Archive | Iraq Oil & Gas News

Iraq Business News brings you the latest information on developments and opportunities in the oil and gas industry in Iraq.

West Qurna II Produces 20m Tonnes this year

Since its launch in March 2014, cumulative production of Iraq’s West Qurna-2 field, operated by PJSC LUKOIL, has exceeded 30 million tonnes of oil. On December 24, 2015 LUKOIL achieved its annual production target for the West Qurna-2 field in full: 20 million tonnes of oil were produced since the beginning of the year. As […]

Oryx Resumes Drilling at Demir Dagh

Oryx Petroleum has announced that it has resumed drilling activities at the Demir Dagh field in the Hawler licence area in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and that it has agreed with the vendor of OP Hawler Kurdistan Limited, the subsidiary of the Corporation that holds interests in the Hawler license area, to restructure the […]

Iraq May Reopen the Yanbu Pipeline

By Simon Kent. Following the news earlier this month that Saudi Arabia is reopening their embassy in Baghdad, an un-named official in Iraq's Ministry of Oil has suggested there may be a plan to reopen the Yanbu pipeline from Iraq to Saudi Arabia. Speaking to Baghdad paper Al Sabah, the official said that Iraq was […]

Oil, Rail Expansion Dominate China Talks

By Simon Kent. Iraqi PM Haider al Abadi recently met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss high level strategic projects for both countries to cooperate on. The major discussions focused on a plan for Iraq's State Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) and Chinese state run refiner Sinopec to coordinate the shipment, refining and marketing of […]

WesternZagros Reviews Financing

By Simon Kent. WesternZagros Resources has announced that an agreement has been reached with its major shareholder, Crest Energy International to defer the latest first drawdown notice date under the first tranche of its US$200 million unsecured credit facility from the original date of January 1, 2016 to May 1, 2016. The Company felt it […]

China, Iraq, Plan Historic Oil Cooperation

By Simon Kent. There is growing speculation over a planned energy initiative between Iraq and China, with both Iraqi PM Haider al Abadi and oil minister Adel Abdul Mahdi travelling to China for "deep discussions" on the proposal. According to The Wall Street Journal, Unipec, the trading branch of Chinese state refiner Sinopec, will be working with […]

Abdul Mahdi: Iraq to Watch non-OPEC Production

By Simon Kent. Iraq's oil minister Adel Abdul Mahdi (pictured) has spoken to Reuters regarding Iraq's position on OPEC's failure to agree on a production ceiling as the battle to drive out shale production continues. Abdul Mahdi said that Iraq was now looking at the "real world" and that they would have to monitor production in countries […]

Basra Crude Exports to Rise in January

By John Lee. Iraq plans to export about 3.4 million bpd of crude oil from its southern oil terminals in January, according to a report from Reuters. This represents an increase of 17.2 percent on December's estimate, and is driven by the Basra Light grade, which is planned to increase 23 percent to 2.61 million […]

Basra to get $5/barrel in 2016 Budget

By John Lee. Basra is to receive an allocation of five dollars per barrel of oil exported from the province in the 2016 budget. Local MP Hassan al-Khalati said that this will be a significant benefit to the people of Basra. (Source: Shafaaq)

Basra Heavy Crude has 'Limited Appeal' for US Buyers

By John Lee. Reuters reports that sellers of a new 'Basra Heavy' crude oil grade are competing fiercely to win market share on the U.S. Gulf Coast, as the high sulfur content has limited appeal for refiners. The State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) began selling the new grade -- which has an API gravity of […]