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By John Lee.

Russia's Lukoil and Japan's Inpex have successfully completed the testing of the first exploratory well, Eridu 1, at Block 10 in Basra governorate.

The well recorded a daily flow rate of more than 1,000 cubic meters of sweet oil from Mishrif horizon, confirming geological expectations of a large hydrocarbon field presence within the Block 10 contract area.

Geological exploration at the block is in progress: work program for 2017 includes the drilling and testing of an appraisal well Eridu 2.

Lukoil has a 60-percent stake in Block 10, with Inpex owning 40 percent.

(Sources: Lukoil, Inpex, Ministry of Oil)

(Picture: Seismic study at Block 10)

Russia's Rosneft and the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq signed a Cooperation Agreement in the fields of upstream, infrastructure, logistics and trading. The document was signed on the sidelines of the IP week conference in London.

Pursuant to the Cooperation Agreement the parties signed a pre-financed Crude Oil Purchase and Sale Contract of Kurdistan Region Crude oil over the period 2017-2019. The purchaser of crude will be Rosneft’s trading arm – Rosneft Trading SA.

Commenting on the deal Rosneft Chief executive officer Igor Sechin (pictured) said:

“We are delighted to be embarking on new activity together in the Kurdistan Region and look forward to developing new markets worldwide for Kurdish crude oil. The off-take and supply of Kurdish crude oil into Rosneft's expanding worldwide refining system will further contribute to the increase in its effectiveness”.

His Excellency Minister of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq Dr. Ashti Hawrami stated that:

“This deal represents a new beginning in our relationship with Rosneft and opens up the possibility of a broader relationship in all fields of energy cooperation with Russian Oil company Rosneft within Kurdistan”.

(Source: Rosneft)

Russia's Rosneft group has started drilling its first exploration well at Block 12 in Iraq.

The Salman-1 well will be drilled to the measured depth of 4,245 m through Kurra Chine target horizon to be followed by further testing of five prospective targets. The Company plans to complete drilling in July 2017.

Company of Rosneft group acts as the operator of the exploration and development of Block 12. China-based company Zhongman Petroleum and Natural Gas Group (ZPEC) is the general drilling contractor .

Iraq has huge proved and undeveloped oil resources. Exploration in Iraq is an important step in implementing the Rosneft strategy to expand competences in the area of hydrocarbon exploration and production outside of Russia.

The prospective oil-bearing Block 12 is located in the Najaf and Muthanna provinces, approximately 80 km to the southwest of the city of Samawa and 130 km to the west of the city of Nasriya. The block is a part of the Western Desert, an unexplored region having the biggest oil potential in Iraq. It has an area of 7,680 sq km. Exploration works on Block 12 are considered "low risk" due to its prospects.

(Source: Rosneft)

By John Lee.

Russia's Lukoil has said it has no plans to cut oil production in Iraq in 2016-2017.

Company President Vagit Alekperov (pictured) told reporters:

“No, not yet. So far, we have not received such recommendations from the Government of Iraq.”

(Source: Tass)

By Saad Salloum for Al Monitor. Any opinions here are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. 

Three Iraqi Caucasus tribes are uniting to seek recognition under the Iraqi Constitution. The Circassians, Chechens and Dagestanis want to unify their communities under one national name, “Caucasus,” much like the Christians of Iraq did when they formed the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council political party in 2007.

The tribes seek formal recognition in the constitution to guarantee equal rights and legal protection from violence against minorities. On Nov. 24, the nongovernmental organization Masarat for Cultural and Media Development (MCMD) hosted a meeting of representatives of the three groups in the Sulaimaniyah governorate in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

There, they asked to be included among Iraqi minorities and officially declared their demands. MCMD is preparing a draft law regarding rights for minorities that it will submit to parliament.

Ahmed Kataw, the leader of Circassians in Iraq, spoke to Al-Monitor about these demands, saying:

“The Iraqi Constitution should recognize the Iraqi Caucasus tribes — Circassians, Chechens and Dagestanis — like the rest of the officially recognized minorities. Their names should be included within the Iraqi minorities protected under the draft law. … We want to make sure the Caucasian minorities are represented in the parliament according to the quota system, by virtue of which other minorities are represented.”

The Caucasus tribes were late presenting their demands to MCMD because, they said, they were unable to form a political party to represent them at the official level, and there were disagreements about selecting leaders to convey these demands.

By John Lee.

In its third-quarter and nine-month results announced on Monday, Russia's Lukoil reports that its capital expenditures for the first nine months of 2016 were 19.1 percent lower than in the corresponding period of 2015.

This decrease partly attributed to moving to the maintenance oil production stage at the West Qurna-2 project in Iraq.

But the company's results were also impacted by a decrease in the compensation amount from West Qurna-2

(Source: Lukoil)

By John Lee.

Iraqi oil minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi [Allibi] met with the CEO of Gazprom, Alexander Dukov, and his entourage and discussed with him mutual cooperation and the development of the oil industry in Iraq.

The minister said it is necessary to increase oil and gas production at Badra oil field, and praised the efforts of the Russian company.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

By Hal Miran, Editor-in-Chief, Bite.Tech.

It might be surprising to know that the region of the Middle East has become a blossoming entrepreneurial, tech startup hub. From Jordan to Lebanon and Iran to Egypt, the region has made significant progress with innovation driving tech startup growth. Israel has more startups per capita than anywhere else in the world.

Iraq has been the notable absentee from this tech ecosystem growth. Over the last 18 months Bite.Tech has dedicated time researching the Iraqi tech ecosystem, along with a group of committed, talented writers and entrepreneurs. We believe that we are on the verge of imminent breakthroughs and of establishing our own strong tech ecosystem here in Iraq.

When most people think of our country, they think of the wars and the ensuing conflict that crippled the country. But this is only very recent history in the country that gave birth to one of the greatest commerce and trade regions the world has ever known. It is a country steeped in the history of human civilisation.

Now, Iraqis are hopeful of leaving the recent issues that have plagued the country in the past and to harness its considerable resources to drive economic recovery.

One key area for this to happen is the fostering of a tech entrepreneurial community. In the last few years, a large group of tech entrepreneurs has emerged, who have created the beginnings of an Iraqi tech ecosystem from scratch. And it is now beginning to show signs of advancing beyond its primary stage.

The Blossoming Iraqi Tech Startup Space

The impact of the conflict witnessed in the country since 2003 has led to a dearth of foreign investment. It has also badly affected the education system. This has led to a lack of capital and of talent, respectively. Up to now, the tech startup community has had to be innovative and adaptable to deal with problems in financing, infrastructure and human resources.

By Mustafa Saadoun for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. 

Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi called on Egyptian companies to participate in oil investment contracts. He said during a meeting with the Egyptian ambassador in Baghdad, Hassan Ahmed Darwish, “It is necessary to strengthen relations between Iraq and Egypt, especially in the oil business.”

On the same day, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over the phone to discuss the bilateral relations between the two countries and to unite efforts in the fight against terrorism.

Although Abadi was preoccupied with the battle of Mosul, that did not prevent him from contacting Sisi, which underlines Egypt's importance for Iraq as well as the significance of improving the Iraqi-Egyptian relationship in light of the current Saudi-Egyptian tension.

The meeting and phone call came a week after the Riyadh-Cairo relationship suffered a blow following Egypt voting in favor of the Russian project on the Syrian crisis. The fact that Iraq quickly communicated with the Egyptian government implies an Iraqi desire to rearrange its ties at the Arab level.

Iraq’s inclination to strengthen the relationship with Egypt in the oil business was met with an Egyptian desire to do the same, especially since the latter is experiencing some tension with Saudi Arabia. Thus, Iraq seems like a good option as an oil-rich country to resort to.

Iraq, which is also not on good terms with Saudi Arabia, wants to invest in the crisis between Riyadh and Cairo and give Egypt a chance to prevent its economic conditions from deteriorating now that its former ally, Saudi Arabia, is out of the picture. Thus, Iraq gains an important Arab country like Egypt and benefits from Saudi Arabia’s loss of such an important Arab ally.