Iraq Business News brings you the latest information on developments and opportunities in the oil and gas industry in Iraq.
By John Lee. Reuters reports that a California court has ruled Iraq not liable for the end of two oil-for-food contracts dating from the Saddam Hussein regime. In a divided ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California said Iraq's current government deserves protection under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 because […]
By John Lee. Prior to today's AGM, Gulf Keystone Petroleum has announced another major upgrade of the gross oil-in-place volumes for the Shaikan field in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Shares in GKP were up 6% in early trading in London. The revised gross oil-in-place volumes for the Shaikan field, as calculated by Dynamic Global […]
By John Lee. Shares in Afren plc were up 8% on Thursday morning following the announcement that the Simrit-2 exploration well in the Kurdistan region of Iraq has been drilled to a depth of 3,800 metres and the total net oil pay has increased to 460 metres. In addition, a cumulative flow rate of 13,584 […]
By John Lee. Heritage Oil, an independent upstream exploration and production company, has announced the publication of an independent Competent Person's Report ("CPR") compiled by industry specialists RPS Energy Consultants Limited ("RPS"). Trading in the company's shares remain suspended pending an acquisition. On 29June 2012, Heritage announced the proposed acquisition of a major interest in […]
By John Lee. PetroChina and its partners Total and Petronas said on Wednesday that oil production has started at the Halfaya oil field in southern Iraq. Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Karim Elaibi [Luaibi] said the field will produce 100,000 barrels a day and reach 535,000 bpd in 2016. The consortium will be paid $1.40 for each […]
By John Lee. Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has adjusted its official selling prices for its Basra Light and Kirkuk crude grades for August. In common with some other countries, Iraq’s oil is priced relative to regional benchmark prices: For shipments to US, contracts are priced are relative to the Argus Sour Crude Index […]
By John Lee. WesternZagros Resources has completed the remediation work at its Sarqala-1 producing oil well and is preparing to test the promising Shiranish reservoir in the Kurdamir-2 well. WesternZagros also continues to actively cooperate with the Kurdistan Regional Government ("KRG") in the effort to assign the third party participant interest ("TPPI") within the Garmian […]
By John Lee. Two oil executives in the Kurdistan Region have told Reuters that Chevron is purchasing 80 percent of the Sarta and Rovi blocks from India's Reliance Industries. Austria's OMV holds the other 20 percent interest in Sarta/Rovi. Chevron reportedly declined to comment on Wednesday, saying that it continued to be interested in pursuing […]
By John Lee. Iran's Oil Minister, Rostam Qasemi (pictured), says his country is expected to start exporting natural gas to Iraq by the end of the next Iranian year (to start March 21, 2013), reports the Iranian news agency PressTV. Last year, the oil ministers of Iran, Iraq and Syria agreed to construct a pipeline […]
By John Lee. The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs, Hussein al-Shahristani, has reportedly urged the consortium developing the Gharraf oilfield in Maysan province to speed up progress on the project. He also offered to help "eliminate the obstacles facing the work of the company", which is a venture between the Japanese JAPEX and […]
By John Lee. America's second-largest energy company, Chevron Corporation, may buy the rights to two oil exploration zones in Iraqi Kurdistan. According to a report from region from the Sunday Times in London, it would acquire the rights from Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector enterprise. The deal, which may be announced this week, is […]
By John Lee. Britain's Premier Oil is teaming up with Russia's Bashneft to develop Iraq's oil exploration block 12. In an update to the markets on Thursday, Premier said: "Subject to ongoing discussions with the authorities in Iraq, Premier has agreed to join Bashneft on Block 12, an 8,000 km2 block in the underexplored Salman […]
