By John Lee. Iran's exports to Iraq totalled $4.59 billion during the last nine months, reports the country's IRNA news agency. The Iranian customs department announced at the beginning of last December that Iraq is "a pioneering state in importing Iranian commodities". Aswat al-Iraq reports that since the downfall of the previous regime in 2003, […]
By John Lee. An Iraqi Member of Parliament has accused Turkey of limiting the supply of water to Iraq for political reasons. MP Karim Elewi of the Parliamentary Agriculture Committee said Iraqi agriculture was being damaged by the shortage of the water amount coming from Turkey, and by governmental neglect for this important sector, which […]
As part of its support to the Council of Representatives (CoR), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with support from the Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit (IAU), conducted a workshop on survey questionnaire design for 24 researchers from the CoR Research Directorate. The training was held at the Council of Representatives in Baghdad on 23 […]
By Reidar Visser. The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. 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 […]
By John Lee. Genel Energy has started shipping crude oil directly into Turkey from its Taq Taq oil field (pictured) in Iraqi Kurdistan, two weeks after exports from the region were halted, reports Bloomberg. According to the report, the KRG won’t resume exports through the central government pipeline network until the federal authorities pay the […]
By John Lee. The former head of the South Oil Company (SOC), Fayadh Hassan Nima [Niama], has been named to replace Ahmad Shamaa [Ahmed al-Shamma] (pictured) as Deputy Oil Minister. Shamma, whose responsibilities included downstream activities and overseeing the Basra Gas Company -- the joint venture between Shell, Mitsubishi and the South Gas Company -- […]
By John Lee. As part of its operational update yesterday, Petroceltic gave an update on its operations in Iraqi Kurdistan: An active exploration and development programme is scheduled for 2013 with a capital expenditure budget of US$150 million. Exploration drilling and seismic acquisition accounts for approximately 43 percent of the budget with the balance committed […]
By John Lee. Sameer Salman Al Taei has been named as the new head of the state-run North Oil Company (NOC), which oversees oil fields in northern Iraq. Formerly head of the oil fields department in the NOC, Al Taei replaces Hamid Al Saedi, who has been director general since 2010. (Source: The National)
By John Lee. Abu Dhabi's Invest AD plans to buy into the Asiacell IPO (initial public offering), making it the top holding in its Iraq fund. Sherif Salem (pictured), the manager of the Invest AD Iraq Opportunity Fund, and one of our Expert Bloggers on Iraq Business News, said: "Asiacell is going to be one […]
By John Lee. Iraq has signed a cultural and scientific co-operation agreement with Spain, reports Al Shorfa. Ministry of Culture spokesperson Abdel Qader al-Saadi told the news agency that a high-ranking Iraqi delegation visiting Spain signed the agreement, under which Iraqi professors and researchers will be sent to Spain to acquire experience. Spain also will provide […]
By John Lee. A US Army major has pleaded guilty to accepting gratuities from contractors while working in Iraq. Court documents say that Ulysses S. Hicks (40) was a U.S. Army captain serving as a pay agent for money used to buy miscellaneous items and supplies from local vendors. From about March 2007 to October 2008, […]
Tuz Khurmatu, a town of low-rise buildings, palm trees and some 110,000 residents, is in a swathe of territory Kurdistan wants to incorporate in its autonomous region over Baghdad's strong objections. For the people of Tuz Khurmatu, simmering tensions between Baghdad and Kurdistan cause fear and are also bad for business: (Source: AFP)
