thought that the sacking may be politically motivated, because the minister had been appointed by a top rival to the prime minister. Now the picture gets more […]
Petrel resources applied to participate in the fourth oil licencing round in Iraq, but has not been pre-qualified. The eventual criteria adopted by the Iraqi authorities were heavily weighted (over 50%) towards financial size and strength, rather than practical experience working in Iraqi conditions. As a result no juniors or smaller independent oil companies have […]
Customs duty increases have been postponed by the Iraqi Finance Ministry due to the high cost of goods, according to Aknews. Duty was due to go up from 5% on all goods - a rate said to have been set low to encourage trade with Iraq - to as much as 30%. To put that […]
The drilling and completions contract covers 23 wells in the West Qurna phase two field. LUKOIL has awarded Baker Hughes a two-year contract to provide full drilling and completion services for 23 wells in the West Qurna field in southeast Iraq, 50km west of Basra. Under the terms of the contract, Baker Hughes will provide […]
Trade between Iraq and Syria is now running at US$2bn per year, according to a spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Trade. Hashem Hatam said that this does not include trade in oil and gas, according to Aknews. At the same time, events could sour increasing trade between the neighbours. As Syria cracks down on […]
The attached document is a detailed analysis of the joint venture between South Gas Company and Shell & Mitsubishi, prepared by our expert blogger Ahmed Mousa Jiyad. Mr Jiyad is an independent development consultant, scholar and Associate with Centre for Global Energy Studies-CGES, London. He was formerly a senior economist with the Iraq National Oil […]
Iraq has qualified 41 companies to participate in its 4th energy bidding round, which is scheduled to take place in late January, Abdul-Mahdy al-Ameedi, director of the oil ministry's contracts and licensing directorate, told Reuters on Sunday. The 4th bidding round for the 12 new exploration blocs is expected to add 29 trillion cubic feet […]
Iraq's prime minister has fired his electricity minister, who is under investigation following allegations that he failed to follow government guidelines in the signing of $1.7 billion in power generation deals with two foreign companies. The minister Raad Shalal signed the deals in question with the Canadian Alliance for Power Generation Equipment (Capgent) and the […]
United Nations Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon today announced his intention to appoint Mr. Martin Kobler of Germany as his Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). He will replace Ad Melkert of the Netherlands who served in Iraq since July 2009. The Secretary-General is grateful for Mr. Melkert’s […]
According to reports from Reuters, the Korean giant STX Group has played down the possibility that its $2.76 billion power deal with the Iraqi government may collapse. Following report that STX was running out of time to secure a third party financial guarantor, the shipping-to-energy conglomerate says the contract does not mention a three-month deadline […]
Heritage Oil has announced that it has commenced drilling the Miran West-3 well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Highlights The Miran West-3 well has commenced drilling with the primary objective of appraising the Miran West structure The well is targeting both the Jurassic and Cretaceous reservoir formations encountered in the Miran West-1 and Miran […]
Shares in ShaMaran Petroleum Corp were up 7% on Friday following the announcement of its financial and operating results for the second quarter of 2011 Highlights A major oil discovery in the Atrush Block was announced by the Company on April 13, 2011. The Atrush 1 well flowed at rates totalling over 6,393 bopd of […]
