Archive | 2015

PM Barzani: Shiite Militias should be Regulated

By Amberin Zaman for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. As the battle grinds on against the Islamic State — also known as IS, ISIL and Daesh — there is growing concern about the mounting influence of Iran and Shiite militias known […]

Hess, Petroceltic Abandon Dinarta Licence

By John Lee. Irish-based Petroceltic International has announced that it and its partner Hess will abandon their Dinarta licence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The company told the stock market: "As previously announced on 15 January, drilling operations on the Shireen-1 exploration well in the Dinarta licence (Hess ... (Operator) 64%, Petroceltic 16%, and […]

Beechcraft Wins $27m Iraq Order

By John Lee. Beechcraft Defense has been awarded a $27,048,576 (31 billion Iraqi dinar) firm-fixed-price contract to sell the Iraqi military one King Air 350 extended range aircraft modified with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability; one Scorpion ground station and one complete spare Scorpion ground station. Work will be performed at Wichita, Kansas, and San […]

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NYNEX Extends Broadband Coverage

NYNEX satellite OHG, a leading VSAT systems operator and integrator, has grown its capacity contract with Avanti Communications to extend satellite broadband coverage across Iraq and Syria. Following the successful deployment to Afghanistan and Libya over the last two years via Avanti’s HYLAS 2 satellite, the latest contract extension will enable NYNEX to target professional […]

Iraq Leads World in Porn Websites

By John Lee. A study by online traffic analysts has found that Iraq hosts the world's highest percentage of pornographic websites. Joint research by Similarweb and The Next Web shows that around 11 percent of sites in the country are X-rated, with Egypt coming in second place with 9 percent, followed by Serbia and Japan […]

FM al-Jaafari Meets Syrian President al-Assad

By John Lee. During an official visit to Syria on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al Jaafari met Syrian President, Bashar Al Assad, and Foreign Minister, Walid Al Muallem. Minister Jaafari stressed in a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart that the visit is part of Iraq's diplomatic endeavor to communicate with all world […]

Weekly Security Update: 17 - 23 March 2015

 National Overview Coalition prepares to cooperate in ISF-militia campaign to liberate Tikrit, amid extension of US reconnaissance and air support. While US drone flights are known to have been taking place since 21 March, (reaching as far east as Muqdadiya, 50km from the Iranian border), official participation by the United States in the stalled Tikrit […]

Will the CBI Try Dinar QE?

By Mark DeWeaver. This year the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is set to sell IQD 11 trillion in new debt to the state sector banks, thereby partially filling the hole in the central government budget left by the recent collapse in oil prices. The new issuance should bring total treasury bills outstanding to IQD 18 […]

LUKoil Confirms Commitment to Iraq

By John Lee. LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov had a meeting with Iraq’s Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, and the country’s Minister of Oil, Adel Abdul Mahdi, in Baghdad on March 22. The discussion focused on progress in the development of West Qurna-2 and the future of the field development. “Our company sticks to its plans to […]

Gazprom Neft to Conduct Seismic Survey

Gazprom Neft is to conduct a 2D seismic survey on the south-eastern section of the Halabja block. The technical equipment and personnel required for the survey are currently being transferred from the south-western section, where the company has already successfully completed a survey spanning 225 linear km. 2D seismic surveys covering approximately 870 linear km […]

Germania Suspends Erbil Flights

By John Lee. Germania has suspended air services to Erbil, which has come under increasing threat from Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL) terrorists. Germany's Federal Ministry for Transport (Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur - BMVI) has prohibited all flights by German airlines to Erbil until 30th March 2015 (inclusive). Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Emirates, Etihad […]