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Dhi Qar to Build Civil Airport

The technical assistant of head of Dhi Qar provincial council, Abdul Hussein Hajar, revealed that the Defense Ministry approved the allocation of part of Al Imam Ali air base to build a civil airport, subject to the approval of the Transport Ministry. The airport construction requires further legal and technical investigations in order to be […]

Halliburton's $150m Majnoon Deal

Further to our report last week Halliburton has confirmed that it has been awarded a letter of intent by Shell Iraq Petroleum Development B.V. for the development of the Majnoon field in Southern Iraq. Dow Jones suggests the contract for the 15 wells could be worth $150m. The giant Majnoon field is one of the […]

Kurdistan Seeks Oil Revenues of $25 Billion

Minister of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government, Ashti Hawrami, announced on Thursday that his ministry seeks to increase the daily oil production in the region to 3-4 million barrels in the next four years, noting that revenues will increase during this period to $25 billion [30 trillion Iraqi dinars]. “The region has 45 […]

$42m Fine For Security Company

Xe Services, the private security company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, has reached an agreement with the State Department for the company to pay $42 million in fines for hundreds of violations of United States export control regulations, according to a report in the New York Times. But by paying fines rather than facing criminal […]

More Details on Petrofac Contract

More details are coming to light regarding Petrofac's new contract in Iraq, about which we reported last week. Dow Jones reports that the two crude-oil processing plants will be at Iraq's super giant Majnoon oil field, which is run by Iraq's state-run South Oil Co., Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) and Malaysia's state-run Petronas, and […]

Oil Companies in Iraq too Ambitious

An Iraqi oil industry veteran, Dr Thamir Al Uqaili, says there is a general belief that the production plateau targets (PPTs) of the international oil companies who have won contracts in Iraq are too ambitious and that export will face a marketing problem. The exploration of Iraq’s rich oil and gas fields will be under […]

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Turkey’s Vakifbank to Open Branch in Erbil

Turkish bank Vakifbank will open a branch in the northern Iraq Kurdish city of Erbil by the end of this year, according to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily on Friday. “We have submitted an application to the central Iraqi government to open a new branch of the bank in Erbil,” Suleyman Kalkan, Director General of the […]

JOBS IN IRAQ - Our New Free Service Starts Today!

We launch our new Jobs in Iraq page today on the IBN web site in response to reader demand. This is a free reciprocal service for Recruitment Agencies and Employers with jobs on offer in Iraq. For readers it provides a welcome source of employment options in a country crying out for skilled labour and […]

Moving Into The Economic Recovery

It has been a busy week politically in Iraq, with both good and bad news emerging from the country: The last American combat brigade left the country on Thursday morning, seven years after the US-led invasion; 6,000 support troops will remain until the end of the month, and a further 50,000 will stay until the […]

Oil Contracts Legal Challenge Dismissed

We recently reported on a constitutional challenge to Iraq's oilfield development contracts, which was being pursued by a former member of parliament - you can find our article here, with additional legal opinion here. The challenge centered on the Rumaila contract, signed with BP and CNPC in 2009, as a test case. According to Iraq […]

Basra Oil Exports Recover

Reuters reports that oil exports from Iraq’s Basra terminal recovered  to 1.56 million barrels on Tuesday, after dropping to 720,000 barrels on Monday due to pipeline repairs. “The flow rate from Basra port is recovering after they finished repairs on some parts of the export pipeline yesterday evening,” a shipping source claimed. The shipper said […]