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Iraq may purchase electricity from Armenia, said Vice-Prime Minister of IraqSaleh al-Mutlaq at the meeting with Armenian Ambassador Murad Muradian.

The sides discussed possible areas of economic cooperation, including ways of supplying electricity from Armenia to Iraq, expressing the hope that this problem will be resolved.

Ambassador Muradian informed the vice-prime minister of Iraq that the Armenian side will present a discussion of two agreements to the Iraqi side -- on economic cooperation and investment protection -- in the near future.

The two also discussed the possible participation of Armenia in the process of rehabilitating Iraq, particularly in the area of the apartment building.

At the end of the meeting the Armenian ambassador gave al-Mutlaq an invitation on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia to visit the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

Accepting the invitation, al-Mutlaq noted that he will visit Armenia in the near future, accompanied by high officials and Iraqi businessmen.

(Source: ARKA)

Iraq's Ministry of Electricity announced on Tuesday the experimental launch of a number of electrical units in the al-Sadr gas station. According to the report from AKnews, the plant is operated by the Iranian company Snair (which Iraq Business News believes to be Sunir).

The ministry’s media spokesman, Musab al-Mudarres, told AKnews that the station will provide the Iraqi network with a total of 640 MW with two of the station’s six units operational.

The Electricity Ministry presented in December projects for the construction of four gas-powered electricity generating plants for investment within the first licensing round, in order to double its production over the coming years.

"The Ministry of Electricity is working in coordination with the Iranian company to resolve the technical obstacles that hinder the completion of the al-Sadr gas station,” Mudarres said.

The Iraqi government has announced plans to increase the country’s generative capacity to 27,000 megawatts over the next four years, requiring an investment of between $3bn and $4bn per year.

(Source: AKnews)

Today [Monday] the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Barham Salih, following the visit to Erbil of Iraqi Federal Finance Minister Rafie al-Issawi, welcomed the new efforts made by all parties in the federal government on Iraq’s planned oil and gas legislation.

“We have had excellent discussions with Finance Minister al-Issawi,” said Prime Minister Salih. “The formation of the new government in Baghdad under the premiership of Dr Maliki has clearly been an opportunity to address these important oil and gas issues. The planned legislation will address oil and gas revenue distribution policy and improved oil exports.”

Federal legislation

Prime Minister Salih confirmed that the KRG has received from the federal government proposed drafts of an Iraqi National Oil Company (INOC) law and a revenue sharing law from Baghdad for the KRG’s review.

On the progress made on the advancement of much needed federal legislation, Prime Minister Salih stated, “It is essential that all the inter-related laws of the INOC, Federal Hydrocarbon Law and the Ministry of Oil Restructuring Law are presented to the Parliament as a package to ensure consistency and to avoid further delays.”

On cooperation with Baghdad, Prime Minister Salih said, “The KRG believes that close cooperation on oil and gas strategy and export policies is vital to the security and well-being of the people of Iraq.”

He added, “The KRG Ministry of Natural Resources has accepted an invitation to support the advisory office of the federal Prime Minister and its international consultants on an integrated energy strategy for all of Iraq.”

KRG oil export and contractor payments

Oil exported from newly discovered fields in the Kurdistan Region is currently being marketed by the federal government’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO), with a percentage of the revenues to be allocated to the contractors via the KRG, according to the recent agreement between Erbil and Baghdad.

Prime Minister Salih stated, “The federal government had previously committed itself to the payment of KRG oil contractors. These contractors are now adding significant volumes to Iraq’s oil exports.”

“Under the management of the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources and the leadership of our Minister Dr Ashti Hawrami, we are now exporting via Turkey significantly more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day. That volume is increasing day by day,” Prime Minister Salih said.

He added, “The KRG has today presented its first oil export statement to the federal Finance Ministry for over five million barrels of oil delivered to SOMO since the commencement of export earlier this year. The KRG expects to receive from Baghdad its first payment for the Kurdistan Region contractors, as previously agreed with Prime Minister Maliki.”

South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries has tendered the lowest of six bids for the construction of a 500-megawatt natural-gas fired power plant in Najaf, an Iraqi Electricity Ministry official said.

According to Bloomberg, Hyundai bid $158.9 million for the work; Metka SA (METTK) of Greece, Turkey’s Enka Insaat & Sanayi AS, Lanco Infratech Ltd. (LANCI) of India, and companies from Iraq and Jordan also bid for the project, Deputy Electricity Minister Salam Qazaz said in an interview.

The  plant is to be built within 18 months.

“The winner of the bid will be announced between three days and one week following a study of technical and financial aspects of the tender,” Qazaz said in Baghdad.

In a separate bid, Hyundai Heavy, Lanco Infratech, three Iraqi groups and an Italian company submitted offers to build a 250-megawatt power station in Al-Qaim in western Iraq, Sabih Ishak, a director general at the Electricity Ministry, said in an interview from Baghdad. Results will be announced April 17, he said. The plant will run on gas from the nearby Akkas field, he said.

Iraq’s electricity plants and distribution system have suffered through years of conflict, sanctions and sabotage. Iraqis receive power from the national grid for an average of about one hour in every five. Frequent outages hamper economic reconstruction, and protests over unreliable electricity supplies have made the issue a major concern of the government.

Former Electricity Minister Karim Wahid resigned last June after two people were killed in riots over blackouts and power rationing. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged to address the problem after forming his new government in December.

A group of South Korean companies signed contracts on April 7 to build 25 power stations, half of 50 that are planned at a total value of $6.25 billion. Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Man SE (MAN) are among companies that have bid for the remaining 25 plants, Electricity Minister Raad Shallal said on March 23.

The government also invited bids in December for the construction of four bigger plants that would raise generating capacity by a combined 2,750 megawatts. Those bids will be for a 1,250-megawatt plant near Basra, and three plants of 500 megawatts each in the cities of Samawa, Diwaniya and Amarah.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Iraq's Electricity Ministry said on Wednesday it had shortlisted two private Kurdish-owned companies to build and operate a power plant costing up to $1 billion in Iraq's southern Basra province, Reuters reports.

The companies concerned are the Jordan-based Mass Global Investment Co and Arbil-based Kar Group. A winner will be selected at the end of April, electricity ministry spokesman Musab al-Mudarres said in a statement.

The 1,250 megawatt power plant will be constructed on a build-own-operate basis in the Shatt al-Basra, Iraq's southern oil hub. The winning company will then sell the power generated by the plant to the government, the statement said.

The plant is due to start operating in May 2013.

(Source: Reuters)

According to a report from Reuters, the Saudi-based Dao al-Jomaih Group tendered the low bid of $204.4 million to install four gas turbines in Iraq's southern Basra province.

Salam Qazaz, Iraq's deputy electricity minister, said on Tuesday that the units will have a total generating capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) and will be installed at a power plant in al-Najibiya, a district in Basra, Iraq's southern oil hub.

The units are to be installed within 17 months, he added.

"Final approval of the deal will be decided after we study the technical aspects of the tender," Qazaz told reporters in Basra.

Reuters reports that China's Machinery Engineering Corp is also party to the winning bid; AFP says the company is China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corp (CMEC).

The bid beat tenders submitted by Swiss engineering group ABB, Turkey's Enka Insaat and South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries, the ministry said.

(Source: Reuters)

The Ministry of Electricity in Iraqi Kurdistan has signed a contract with a Turkish Company to connect electrical power lines between the provinces of Sulaimaniya and Erbil.

Kurdistan’s Electricity Minister, Yassin Sheikh Abu-Bakr, has signed a contract on Sunday with the Turkish ‘Shar’ Company to build these lines, adding that the total cost of the contract is 21.6 billion Iraqi dinars [$18 million], a Ministry statement said.

The Minister expressed his Ministry’s readiness to “extend every possible assistance to the Turkish Company, as well as accepting other foreign companies wishing to work in electric power plants in Kurdistan,” it added.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

The Iraqi electricity ministry has given the thumbs up to the construction of two new power stations with a capacity of 600 megawatt in Maysan [Missan], according to Aswat al-Iraq.

“One station with a capacity of 100 MW will be set up in al-Batira, (5 km) north of al-Amara, while the other will be near the al-Kahlaa transformer station, (18 km) southeast of Amara,” Amer Nasrallah, the Missan provincial council’s energy committee chairman, said on Sunday.

“The approval came after a visit by the council chairman, Abdul-Hussein al-Saadi, and the council’s energy committee chairman to the electricity ministry,” he added, noting the two stations will be linked to the public grid as part of the ministry’s plan to reduce power shortages.

Maysan, a province with a population of more than one million, needs 400 MW of electricity while the current capacity is below 150 MW from neighboring provinces.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

The local government in Ninewa signed a deal with a Turkish company on Wednesday to build a gas-fired electricity generating plant.

The plant will generate 750 Megawatts, a source from the Ninewa governor's office told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The $388 million-deal aims to improve the electricity in the province,” he noted.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

Iraq has awarded a $125 million [150 billion Iraqi dinars] contract to a Saudi Arabian company to build a 150 MW power plant in Basra, an Iraqi official said.

Haider Ali Fadhil, head of the Basra Investment Commission, said the Saudi-based Dao al-Jomaih Group was awarded a contract to build the plant and install two French-made gas turbines. It will take six months for the project to be completed, according to the report from Reuters.

Under the deal, the company will operate the plant and sell the electricity to the province for a three year period after finishing the installation of the turbines, Mohammed Oun, a representative of Dao al-Jomaih said.

Aswat al-Iraq, meanwhile, reports that an Emirati company called 'al-Jameeh Company' was granted the contract, which it values at $153m

(Sources: Reuters, Basra Investment Commission, Aswat al-Iraq)