ENI Stays in Last Minute Deal, Sonangol Exits
By John Lee. Tense negotiations between Baghdad and Italy's ENI came to a close just hours before ENI was supposedly going to call time on their Iraq operations, Reuters reports. ENI CEO Paulo Scaroni made his dissatisfaction clear to reporters on Tuesday before the new deal was struck, stating, "If they do not sign the contracts […]
Iraq’s Summer Irrigation Water Supply Threatened
By John Schnittker, Chief Economist at Schnittker Associates, and former Ministry Advisor at the US Embassy in Baghdad. The headwater areas of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that stretch across most of eastern Turkey have been exceptionally dry this fall and winter. Precipitation over eastern Turkey during the September 2013 – February 2014 period has been less than […]
Belgian Firm Completes Kufa Water Facility
By John Lee. Belgian sewage and water treatment firm Turbo4bio have announced the completion of the new waste water treatment plant at Kufa. The 50,000 cubic meter per day capacity installation involves new technology developed by the company CEO Hans H. Badreddine. Badreddine remarked how pleased he was with the completion of work at the […]
Petrofac Results and Operational Update
By John Lee. In its final results announcement this morning, Petrofac gave the following update on its operations in Iraq: Maintenance services, Iraq In August 2013, we were awarded a second contract by Gazprom Neft Badra B.V. (Gazprom) on the Badra oil field, situated 160 kilometres southeast of Baghdad. Worth US$95 million over three years, […]
Iraq Stock Market Report
Advertising Feature Rabee Securities Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) market report (week ending: 20th February 2014). Please click here to download a table of listed companies and their associated ticker codes. The RSISX index ended the week at ID1,888 (-2.5%)/ $2,005 (-2.5%) (weekly change). The number of week traded shares was 11.2bn and the weekly trading […]
New Report on Erbil Property
Erbil's IKG Property has issued its Q4 2013 Report which covers Erbil’s Industrial, Retail and Residential markets. The report gives an overview of each sector, explores the supply and demand dynamics and give a brief snapshot of the serviced apartment sector. Click here to download the report from our Reports section.
Weekly Security Update 18 - 24 Feb 2014
By Constellis Consulting www.constellis-consulting.com Amid continued unrest in the outskirts of Fallujah and Ramadi, ISF forces regained control of Sulaiman Pek, Salahuddin province, which was overrun by ISIL militants on 13 February. This outcome contrasts with the situation in Anbar, where a much more complex tribal landscape has prevented a direct assault on urban areas […]
Standard Chartered makes New Appointment for Iraq
By John Lee. Standard Chartered has announced the appointment of Ahmed Muallah as Managing Director and Head of its Wholesale Banking business in Iraq. Commenting on the appointment, Gavin Wishart, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Iraq said: “This appointment comes as another testament to our long term commitment to Iraq. Standard Chartered is bringing its best international financial business […]
Iraq Leads Region with $519bn in Planned Projects
By John Lee. Iraq is now among the biggest spenders in the Middle East when it comes to planned or under-way infrastructure projects, rivalling the expenditure of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to the MEED's Gulf Project's Index. Iraq's southern neighbours are spending $1.o5 trillion and $713bn respectively,but Iraq's rising expenditure on energy projects […]
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 […]