On 6 June, the European Union and Government of Iraq launched a major programme to improve the future of young Iraqis. The programme will be implemented though the British Council, the United Kingdom’s international cultural and educational agency. It will: Improve education standards in 1,700 schools through improved teacher training. This will benefit 800,000 pupils […]
Iraq’s oil production has risen to 2.63 million barrels a day, up by 15 percent from the same period last year, according to Bloomberg. Crude exports averaged 2.18 million barrels a day in the first five months of 2011 and are expected to increase in the second half of the year, Hussain al-Shahristani, deputy prime […]
Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has backed down from a threat to fire poorly-performing cabinet ministers, a move which potentially opens the door to renewed popular protests in the country this summer, according to Al Jazeera. On February 27, Maliki gave his cabinet a 100-day deadline to improve basic services after a string of anti-government […]
Iraq will cut its 'overambitious' oil targets, the oil minister, Abdul-Kareem Luaibi [Elaibi] said on Tuesday. AKnews reports that the country had planned to up output to 12 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2017, but now aims for 8 million bpd within 13 or 14 years. Independent experts had challenged the ability of Iraq’s […]
Iraq's Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, has appointed Hamida al-Jaf as head of the state-owned Trade Bank of Iraq, replacing Hussein al-Uzri amid investigations into alleged corruption, the bank’s deputy director general said. “The Trade Bank of Iraq is operating normally and people have confidence in the bank,” Deputy Director General Abdel Hadi Sadeq Abdel Mahdi […]
WesternZagros Resources has announced that it has successfully completed the initial testing of the oil discovery made in the Jeribe Formation of the Sarqala-1 well. The Company tested the well at rates up to 9,444 barrels per day of 40 degrees API oil. This rate was reached after flowing and stabilizing the well at progressively […]
By Thomas W. Donovan, Managing Partner at Iraq Law Alliance, PLLC. Introduction Several recent events have prompted a return to the lingering debate over the legality of the production sharing contracts entered into by and between the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and around 35 private international companies over the past few years. The KRG, […]
Japan is to launch an investment offensive in Iraq, starting with the southern city of Basra, the Japanese ambassador to Iraq said on Tuesday, according to a report from AKnews. Speaking at the conclusion of the Japanese investment conference at the Basra International Hotel ("Sheraton"), Mitsuo Sakaba said numerous Japanese companies are looking to get […]
Mr Michael Aron has been appointed Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq. He will succeed Mr John Jenkins CMG LVO who has transferred to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Mr Aron will take up his appointment with immediate effect. Mr Aron joined the FCO in 1984 and served at the British Embassies in Brasilia […]
Norwegian oil producer DNO issued a report today (Monday) on the status on its activities in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Summail-1 exploration well update The Summail-1 exploration well was spudded on 19 April 2011. The well has now been drilled ca. 25 meters into the Cretaceous interval and hydrocarbon shows were detected while drilling. An […]
This work was written by Ahmed Mousa Jiyad, and it is reproduced here with his permission. It was originally published by MEES v54:n23, Monday 6 June 2011. Mr Jiyad is an independent development consultant, scholar and Associate with Centre for Global Energy Studies-CGES, London. He was formerly a senior economist with the Iraq National Oil […]
Construction has commenced on the 12-storey, $100m [120 billion Iraqi dinar] Al Rawdatain five-storey hotel in Karbala in Iraq, reports Range Hospitality CEO Munaf Ali. “The water table in Karbala is very high, which means you dig about 1m down and you hit water, so it is a long and lengthy dewatering process. "Currently there […]
