Weekly Security Update 11 - 17 Mar 2014
By Constellis Consulting www.constellis-consulting.com Amid continued violence in Iraq’s central and northern governorates, the proximity of the parliamentary elections triggered a series of political manoeuvres aimed at mobilising the country’s disaffected electorate. In a bid to undermine Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, Parliament Speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi re-oriented political debates towards the Anbar crisis, criticising the lack of government […]
Kentz-Foster Wheeler Venture Wins Shell Contracts
By John Lee. Foster Wheeler Kentz Energy Services DMCC, the Dubai-based joint venture company of Foster Wheeler and Kentz, announced today that it has been awarded framework contracts by Shell Iraq Petroleum Development B.V. ("Shell"), for the provision of engineering, procurement and related services for the Majnoon Oil Field Commercial Production Project in Iraq. Shell […]
Delegates From 40 Nations Attend Terror Summit
By Omar al-Jaffal for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The Iraqi government held a conference on combating international terrorism on March 12-13 in Baghdad, in which it suspended its official work on the opening day of the conference. Although the official reason for the […]
Iraq-Kuwait Flights To Resume
By John Lee. Direct flights between Kuwait and Iraq have resumed after 2 decades, Mawtani reports. After initially starting at 2 flights a week, the eventual aim is to have daily flights, according to Iraqi Airways company director Capt. Saad al-Khafajy. Al-Khafajy was optimistic about flying more passengers between the two countries on Iraq's national carrier, noting […]
Budget Reading Goes Ahead Amid Boycott
The following article was published by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford. It is reproduced here with the author’s permission. The opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. In a significant move, the Iraqi parliament has completed the first passage […]
DNO Announces New Wells at Tawke
By John Lee. DNO International has announced that two new high rate horizontal wells are now pumping oil at the Tawke filed in the Kurdish region. The combined rate of production of both wells is 37,000 bpd. By the year's end DNO expect to have 9 wells operational in the field, which they hold a […]
Excess Electricity in Iraq?
By John Lee. Iraq's Ministry of Electricity has announced that some power plants will be shut down due to a surplus of electricity generation, Azzaman reports. The plants will undergo maintenance before coming on line to meet summer demand. This may come as a surprise to some residents of major towns such as Baghdad or Basra, and […]
Iraq's Oil Exports Hit Record High
By John Lee. Surprising skeptics, the International Energy Agency has announced that Iraq's oil exports have hit 3.6 million bpd, a record 30 year high, The Wall Street Journal reports. Previously exports were falling due to export bottlenecks, bad weather and extensive work on infrastructure, while some northern areas such as Kirkuk were adversely affected by insecurity. […]
Japan, UN Accelerate Economic Recovery in Iraq
JICA (Japan) and UNDP Partnership Reinforcement Agreement to Accelerate Economic Recovery in Iraq Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and UNDP announced a reinforcement agreement to strengthen their partnership and accelerate the implementation of infrastructure and economic development projects in Iraq to improve the economic recovery and living condition of Iraqi people in key sectors such […]
EU Increases its Humanitarian Assistance
The European Commission is increasing its humanitarian assistance to Iraq by €3 million in response to an increase in the numbers of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) fleeing a wave of violence in Al Anbar province. This additional funding will bring the total 2014 humanitarian funding for Iraq to €7 million. Speaking in Baghdad today where […]
Economic Chaos at Anbar Border Crossings
By Ayser Jabbar for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. For months, security incidents in Iraq’s Anbar province — the result of military operations conducted by Iraqi government forces against strongholds of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) — have […]
ShaMaran Announces Reserves and Resources
ShaMaran Petroleum has reported initial recognition of reserves as well as updates to estimated contingent resources and prospective resources for the Atrush block as of December 31, 2013. The reserves and resources estimates were provided by McDaniel & Associates Consultants Ltd., the Company's independent qualified resources evaluator, and were prepared in accordance with standards set […]