By Simon Kent. This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Around a fortnight ago, in the southern Iraqi province of Dhi Qar, the Iraqi government ceremonially handed over many of its powers to the local authorities. It's […]
By Simon Kent. Carlson Rezidor, the international hotel group with over 1,300 hotels in over 100 countries, has announced that it has finalized a deal for a new hotel, 3kms from Erbil International Airport. According to Gulf News, the 260-room hotel will be located in the Western suburbs and contain an all-day dining restaurant, speciality restaurant, lobby bar, […]
By Simon Kent. Iraq's long awaited delivery of F-16 fighter bombers have now made their combat debut, The Guardian reports. The jets made 15 sorties in Salahaddin, a key front north of Baghdad where the Baiji oil refinery and nearby town are still contested battle zones. The Guardian report suggests that with Coalition strikes hitting ISIS on […]
By Robert Tollast. An interview with Mohamed Ridha, of the Baghdad entrepreneurial tech collective Fikra Space. So what on earth is a hackerspace? Since the essence of the concept is open source, it seems apt (although not so professional!) to quote Wikipedia, which has the most succinct definition. According to the page a hackerspace is, […]
By Robert Tollast. The following opinions are the authors only, and do not necessarily represent the views of Iraq Business News. This article examines Iraq’s localised and national level attempts to foster pan sectarian cooperation against ISIL, looked at in the context of previous counterinsurgency campaigns fought by Britain and the US. “Our fighting against […]
By Simon Kent. Al Jazeera have reported a string of violent incidents in Iraq in the past 24 hours. In Salahaddin, a suicide bomber targeted a meeting of anti ISIL Sunni Sheikhs, killing at least 18 people. ISIL and its predecessor ISI have long targeted opposing Sunnis, fearing widespread Sunni opposition in Iraq would undermine […]
By Simon Kent. Lukoil, the Russian energy giant with one of the biggest investments in southern Iraq at the vast West Qurna 2 oil field, have issued a statement in support of Iraq's move to split crude grades into Basra Heavy and Basra Light. Previously, different grades arrived at Basra for blending, which not only […]
By Robert Tollast. Sterling, the international Health, Safety and Environment oil and gas and construction specialists, have expanded their HSE training site in Erbil. Sterling focus on HSE consulting, building capacity to mitigate risks and environmental hazards, as well as preventing and dealing with major incidents in construction and the energy sector. The expanded centre will […]
By Simon Kent. Sources at Ceyhan have told Reuters that there is insufficient oil in the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) tanks at the port to fill planned cargoes. Both BP and Spain's Cepsa have cancelled shipments, and no oil has gone to SOMO storage for the past ten days. According to sources, this […]
By Robert Tollast. The BBC's Orla Guerin has filed a report from Anbar after spending time with a Sheikh from the Albu Issa tribe. The report relays another example of a growing number of complaints from anti-ISIL Sheikhs in the strategic province. Many Sheikhs assert that the government is not giving them enough funds and […]
By Robert Tollast. Russia's Gazprom Neft has announced that production at the Badra field in Wasit province is close to double last year's production, now reaching 28,000 bpd. Gazprom Neft's commercial production and exports at Badra started in September last year, after the company signed a contract to develop the field in January 2010, as […]
By Simon Kent. As of today, personnel from the German army will be training fighters from the Yazidi ethnic minority in northern Iraq. The Yazidi's (pictured: Yazidi religious symbol) are an ancient religion from Northern Iraq and shot to global attention in June last year, when they became the target of a genocidal attack by the "Islamic State." […]
