By John Lee. Shares in Heritage Oil closed up 12.3% on Tuesday following the announcement that it will sell part of its Miran Block in Kurdistan and borrow money from Genel Energy to raise $450 million to fund oilfield purchases in Nigeria. The comany will sell a 26 percent stake in the block to Genel and […]
By John Lee. Kurdistan's Minister for Natural Resources, Ashti Hawrami (pictured), has hit back at reports that the US has warned oil companies not to sign any oil deals with Kurdistan without Baghdad's approval or Baghdad may take legal action against them. According to AKnews, Hawrami described the media reports quoting Nuland as "baseless ….These […]
By John Lee. Genel Energy has increased its commitment to oil exploration in Iraqi Kurdistan with the announcement that it has agreed to acquire an additional 26 per cent interest in the Miran exploration block from Heritage Oil. The announcement comes just a day after the Kurdistan Regional Government's Oil and Gas Council approved the […]
By John Lee. At the US State Department's Daily Press Briefing on Monday, Spokesperson Victoria Nuland was asked to clarify the US Government's official position on oil contracts in Iraqi Kurdistan. "Our position on this has not changed", she said. "We’ve spoken about it many times here. We speak about it in Iraq. With regard […]
By John Lee. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Iraq for commercially available Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Control and Landing System/Navigational Aids and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support at an estimated cost of $60 million The Government of […]
By John Lee. An MP and member of Regions and Provinces Committee called on the Iraqi Cabinet to punish ministries who are slow in the implementation of projects. Mahdi Haji told AIN that ministries should not hold meetings to pretend to be working, and the Cabinet should punish procrastinators. He said that some ministries did […]
By John Lee. The General Secretariat for the Council of Ministers has announced that it will form a committee headed by the Minister of Sciences and Technology Dr. Abdul-Kareem Al-Samarrai, to restore the Minaret Mosque in Samarra (pictured). The Director of Samarra’ Endowments, the Director of the Province’s Antiquities, and the province's Budget Director will […]
By John Lee. Shares in ShaMaran Petroleum were down 13% on Monday following the announcement that the company has sold its entire 20% undivided participating interest in the Taza PSC (held by the fully-owned subsidiary ShaMaran Petroleum B.V.) to a subsidiary of Total S.A. for the cash sum of US$ 48 million plus a reimbursement […]
By John Lee. Iraq's Ministry of Electricity has reportedly warned that the 2,000-MW Musayyib [Mussaib] power station may be forced to stop due to lack of fuel. Musab al-Mudares, a spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity, said that fuel tanks at the station can hold enough fuel for two weeks, but the plant may stop […]
By John Lee. An MP and member of parliament's the Economic Committee has described the giant Basmaya [Bismayah] City housing project as "failed", and says "the National Investment Commission (NIC) will not be able to implement it." Azez al-Mayahi, of the Iraqiyya party, demanded that the NIC clarify that status of the project, according to […]
By John Lee. Earlier this month, the US accused Elaf Islamic Bank of doing business with Iranian banks that had been blacklisted. According to a news report from NBC, Iraq's central bank has been transferring dollars to Iran, helping Iran stay afloat in spite sanctions. It now appears President Maliki may be involved. NBC’s Andrea […]
By Mayada Daood. 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. In a country where the unemployment rate has caused mass demonstrations, one local economist believes that Iraq lacks thousands of skilled workers for the oil industry […]
