By Constellis Consulting www.constellis-consulting.com Amid continued unrest in the outskirts of Fallujah and Ramadi, ISF forces regained control of Sulaiman Pek, Salahuddin province, which was overrun by ISIL militants on 13 February. This outcome contrasts with the situation in Anbar, where a much more complex tribal landscape has prevented a direct assault on urban areas […]
By John Lee. Standard Chartered has announced the appointment of Ahmed Muallah as Managing Director and Head of its Wholesale Banking business in Iraq. Commenting on the appointment, Gavin Wishart, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Iraq said: “This appointment comes as another testament to our long term commitment to Iraq. Standard Chartered is bringing its best international financial business […]
By John Lee. Iraq is now among the biggest spenders in the Middle East when it comes to planned or under-way infrastructure projects, rivalling the expenditure of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to the MEED's Gulf Project's Index. Iraq's southern neighbours are spending $1.o5 trillion and $713bn respectively,but Iraq's rising expenditure on energy projects […]
By John Lee. The French Ambassador in Baghdad Dennis Gauer (pictured) has accompanied a delegation from the French Foreign Ministry including Jean Francois Giraud, Head of the North Africa and Middle East Department at the ministry. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and his ministry's head of the Europe Department greeted the delegation, and issues such […]
By John Lee. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has spoken at a ceremony to mark the start of construction on Karbala's forthcoming 140,000 bpd refinery, Iraq Directory reports. As part of Iraq's energy strategy to increase refining capacity to 750,000 bpd, the new $6 billion refinery will be constructed by a consortium led by Hyundai Engineering and […]
By John Lee. An investigation by Reuters has found that Iraq has purchased $195 million worth of small arms, ammunition and infantry kit from Iran, in addition to artillery ammunition. The move will likely unnerve some observers in the US, but analysts are still divided over the extent of Iranian influence in Iraq. Touted by an […]
By John Lee. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad in a rare Chinese high level diplomatic mission to Baghdad. The two men discussed increased Sino-Iraqi cooperation in areas such as oil development and arms sales. Until recently, Iraq has been frustrated by slow deliveries of weapons systems from […]
By John Lee. Baghdad based Iraqi-Kurdish company KAR has won the contract to build Ninewa's planned 90,000 bpd oil refinery. To date, the KAR Group have been working on the Erbil refinery in partnership with the Texas based Ventech Company, in addition to a number of oil, gas and construction projects in Iraq. When complete […]
By Michael Carr, Anglo Arab Insurance Brokers (AAIB). Iraq’s Massive Potential – The Promise from Trade and Investment The newly appointed Baroness Nicholson as the United Kingdoms Trade Envoy to Iraq underscores the view felt by some senior business interests, that “Iraq has massive potential … the future is very good indeed (and) it’s a […]
Russia's Gazprom Neft has increased its estimated costs for the Badra oil field to about US $3 billion, reports Bloomberg, citing a bond prospectus recently issued by its parent company. The company had previously forecast costs at about $2 billion. The field is being developed by Gazprom as lead partner (30% stake), along with Korea’s […]
Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources has taken delivery of seven 55-tonne GT-550E-2 truck cranes from the Japanese company Tadano, via its distributor, United Iraqi Trading Equipment (UITECO). Manufactured by Tadano's Beijing manufacturing joint venture BQ-Tadano, the four axle GT-550 features a five section 42 metre boom plus a 8.8 to 15.2 metres bi-fold swingaway that […]
By Harith Hasan for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The announcement of Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist movement, that he is retiring from politics triggered many reactions from political and popular circles in Iraq, as well as a lot […]
