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Iraq has signed a contract to buy 250 megawatts of electricity from UAE's Oilfield Services.

Under the two-year deal, the company will provide two power plants docked on ships in Basra. The ships are expected to reach the port within a few weeks, and the plants will be connected to the grid by 31st July, the ministry said.

The contract is said to be based on a price of 7.5 cents per kilowatt hour.

Turkish ships are already docked at the port in Basra, which supply 270 MW per day to the national grid.

(Sources: Reuters, Arabian Business, Utilities-ME)

Iran's Mehr news agency reports that Iraq will soon sign a deal with Iran to start importing 25 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas per day in 2013.

The Iranian gas will be used to power four Iraqi electricity plants.

The giant South Pars gas field (pictured) in the Persian Gulf is shared by Iran and Qatar. The Iranian share has about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, or about eight percent of the total world reserves, and more than 18 billion barrels of liquefied natural gas resources.

(Source: Tehran Times)

(Photo credit: Alireza824)

Inaugural speech by KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, at the swearing in of the seventh KRG cabinet, Kurdistan Parliament, Erbil, 5 April 2012.

Your Excellency the Speaker of the Kurdistan parliament, your Excellency Vice President of the Kurdistan Region, Excellencies Members of the Kurdistan Parliament, dear audience,

We are glad that we are present today in front of the Kurdistan Parliament to announce the formation of the seventh cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The people of Kurdistan are the source of legitimacy of the KRG

It is a huge responsibility that has been entrusted to us, and with my dear colleague Mr Imad Ahmad and all my colleagues in the seventh cabinet, we will work hard to meet this challenge.

The people of Kurdistan are the source of legitimacy for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and today we are honoured to receive their endorsement through their representatives in the Kurdistan Parliament.

In spite of its remaining shortcomings, the Kurdistan Region has witnessed tremendous political, economic and social development. However, we will continue our efforts to fulfill our duty and the promises that have been made to our people.

We thank our dear friends Dr Barham Salih the Prime Minister of the Sixth KRG Cabinet, his Deputy Mr Azad Barwari and the members of their cabinet for the important work that they accomplished in the time that they had. Their efforts are appreciated both by us and by the people of Kurdistan.

We would also like to faithfully remember and appreciate the sacrifices of all the martyrs of the Kurdistan liberation and freedom movement. We promise to continue the struggle for the development and the prosperity of our people in their memory, for we wouldn't be here today if it hadn’t been for their struggle and sacrifices.

A strong will

Today, we have come here to the parliament of Kurdistan with a strong will. While we will continue the work of the fifth and sixth cabinets, we will also partner with the Kurdistan parliament to implement a new program, with strategies and initiatives that will take into consideration the political, economic and social changes that have taken place in recent years.

Recently, some countries of the Middle East and North Africa have a begun to see the emergence of democracy and justice. The Kurdistan Region welcomes these changes, and supports any change that is in the direction of democracy, freedom and human rights. By contrast, the Kurdish Spring began twenty years ago when the people of Kurdistan rose up, with the support of the Kurdistan political parties, and managed to end the authority of one of the most dangerous dictators of that time in our land, choosing to install the rule of law, democracy and freedom without the support of foreign countries.

Abu Dhabi National Energy (TAQA), a state-owned oil explorer and power supplier, said it bought a 50 percent interest in a power plant in Iraqi Kurdistan.

According to Reuters, the plant, which has been operating since 2009, has a capacity of 750 megawatts, with an additional 250 megawatts under construction.

The company signed a joint venture agreement with Mass Global Investments for the purchase.

"There is a 15 year take or pay agreement in place with the Ministry of Electricity, Kurdistan Region. The facility receives gas from an underground pipeline connecting the Khor Mor gas field to the plant," a company spokesman told Reuters.

The National reports that the company also has a stake in WesternZagros, the Canadian oil company that is exploring two blocks in Kurdistan.

(Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, The National)

The Kurdistan Parliament approved the new Kurdistan Regional Government cabinet on Thursday. Incoming Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (pictured) and his ministers were sworn in to begin their two-year term.

While many of the ministers remain in their previous positions, nine new ministers were sworn into the 7th cabinet.

Announcing the agenda of the new cabinet, Prime Minister Barzani said that Kurdistan needs a collective effort to maintain progress and promote national unity, in spite of individual political and ideological differences. “We must begin a national dialogue to build a consensus on how we can improve our society,” he said.

“We also must have a united front in our negotiations with Baghdad, and at present the mechanism does not exist to create this united view. We must move ahead quickly with the formation of a High Council for Negotiations to oversee these discussions. All parties – government and opposition – must participate in this Council so that we can develop a meaningful consensus among ourselves on how to approach these difficult issues,” he added.

The new Prime Minister went on to describe plans to increase government transparency and to implement a policy to help separate the functions of political parties from the operations of the government as a whole, as well as initiatives to deliver better services to the people of Kurdistan and make better provision for the disadvantaged and poor.

The new cabinet was approved in keeping with the legal timeframe set by President Masoud Barzani’s call to form the new cabinet, on March 7. The members of the 7th Cabinet sworn into posts are:

ABB, the global power and automation technology group, has won an order from the Ministry of Electricity (MOE) in Iraq to provide a state-of-the-art power distribution management system. The solution will incorporate advanced communication technology, with monitoring and control functions, to improve the availability, performance and reliability of power supplies in the capital, Baghdad.

ABB will upgrade the existing control center with an integrated solution comprising its Network Manager SCADA DMS (supervisory control and data acquisition distribution management system) software, now a part of its Ventyx portfolio. ABB will also supply the communications equipment and RTUs (remote terminal units) to control and monitor power supplies in this densely populated area of the country.

The refurbished control centers will provide operators with a system-wide view of conditions in the distribution grid, enabling smooth operations as well as rapid detection and correction of faults. The scope of the project includes operator training.

“The refurbishment of the distribution system with advanced monitoring and control capabilities, will help improve availability and quality of electricity for consumers and support economic development in the region,” said Jens Birgersson, head of ABB’s Network Management business unit, a part of the company’s Power Systems division. “Our unique ability to facilitate the integration of operational and information technologies provides a multicomponent system from a single source, reducing both cost and complexity for our customers.”

The project is one of the several infrastructure improvement initiatives currently underway in Iraq and part of reconstruction efforts to establish a dependable power network to support economic and social development in the country.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 135,000 people.

(Source: ABB)

The Turkish company Çalık Enerji will open its 250 mega watt Khairat power station at the beginning of July, the first of 20 stations Iraq hopes to build around the country, reports AKnews.

The Deputy Prime Minister for Energy, Hussein al-Shahristani, made the announcement today and told AKnews that the Ministry of Oil will provide fuel for the plant, located in Karbala, southwest of Baghdad.

About the measures taken to address the electricity crisis during the summer, Shahristani said "the ministry will install 20 stations in different parts of the country, and the capacity of each one will reach up to 250 MW."

Iraq needs at least 14,000 MW to meet the high demand for energy but currently has less than 7,000 MW.

(Source: AKnews)

AKnews reports that Iraq will stop importing electricity from neighboring countries by the summer of 2013.

Instead of depending on foreign countries for electricity, new capacity will be introduced over the next two years to the national grid, and energy production will reach 20,000 MW.

Ministry spokesman Musab al-Mudarres told AKnews the ministry currently has 20 projects to build new electricity power plants, and estimated that this has been 60-80 percent completed.

"The total electric power in Iraq will reach 9,000 MW next summer and new units to generate electricity will be added every three months to the national system", he added.

Mudarres did not rule out exporting electricity to neighboring countries in the coming years.

The Iraqi Electricity Ministry signed a contract with the Turkish company Çalık Enerji last January to build the 1,250 MW Khairat power station.

(Source: AKnews)

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Shell Iraq have signed an agreement to implement a range of development projects in Southern Iraq. The four year partnership aims to increase the number of local area development activities, promote local small and medium enterprises and provide vocational training to respond to the private sector’s needs.

“UNDP believes that such partnerships are fundamental for the effective implementation of our development programmes in Iraq” said Peter Batchelor, UNDP Iraq Country Director. “Partnering with the private sector, particularly with international oil companies who are the largest investors in the country, is key to capacity building, generating employment and building strong and competitive inclusive markets” he added.

The partnership, the first between UNDP Iraq and the private sector, has two main components. The first includes vocational training to equip existing and future Iraqi workers to respond to the needs of the oil and gas sector. It also includes providing support for the establishment and development of micro, small and medium enterprises. The second includes a range of programmes to improve the quality of basic services for the residents of Basra province. This will be achieved through more inclusive and participatory planning processes, where local communities and civil society organisations are able to identify their own development needs and priorities.

Unemployment in Iraq is currently 11.5% of the labor force, slightly less than in recent years. More than 20% of Iraqi youth are unemployed, while at least one in every five women participating in the labor force is unemployed. In the Basra governorate, unemployment is 11 %.

Shell has announced that it has granted a $63 million contract to build an electricity generation plant for its gas capture project southern Iraq to Swiss engineer ABB Ltd.

Jasser Hanter, general director of the Shell gas project, told reporters that ABB will build two 25 megawatt power plants at Khor al Zubair.

The $17 billion Basra gas project led by Shell and Mitsubishi aims to harvest natural gas that is now flared off by Iraq's oil production and use it to generate electricity.

(Source: Reuters)