By Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq. The frightful story of young Malala Yousafzai has shocked the world over the last weeks. This 15-year-old Pakistani girl almost lost her life because she spoke out for the right of girls to go to school. Like many others, I was shaken […]
By John Lee. If we gave a prize for the best quote of the week, this week's top contender would be Sami Haddad, the general manager of Lebanon's Byblos Bank, which is expanding its presence in Iraq. "You would have to be stupid not to make money [in Iraq]", he said. And of course banking […]
By John Lee. Reuters reports that LUKoil, Russian’s biggest non-state oil producer, which is believed to be considering buying ExxonMobil's stake in the West Qurna-1 oil field, has bought oil from Kurdistan in defiance of Baghdad. Baghdad has long insisted it has the sole right to export oil, but LUKoil's Geneva-based trading arm Litasco has […]
WorleyParsons has been awarded a three year contract by LukOil Mid-East Limited to provide project management services for West Qurna-2 oil field development project in Iraq. WorleyParsons will provide project management, technical and construction supervision personnel to support the West Qurna-2 engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities. WorleyParsons will also develop a Project Management System […]
By John Lee. Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has finalised a deal to buy up to 1.097 million tonnes of gasoil for delivery next year from BP and Swiss trader Vitol, according to Reuters. The company has agreed to pay a premium of $7.99 a barrel above Middle East quotes on a delivered basis, […]
By John Lee. Russian’s LUKoil is said to be studying documents on Iraq’s West Qurna-1 oil field, with a view to possibly taking over ExxonMobil's stake. Bloomberg quotes Chief Executive Officer Vagit Alekperov (pictured) as saying that the company will make a decision on possible participation in the project by the end of the year. […]
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad hosted a roundtable discussion with a group of Iraqi government and civil society leaders on November 26 on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Around the world, violence against women and girls continues to be a serious problem, and women’s rights activists remain […]
By John Lee. Iraq's Minister of Housing and Reconstruction, Mohamed Sahib al-Daraji [Mohammed Al-Deraji] (pictured), has asked the government to allocate $3.5 billion every year to alleviate housing shortages in the country, reports Azzaman. He said Iraq needed 60,000 housing units every year as well as a massive housing reconstruction program for the building of […]
By John Lee. The Iraqi cabinet decided on Tuesday to give neighboring Jordan 100,000 barrels of oil as a gift to help it overcome its economic difficulties. According to a report from Businessweek, the move could be seen as an attempt by the Shiite-led Iraqi government to offer support to one of its Sunni neighbors. […]
By John Lee. OptaSense, which is owned by QinetiQ, has secured a key pipeline security contract in Iraq. The contract is to help provide protection to a new 180km pipeline corridor, owned and run by the State Company for Oil Project Iraq (SCOP). OptaSense will be providing the technology to allow vital operational and security […]
By John Lee. Richard Wadsworth, CEO of Sonoro Energy, talks to Proactive Investors at the Oil Council World Assembly. He says the company's licence area in the Salah ad Din Province in Northern Iraq is in a "very prolific, attractive" basin: (Source: Proactive Investors)
By John Lee. Lebanon's biggest bank, Bank Audi, plans to enter the Iraqi market late next year. Chief Executive Samir Hanna (pictured) told Reuters that its new Iraqi operation will be a subsidiary of its Turkish business, which it launched in October and which is trading "more than 50 percent ahead" of the bank's target. […]
