Iraq Business News brings you the latest information on developments and opportunities in the oil and gas industry in Iraq.
We reported last week on the withdrawal of the Kazakhstan-based KazMunaiGas from negotiations on the Akkas gas field in Anbar province. This week the head of KMG, Askar Balzhanov, shed more light on the background to the company's decision, and it reflects very poorly on the Iraqi authorities: "One of the reasons for our withdrawal […]
BP lifted its first cargo of Basra light crude from Rumaila this week, according to a report in the Telegraph. The cargo is worth about $200m [240 billion Iraq dinars]. The company is working with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on the field and the two companies are due $1bn for boosting production, drilling new […]
A few dozen Iraqis protested on Wednesday against Kuwaiti plans for a new port near Umm Qasr, Iraq’s only deep-water port. AKnews reports that public committees from Basra organized the protests to show public opposition against the Kuwaiti Mubarak port across the border. "Everyone knows that Kuwait does not need this port since it has […]
Iraqi state oil workers have tried to stop foreign workers entering the country's biggest oil field amid a country-wide dispute about pay, according to Iraq Oil Report. State workers have been protesting for some time about receiving lower pay than their colleagues at fields run by the international oil companies. In addition to the action […]
Shares in Heritage Oil Plc (LSE: HOIL), the independent upstream exploration and production company with operations in Iraqi Kurdistan (pictured), were unchanged on Wednesday following the release of its interim management statement. Highlights Rig contract to drill the Miran West-3 well in the Miran Block, Kurdistan, was signed in April and the well is scheduled […]
Iraq's Ministry of Oil stressed that it is cooperating with international companies to sell crude oil, pointing that Iraq is the only country that exports its crude oil to more than 25 international companies. On the sidelines of a forum held by SOMO over Iraq’s oil exports mechanisms the director of Iraq's State Oil Marketing […]
War-torn Iraq, a major buyer of oil products, is seeking nearly 50 per cent more gasoline in a fuel tender for the second half of the year, trade sources said on Monday. Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has issued a tender to buy 1.3 million tonnes of gasoline, around 500,000 tonnes of gas oil […]
This work was written by Ahmed Mousa Jiyad, and it is reproduced here with his permission. It was originally published by MEES v53:n24, Monday 16 May 2011. Mr Jiyad is an independent development consultant, scholar and Associate with Centre for Global Energy Studies-CGES, London. He was formerly a senior economist with the Iraq National Oil […]
Petronor FZE, an oilfield services company operating in Iraq, announced today that, following South Oil Company (SOC) approval, has signed a contract with Shell to provide offices and accommodations in its Iraq Energy City near Basra. A next-generation oilfield supply base, Iraq Energy City provides working and living space to a wide-array of oilfield service […]
Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs, Hussein al-Shahristani, has said that Iraq has oil reserves of 200 billion barrels, according to Aswat al-Iraq. This would place Iraq in third place in the worldwide rankings of oil reserves. While the officially-announced oil reserves are 143 billion barrels, the report says that this does not include […]
Dana Gas PJSC, the Middle East’s largest regional private sector natural gas company, and which has operations in Kurdistan's Khor Mor, has announced its financial results for the quarter ended 31st March 2011, with a Net Profit after tax of AED 92 million, a 180% increase compared to the first quarter of 2010, and a […]
The consortium of Chinese, Malaysian and French companies working on the Halfaya oil field, 35 km east of Amara, in Maysan [Missan] province, have completed drilling four oil wells. Ali Altarfi, the media department of Missan Oil Company, told Aswat al-Iraq that, "the plan is to drill 300 wells in this gigantic oil field within […]
