Iraq Business News brings you the latest information on developments and opportunities in the oil and gas industry in Iraq.
By John Lee. Islamist militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS, ISIL) have attacked Baiji [Bayji] oil refinery (pictured), 155 miles north of Baghdad. A security official told Associated Press that the attack on Iraq's largest refinery began late on Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday, with militants targeting it with […]
By John Cookson. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Traders will tell you the price of oil is a speculative market based on expectations. Most of Iraq's oil production is from the mega fields in the south, far from any fighting. But […]
By John Lee. Reuters reports that Iraqi Kurdistan is ramping up independent oil exports, with a third tanker of crude scheduled to leave the Turkish port of Ceyhan on 22nd June. The supply of oil through the Kurdistan Regional Government's new pipeline to Turkey has continued uninterrupted, despite the escalating violence in northern Iraq. Speaking […]
By John Lee. Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) has given an update on its production operations at Shaikan in Iraqi Kurdistan, its key producing asset. The company's shares closed up 1.9 percent on Friday. Production Development plans to increase Shaikan production capacity to 40,000 gross barrels of oil per day ("bopd") by year-end 2014 are on […]
By John Lee. Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi [Elaibi] (pictured) said on Wednesday that Iraq's southern oil export facilities were secure, with shipments now running at around 2.6 million bpd, according to Reuters. Speaking to reporters ahead of an OPEC meeting in Vienna, he said: "All our exports now are from the Basra terminal in […]
LUKOIL Overseas (the Operator of LUKOIL's overseas upstream projects) has informed Iraq’s Ministry of Oil that it has fulfilled its contractual obligations for first commercial production at West Qurna-2. LUKOIL, the Operator of the West Qurna-2 project, successfully maintained an average daily production of at least 120 thousand barrels for 90 days, entitling it to […]
By John Lee. Oryx Petroleum has announced that the Banan-2 appraisal well (“BAN-2”) has been spudded in the Hawler license area in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Oryx Petroleum is the operator and has a 65% participating and working interest in the Hawler license area. Henry Legarre (pictured), Oryx Petroleum’s Chief Operating Officer, stated: “We […]
By John Lee. Iraqi oil exports rose for a second consecutive month in May, according to a report from AFP. Exports of crude oil averaged 2.58 million bpd last month, up from April's 2.50 million bpd, raising $8.68 billion in revenues. All of the shipments were made from southern export terminals, following persistent attacks on […]
By John Lee. A team of twelve firefighters from Shell's Majnoon oilfield arrived at the International Safety Training College (ISTC) in Malta this week for an intensive training programme. The group was accompanied by Mr. Bernard Carter, a senior manager at Shel Iraq, who will be observing the training and filming the practical exercises, which utilise […]
By John Lee. Safar Oilfield Services has announced its partnership with United Technical Services (UTS) to provide unique chemical solutions to the vast hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) challenges faced in Iraq. As the Kurdistan region of Iraq continues to combat the challenging issue of H2S, Safar now offers and supplies H2S Scavengers and provides customers […]
By John Lee. The Italian Industry Ministry has issued a letter to refineries and traders, warning of legal action that may be taken by Iraq's State Oil Marketing Company in the event of purchasing oil from the Kurdish region. At the time of writing, the cargo vessel United Leadership was moored in the Mediterranean, laden with […]
By Ufuk Sanli for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The Kurdish administration in northern Iraq and the Baghdad government are at loggerheads over oil exports. The tanker carrying the first cargo of independently exported oil from northern Iraq is crisscrossing […]
