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Iraq continues to grow its oil production at a good pace. Having recently breached the three million barrels of oil in a day mark, it is now averaging over a month 2.6m b/d, the most in three decades, according to Falah Alamri, the head of the State Oil Marketing Organisation.

With Iran's oil production having stalled recently, potentially due to oil sanctions or lack of investment, Iraq has now overtaken it to become the second-largest oil exporter in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, making $8bn per month in revenue from oil exports on an average price this year of more than $100 per barrel.

Iraq still has a long way to go to catch up with Saudi Arabia, which, as the OPEC country with the highest production, produces around 10m b/d. Saudi Arabia claims to have one fifth of the world's oil reserves.

Hadi Abbas, secretary for the Parliamentary Finance Committee, said that they are expecting that higher oil revenues will lead to the Iraqi government approving a bigger budget for next year.

Sources: Reuters; Euphrates

Reuters

By John Lee.

Vodafone and Zain have jointly announced a Partner Market agreement that will significantly expand Vodafone’s Partner Market presence in the Middle East and provide Zain customers with greater support in Vodafone’s global footprint.

Under the non-equity partnership agreement, Vodafone will work with Zain companies in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq to provide customers with high quality communications services.

The move will enhance both Zain and Vodafone’s ability to meet growing demand among multinational businesses for sophisticated voice and data communications solutions as well as advanced roaming services within the Middle East.

This will complement Vodafone’s own regional operations in Egypt and Qatar and increase the number of countries in which Vodafone has Partner Market agreements to more than 50.

Zain will have access to Vodafone’s devices and services in its home markets and become the preferred partner of Vodafone in respect of the agreed areas of cooperation. Vodafone and Zain will work together to provide customers with enhanced network coverage, harmonised roaming rates across multiple countries with greater cost efficiencies and Zain will be able to use the Vodafone brand.

Vodafone's multinational customers served by Vodafone Global Enterprise will benefit by being able to add the Zain countries to their existing contracts for international managed services, while continuing to be serviced via a single point of contact. Zain will similarly benefit from Vodafone's footprint.

By John Lee.

Zain has confirmed rumours that it is close to sealing a deal with Vodafone that would allow the global telecoms group to expand access to networks across countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Bahrain.

According to the report from Reuters, Zain has said that it is "at an advanced stage in negotiations towards reaching a strategic partnership agreement with Vodafone".

Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile operator by sales, has been seeking new agreements with local operators to spread its coverage while avoiding expensive buyouts or heavy investments.

Zain said it would provide more details on the partnership in the next few months.

(Source: Reuters)

By John Lee.

Vodafone, the world’s second-largest mobile-phone company, is said to be nearing an agreement with Zain to expand access to networks across countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Bahrain.

According to a report from Bloomberg, the deal would let UK-based Vodafone lower roaming fees and share handset- purchasing costs.

Vodafone is seeking to tap a market where wireless calling and data usage is soaring. Annual smartphone shipments in the Middle East and Africa are set to climb to 152 million devices, or 21.7 percent of the population, by 2015, from 36.7 million in 2011, according to London-based research firm Ovum.

(Source: Bloomberg)

By John Lee.

An MP and member of the Parliamentary Oil and Energy Committee has hit out at Saudi Arabia for its "hostile policy" towards Iraq.

Udai Awad, of the Ahrar bloc within the Sadrist Trend, told AIN:

"The reason for the dispute with Saudi Arabia is the attempt by KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] to seize the Iraqi oil pipeline passing through Saudi territories. The pipeline was constructed by Iraqi funds and it was established according to political agreements with the Kingdom but after the fall of the former regime we were surprised that KSA seeks to control on this pipe."

He went of to accuse Saudi Arabia of, "attempting to practice terrorism against Iraq and fight against Iraq politically, economically and socially for sectarian reasons".

According to a Government source, the oil pipeline built by Iraq to the Saudi port of Yanbu cost $2 billon and has a capacity of 1.6 million barrels per day.

(Source: AIN)

Reuters reports that OPEC has delayed a meeting of officials to help select its new secretary general, putting off delicate talks that could reignite rivalry for influence as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq seek the top post.

A panel of officials was initially planned to convene at OPEC's Vienna headquarters during August, but the meeting is now more likely to take place in October.

Four of OPEC's 12 members have put forward potential successors to Abdullah al-Badri, a Libyan whose term finishes at the end of 2012.

Several delegates said the August talks were delayed because of difficulty in fixing the meeting around participants' schedules. But one said the group didn't want to deal with the delicate issue of succession at this time.

The four nominees are:

• Saudi Arabia's OPEC governor, Majid Al-Moneef;
• Thamir Ghadhban, energy adviser to Iraq's prime minister;
• Former Iranian oil minister, Gholam Hossein Nozari; and,
• a condidate from Ecuador.

(Source: Reuters)

To overcome Iraq’s current political crisis and prevent the breakdown of the entire post-2003 order, Prime Minister Maliki (pictured) and his opponents both will have to agree to painful compromises, according to this report from the International Crisis Group:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

At first glance, the current Iraqi political crisis looks like just one more predictable bump in the long road from dictatorship to democracy. Every two years or so, the political class experiences a prolonged stalemate; just as regularly, it is overcome. So, one might think, it will be this time around.

But look closer and the picture changes. The tug of war over Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s second term suggests something far worse: that a badly conceived, deeply flawed political process has turned into a chronic crisis that could bring down the existing political structure.

To avoid this outcome, both Maliki and his opponents need to make painful compromises: the prime minister should implement the power-sharing deal negotiated in 2010 and pledge to step down at the end of his term; in turn, his rivals should call off efforts to unseat him and instead use their parliamentary strength to build strong state institutions, such as an independent electoral commission, and ensure free and fair elections in two years’ time.

The present stalemate has its immediate roots in the Erbil accord between key political actors, which led to the second Maliki government. Key elements of the power-sharing agreement, which political leaders reached in a rush in November 2010 as impatience with the absence of a government grew, were never carried out.

By John Lee.

Iraq’s crude oil production overtook Iran’s last month for the first time since 1988, when the countries ended their eight-year war, reports Bloomberg.

Iraq pumped 2.984 million barrels a day in June, versus 2.963 million bpd for Iraq, OPEC said today in its Monthly Oil Market Report.

Production from Iran fell ahead of sanctions from the EU that started on 1st July 1, while Iraq is steadily increasing output.

OPEC’s 12 members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

(Source: Bloomberg)

By John Lee.

Several Saudi companies have expressed a desire to invest in the Kurdistan Region.

Assaf Ben Nasser, President of Administration & Human Resources of the Western Region and General manager of several factories in Saudi Arabia, and Abdulaziz Ben Othaymeen, a Saudi businessmen, told Puk Media that the commercial, industrial and investment markets are attractive to Saudi investors.

Ben Nasser said that the Saudi companies are ready to cooperate with Kurdish businessmen and factory owners in the field of investments, services, housing, training, import and export.

(Source: PUK Media)

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for Energy, Hussain Al-Shahristani, talks to CNBC about the oil price, the risk of Iran shutting the Strait of Hormuz, and the possibility of rehabilitating the pipeline from Iraq through Saudi Arabia.

(Source: CNBC)