Archive | 2014

Video: Dozens Killed in Suicide Attack

From CNN. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. CNN's Michael Holmes reports on another deadly suicide attack and a potential political breakthrough in Iraq.

Fouad Massoum Elected as President

By John Lee. The Iraqi parliament has elected Kurdish politician Fouad Massoum [Fuad Massum] as president, succeeding Jalal Talabani. The 76-year-old is a founding member of Mr Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party. Associated Press reports that Massoum is considered a soft-spoken moderate, known for keeping good relations with Sunni and Shiite politicians. According […]

Gazprom Begins Production at Badra

By Patrick M Schmidt. The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has announced that Gazprom Neft, a division of the Russian state-owned Gazprom, had begun production at Badra oilfield in the eastern province of Wasit. "Oil flow from Badra has started on Monday to fill the oilfield storages in preparing to feed the export," said Ministry of […]

ISIS Profits from Captured Oilfields

By Patrick M Schmidt. The Iraqi government has confirmed that ISIS militants, who maintain a foothold in northern Iraq, are taking advantage of the oil infrastructure they have captured during the previous month of battles with security forces. ISIS militants have made attempts to keep oil infrastructure intact and to keep petroleum industry employees on […]

Asiacell Sales Decline

By John Lee. Mobile operator Asiacell has posted an 8 percent drop in sales in the first half of 2014, due to the security situation and increased competition. In its first half results its parent company, the Qatar-based Ooredoo, made the following statement: "Asiacell faced a growing wave of political and social instability during the […]

CBI Currency Auction Results, 24th July

By John Lee. The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) has reported that 9 banks took part in the first of its two currency auction on Thursday. A total of $110,683,000 was sold at a price of 1166 Iraqi Dinars (IQD) per dollar. In its second auction, 15 banks took part, buying a total of $185,890,000 […]

Oil Storage Contract Awarded to CPP

By Patrick M Schmidt. The Ministry of Oil has approved a contract worth $607 million (708 billion Iraqi dinar) with China Petroleum Pipeline (CPP). The company will now be able to begin construction on an oil storage facility to accommodate future development projects at the Nassiriya oilfield. The field currently produces 40,000 barrels of oil […]

Versar Wins $10.7m Iraq Contract

Versar Inc. has announced that it was awarded an Iraq Personal Services II contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), with a maximum contract value of $10.69 million (12.5 billion Iraqi dinars). The firm fixed price IDIQ contract is a single award with a three-year period of performance consisting of a base year […]

ShaMaran Petroleum Drilling Update

ShaMaran Petroleum has provided an operational update on the Atrush development in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Chiya Khere ("CK-5") development well was spudded on May 16, 2014 using the DQE31 drilling rig and reached Total Depth of 2098 metres Measured Depth (1744 metres True Vertical Depth) in the Butmah formation on June 28, […]

For the First Time, a Large Field of Presidential Candidates

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. Following positive developments in the Iraqi parliament and the election of a speaker before […]