By John Lee. Reuters reports that the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) is planning to export 3.3 million bpd of Basra crude from its southern ports in February. December's total figure hit 2.94 million bpd, the highest since 1980, of which a record 2.76 million bpd of oil was exported from the country's southern terminals. (Source: […]
By John Lee. The Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Salim al-Jabouri (pictured), has said that Iraq's relations with Turkey are key to stability in Iraq and the Middle East. Speaking ahead of his planned visit on Sunday, he told The Anadolu Agency that Turkey was a "very important country for Iraq and Iraqis ... If we […]
By Patrick Schmidt. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently announced a plan to build a 600-mile “Great Wall” along its border with Iraq. The announcement follows continued violence in Iraq as the Islamic State (IS) still controls vast swaths of the country. The plan had previously been discussed in Saudi Arabia as early as 2006, […]
From Al Jazeera. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Shia militias in Iraq have been given backing by the government and as a result are growing bigger and stronger by the day. Many of them recently merged under the banner of the […]
By Mark A. DeWeaver. Last month Barcelona-based economics consultancy FocusEconomics launched an interesting new product—a survey of professional forecasters for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The section on the Iraqi economy is particularly useful given the lack of attention this subject normally receives. It includes consensus projections for 25 macro variables going […]
By John Lee. Fouad Hussein, a member of the Kirkuk provincial council’s oil and gas committee, has told Bloomberg that Iraq will double shipments of Kirkuk crude “in the coming few weeks” from about 150,000 bpd currently to 300,000 bpd. To achieve this, he said that it will be necessary to install a new pipeline […]
By John Lee. Petroceltic International has given the following update this morning on its operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: "Further to the temporary suspension announced on 11 August, drilling operations resumed at the Shireen exploration well on 2 October 2014. "Since recommencement, the well has encountered challenges with casing and cementing at high […]
Sweden’s Minister for Defense, Peter Hultqvist, received Minister Falah Mustafa, Head of KRG Foreign Relations, and his accompanying delegation on Wednesday to exchange views on the latest security developments in the Kurdistan Region and the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Mr. Mustafa briefed the defense minister on latest developments on […]
By John Lee. Iraq has reportedly donated $28 million to the Arab League (pictured) as part of its contribution to support the Palestinian Authority. According to Maan News Agency, Iraq's representative to the Arab League, Diya al-Dabbas, said that the payment highlights Iraq's commitment to the Palestinian cause. (Source: Maan News Agency)
Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani, yesterday received the British Government's Security Envoy to Kurdistan Region, Lieutenant General Sir Simon Mayall, and his accompanying delegation, which included the British Consul to Kurdistan Region, Angus McKee and a number of British military officers. Lieutenant General Mayall said that the aim of his is to acquire […]
By John Lee. The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) has reported that 21 banks took part in its currency auction on Thursday. A total of $242,258,000 was sold at a price of 1166 Iraqi Dinars (IQD) per dollar. (Source: Central Bank of Iraq)
By John Lee. As part of its Drilling and Production Update this morning, Dragon Oil made the following statement about its operations in Iraq: In December 2014, the consortium of Dragon Oil (30%) and Kuwait Energy (70% and operator) reported their second oil reservoir discovery at Block 9 in Iraq. The successful discovery was at […]
