Iraq Business News brings you the latest information on developments and opportunities in the oil and gas industry in Iraq.
Increased volumes and the higher price of crude oil pushed Iraq's income from oil sales up by nearly 60 percent in 2011 compared to the previous year, according to AFP. Oil ministry figures published on Monday showed that total exports of oil increased 15 percent to 790.5 million barrels of oil, or an average of […]
Iraq would be drastically affected should Iran block the Hormuz Strait. Most of the oil Iraq produces is exported via the Strait. The scenario is seeing Iraq, distinct because of its good relations with both the US and Iran, practice its new diplomacy again, according to this article from NIQASH. Any opinions expressed are those […]
Bloomberg reports that Malaysia's Petronas and the Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (JAPEX) will start producing crude from the Gharraf oil field in southern Iraq by September. Sattar Mahdi, head of field development, said the field will initially produce about 35,000 barrels a day by the end of the third quarter, gradually increasing capacity to 230,000 […]
OAO Gazprom Neft started drilling a second appraisal well at the Badra oilfield, according to a report from Bloomberg. The Russian producer, which started drilling the first such well at Badra in November, expects to complete the second well in spring, and plans to approve the field development plant in February 2013. (Source: Bloomberg)
Gulf Keystone has issued an update on its ongoing exploration and appraisal programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which includes the Shaikan block, a major discovery with independently audited gross oil-in-place volumes of between 8 billion barrels to 13.4 billion barrels calculated on the P90 to P10 basis with a mean value of 10.5 […]
ShaMaran Petroleum has signed a final binding agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (“KRG”) to relinquish to the KRG the 60% working interests currently held in each of the Arbat and Pulkhana Production Sharing Contracts (“PSC”). Under the terms of the agreement the PSC for each of the Pulkhana and Arbat blocks is terminated whereby […]
A spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Oil recently told Al Jazeera that unexplored regions of Iraq could yield an additional 100 billion barrels of oil, and that Iraq's production costs are among the lowest in the world. Additionally, the report says that only about 2,000 wells have been drilled in Iraq to date, compared with […]
Iraq's Oil Ministry announced on Wednesday that it has discovered a new oil field in the Missan [Maysan] province, and described it as the biggest achivement in 30 years. According to the report from AKnews, the Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi [Elaibi] told a press conference: "Iraqi Oil Company and the Southern Oil Company […]
A British businessman has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to corrupt, including making corrupt payments to Iraqi officials. Dr David Turner (56), the former Innospec Limited Global Sales and Marketing Director (Tetraethyl Lead), appeared before His Honour Judge McCreath at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to corrupt. The […]
The Iraqi government has temporarily detained more than 100 international workers in recent weeks over visas and paperwork issues, according to the International Stability Operations Association, a trade group representing contractors. “We want to ensure that you are aware of the seriousness of this issue and the impact it is having on our members’ ability to […]
Mehdi Fakour (pictured), Managing Director of the Iranian Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC), has announced that Tehran and Baghdad have decided to establish a joint company to developing three joint oil fields, according to the Iranian Fars News Agency. "An Iraqi delegation will visit Iran on February 6 to finalize the establishment of the company," […]
The parliamentary Finance Committee said on Sunday that it is considering adding 42,000 jobs to the 58,000 allocated in the 2012 budget, according to AKnews. On Jan. 5 the Iraqi government approved the 2012 budget of $100 billion USD (117 trillion IQD) with a deficit of up to $13.5 billion USD (20.5 trillion IQD), based […]
