French Delegation Arrive in Baghdad
By John Lee. The French Ambassador in Baghdad Dennis Gauer (pictured) has accompanied a delegation from the French Foreign Ministry including Jean Francois Giraud, Head of the North Africa and Middle East Department at the ministry. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and his ministry's head of the Europe Department greeted the delegation, and issues such […]
Maliki Heralds Construction of Karbala Refinery
By John Lee. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has spoken at a ceremony to mark the start of construction on Karbala's forthcoming 140,000 bpd refinery, Iraq Directory reports. As part of Iraq's energy strategy to increase refining capacity to 750,000 bpd, the new $6 billion refinery will be constructed by a consortium led by Hyundai Engineering and […]
Iraq Buys Small Arms and Ammunition from Iran
By John Lee. An investigation by Reuters has found that Iraq has purchased $195 million worth of small arms, ammunition and infantry kit from Iran, in addition to artillery ammunition. The move will likely unnerve some observers in the US, but analysts are still divided over the extent of Iranian influence in Iraq. Touted by an […]
Chinese Foreign Minister Meets Zebari in Baghdad
By John Lee. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad in a rare Chinese high level diplomatic mission to Baghdad. The two men discussed increased Sino-Iraqi cooperation in areas such as oil development and arms sales. Until recently, Iraq has been frustrated by slow deliveries of weapons systems from […]
KAR Win Ninewa Refinery Contract
By John Lee. Baghdad based Iraqi-Kurdish company KAR has won the contract to build Ninewa's planned 90,000 bpd oil refinery. To date, the KAR Group have been working on the Erbil refinery in partnership with the Texas based Ventech Company, in addition to a number of oil, gas and construction projects in Iraq. When complete […]
Massive Potential from Trade and Investment
By Michael Carr, Anglo Arab Insurance Brokers (AAIB). Iraq’s Massive Potential – The Promise from Trade and Investment The newly appointed Baroness Nicholson as the United Kingdoms Trade Envoy to Iraq underscores the view felt by some senior business interests, that “Iraq has massive potential … the future is very good indeed (and) it’s a […]
Gazprom Raises Cost Estimate For Iraq Field
Russia's Gazprom Neft has increased its estimated costs for the Badra oil field to about US $3 billion, reports Bloomberg, citing a bond prospectus recently issued by its parent company. The company had previously forecast costs at about $2 billion. The field is being developed by Gazprom as lead partner (30% stake), along with Korea’s […]
Tadano Delivers Seven Cranes
Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources has taken delivery of seven 55-tonne GT-550E-2 truck cranes from the Japanese company Tadano, via its distributor, United Iraqi Trading Equipment (UITECO). Manufactured by Tadano's Beijing manufacturing joint venture BQ-Tadano, the four axle GT-550 features a five section 42 metre boom plus a 8.8 to 15.2 metres bi-fold swingaway that […]
Al-Sadr - Retiring or Repositioning?
By Harith Hasan for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The announcement of Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist movement, that he is retiring from politics triggered many reactions from political and popular circles in Iraq, as well as a lot […]
IBBC Addresses French Businesses
More than 30 senior representatives of some of France’s biggest businesses were in Paris on Fridayto hear the Executive Chairman of the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) talk about the organisation’s work and ambitions for the future. Baroness Nicholson was joined by the Council’s COO, Christophe Michels, at the event which was held in the […]
KRG Addresses Euro Parliament on Human Rights
Minister Falah Mustafa, the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, addressed a conference in the European Parliament on human rights in Kurdistan and Iraq during a two-day official visit to Brussels this week. Minister Mustafa also met with members of the European Parliament, government officials from the European Union and Belgium and visited both […]
TAQA opens new Erbil Office
TAQA, the international energy and water company from Abu Dhabi, has formally opened its new office in Erbil. The office was inaugurated by His Excellency Abdulla Saif Al-Nuaimi, TAQA Vice-Chairman, in the presence of His Excellency Sinan Abdulkhalq Ahmed Çelebi, Minister of Trade and Industry; Mr. Nawzad Hadi Mawlood, the Governor of Erbil Province from […]