Archive | 2014

Emergency Message for US Community in Iraq

On the eve of the anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime on April 9, 2003, the U.S. Embassy advises U.S. citizens to restrict movements around Baghdad, including travel through Baghdad International Airport. U.S. government and Embassy-affiliated personnel are restricting their use of the Baghdad International Airport through April 12. Beyond this date, American […]

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Policemen Killed in Suicide Attack

From AFP. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. A car bomb set off by a suicide attacker at a checkpoint in the city of Tuz Khurmatu in Iraq killed four policemen, while attacks were also carried out in Baiji and Tikrit in […]

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Shell's First Crude from Majnoon

Shell announced today that the Majnoon oilfield it operates in partnership with South Oil Company (SOC), Petronas and Missan Oil in Southern Iraq has successfully exported its first shipment of crude oil to Shell trading, a significant milestone for the oilfield. The achievement comes as production at the Majnoon oilfield has reached a current average […]

GKP Investors Relax

By John Lee. The Telegraph reports that an encouraging update on its fund-raising plans provided some much needed cheer for Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) on the stock market. The Kurdistan-focused oil producer had slumped in recent weeks, amid speculation that the company’s key bond sale was running into trouble. The company announced last month that […]

Dragon Oil Spuds Iraqi Well

By John Lee. Dubai's Dragon Oil reports that it has spudded an exploration well using a drilling rig from the Iraqi Drilling Company. The well is targeting two prospective reservoirs, and testing is expected to take place in 2H 2014. The consortium consists of Dragon Oil (30 percent) and Kuwait Energy Corporation (70 percent and […]

Iraq Stock Market Report

Advertising Feature Rabee Securities Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) market report (week ending: 3rd April 2014). Please click here to download a table of listed companies and their associated ticker codes. The RSISX index ended the week at ID1,822 (+0.5%)/ $1,942 (+0.8%) (weekly change). The number of week traded shares was 21.2bn and the weekly trading […]

Jumping Ship? Defections Ahead of the Elections

By Reidar Visser. The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford. It is reproduced here with the author’s permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Jumping Ship? Defections from Maliki ahead of the Iraqi Parliamentary Elections […]

First Mass Vaccination Since Polio Found in Iraq

Polio vaccination campaigns commenced in Syria, Iraq and Egypt today, aiming to reach more than 20 million children over the next five days. For Iraq, this will be the first nationwide vaccination campaign since a case of polio was confirmed by the Ministry of Health on 30 March in a six-month-old boy from Rusafa, northern […]

Weekly Security Update 01 - 07 Apr 2014

By Constellis Consulting www.constellis-consulting.com Despite reasserting his retirement from politics on 02 April, Muqtada al-Sadr publicly urged Maliki not to run for a third term, citing the failure of his sectarian policies and the increasingly autocratic nature of the regime. As the parliamentary elections approach, each party seems to be appealing to their own sectarian base, with […]

Lucky Cement Starts Production in Iraq

By John Lee. Pakistan's Lucky Cement has started production in Iraq from February of this year, in a 50/50 joint venture with the Al-Shawy family. The company's CEO, Muhammad Ali Tabba (pictured), told Dawn that a total of $40 million has been invested in the grinding mill in Basra, which has a capacity of 3,000 […]

Petroceltic Abandons Shakrok-1, Shares Slump

By John Lee. Shares in Irish independent oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International closed down 9.6 percent on Monday, following the company's update on its operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. On the Shakrok licence (Petroceltic 16%, Hess (Operator) 64% and Kurdistan Regional Government 20%), the Shakrok-1 well reached its total depth of […]