Iraq Business News brings you the latest information on developments and opportunities in the oil and gas industry in Iraq.
Shares in Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LSE: GKP) gained 4% this morning following the commencement of drilling at the Shaikan-2 appraisal well. The text of the company's announcement follows: Gulf Keystone announces the commencement of drilling operations on its Shaikan-2 appraisal well, on December 1, 2010. This is the first deep appraisal well to be drilled […]
The Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) has announced that it is to open a representative office in Austria. A KRG official said that the Prime Minister, Dr. Barham Saleh, signed an official document to assign Mustafa R. Koran as the representative in the office. He added that steps will continue to open more offices in other […]
The Iraqi cabinet has approved a draft 2011 budget on Tuesday that envisages a deficit of 14 trillion dinars ($11.99 billion), down from an expected deficit of $19.6 billion for this year, according to a report from Reuters. The budget, which still needs parliamentary approval, is based on an oil price of $73 a barrel, […]
The recent two-day skills development event run by GetEnergy in Basra a few weeks ago attracted 120 participants from 20 international companies. Nihad Moosa, the Director General of Development and Training at Iraq's Ministry of Oil, delivered the opening speech announcing the Ministry's policies in the areas training and learning. Workshops conducted over the following […]
According to a report from Reuters, Spain's Repsol is the latest large international oil company (IOC) to consider potential investments in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq. Repsol's move, which risks it being blacklisted from investment in the rest of Iraq, follows recent investments in Kurdistan by U.S.-based Marathon Oil and Murphy Oil. Repsol has […]
American oil-services company Weatherford International announced on Monday that it has completed the drilling of 20 oil wells in southern Iraq, at oilfields including Rumaila and Bazergan. Work is continuing at another 70 wells. The company's Director, Ramzi al-Harithy, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency during the recent Oil & Gas Exhibition in Basra that his […]
The Minister for Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government, Ashti Hawrami, told Reuters that he expected talks in Baghdad on the formation of a new government to lead to an imminent breakthrough on the issue of oil exports from Kurdistan. “I am confident that the leadership between Kurdistan and Baghdad will address these issues […]
Production from Iraq's West Qurna 1 oil field should more than triple to 750,000 barrels a day in three years time, an oil official said on Sunday. The 8.6 billion barrel field, which is being developed by a consortium including ExxonMobil and Shell, currently produces 234,000 barrels per day, Madhi Swadi, the head of the […]
Reuters, citing "industry sources familiar with the matter", reports that U.S. oil major ExxonMobil and its partners have awarded a contract to oil services firm Schlumberger to drill 10 wells in Iraq's West Qurna 1 oilfield. The contract award was finalised a few days ago but a final contract is yet to be signed by […]
The Middle East Association will be leading its ninth trade mission to Iraqi Kurdistan in Spring 2011. This will be held from 27th Feb until 4th March, with the possibility of extending a stay to coincide with the Erbil Building Exhibition (3rd - 6th March). Kurdistan is an important emerging market, and the mission will […]
Iraq is prepared to stump up for the cost of building one of the four refineries planned if investors can’t be found, the Deputy Oil Minister, Ahmed al-Shamma, has said, according to a report from Bloomberg. The total value of the refinery-building program is variously stated as $9bn and $20bn, depending on the source. The […]
Bloomberg reports that Iraq plans to start work in the next three weeks on offshore oil facilities in the southern part of the country, where export capacity is due to more than double by mid-2012. Export capacity will rise to 4.5 million barrels a day by mid-2012 from the existing capacity of 1.8 million barrels […]
