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.

No Interruptions at GKP's Shaikan

By John Lee. Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP), the operator of the Shaikan field in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, has announced that all production and truck loading operations currently continue without interruption at both Shaikan production facilities (PF-1 and PF-2) in a safe and secure manner. On 29 July 2015, production totalled 43,700 barrels with […]

Afren Forced into Administration

By John Lee. London-listed oil explorer Afren has been forced into administration. Crisis management consultants from AlixPartners were brought in after the company failed to find financial backers to meet a growing cash crisis. In a statement to the markets, the company said: “The board believes that all the possible routes have now been explored […]

DNO Unaffected by Pipeline Disruption

DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, announced that production from its flagship Tawke field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq continued uninterrupted during this week's shut down of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline in Turkey, given the flexibility to redirect volumes from exports to local sales. Prior to the pipeline disruption, Tawke production in the […]

Petrel says "Virtually no Activity" in Iraq

By John Lee. In a statement to the company's Annual General Meeting in Dublin on Wednesday, the Chairman of Petrel Resources, John Teeling, said that there is "virtually no activity" at the company's interests in Iraq. "The Block 6 acreage in Anbar province is a no-go area. There remains a belief that the authorities in […]

Erbil-Baghdad Agreement: Deal or No Deal?

By Mohammed A. Salih for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Erbil-Baghdad Oil Relations Swing between Deal, no Deal Encouraged by more international interest in purchasing its oil, coupled with the apparent failure of the federal Iraqi government to provide agreed-upon […]

Keeping Iraq’s Oil Flowing

By Waleed Kamhieh, Accenture oil and gas consultant. This is an extract from an article originally published by Nina Iraq, and is reproduced here with permission. In June 2015, Iraq produced an average of 3.19 mm bbpd (million barrels per day), the highest level of production since 1980, and it has surpassed the 2.8 mm bbpd […]

Bomb Halts Kirkuk Oil Exports

By John Lee. Turkey's energy ministry has confirmed that the smaller of the two parallel pipelines from Kirkuk to Ceyhan (pictured) was sabotaged early on Wednesday in the district of Cizre in Turkey. Only the 40-inch line was operational at the time of the attack, with the parallel 46-inch line currently idled. Crude oil exports […]

Solar Energy to Meet Electricity Needs?

By John Lee. Iraq's Electricity Minister, Qassem Fahdawi [Qassim al-Fahdawi] (pictured), has reportedly said that his ministry is looking to invest in solar energy projects, in an attempt to solve the continuing shortage of electricity. He said the country produces only about 11,000 MW of power, but needs 21,000 MW. According to Kuwait's KUNA news […]

Antonoil Wins $140m Iraq Contract

By John Lee. China’s Anton Oilfield Services Group (Antonoil) has announced that the Group has received a notification from an oil company customer operating oilfield projects in south Iraq,  adding that "the general contract is awarded to Antonoil for the provision of oilfield workover and completion services". A press release from the company continued: "Internal approval […]

Managing Volatility of Oil Export Revenues

By Ahmed Mousa Jiyad. Managing Volatility of Oil Export Revenues This is part three of a research work commissioned by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) (USA) as part of the preparation for NRGI’s strategic plan for interlinked and complementary interventions in Iraq during the upcoming three years. The Executive Summary of the study was […]

Honghua Signs $26m Drilling Contract

By John Lee. Chinese company Honghua Group Ltd has announced that it entered into an oilfield services agreement worth approximately US$26.0 million (approximately HK$201.5 million) with an Iraqi client in early July. Pursuant to the oilfield services agreement, the company will provide drilling services using two rigs which are expected to gradually begin operations in August and September 2015. In […]

Schlumberger Updates on Iraqi Operations

By John Lee. While describing its activities in Iraq as 'muted', oil services company Schlumberger gave details of two projects in the country in its Second-Quarter 2015 Results. Italy's ENI awarded the company a three-year integrated well construction contract which covers the drilling of 30 wells and includes the provision of land drilling rigs, directional […]