Iraqi Parties Circle Around Election Bill
By Laith Hammoudi of IWPR. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Jasim Mohammed is sick and tired of the current political set-up in Iraq, and is not sure whether he will even bother to vote in next year’s parliamentary election. “I will participate in […]
Sri Lanka Aims to Develop Ties with Kurdistan
Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Iraq, Mr Amaralal Sumith Nakandala, last Wednesday met with the Kurdistan Regional Government's Head of Foreign Relations to discuss ways of establishing relations between the Kurdistan Region and Sri Lanka. Ambassador Nakandala's visit is the first by a Sri Lankan diplomat to the Kurdistan Region and follows the re-opening of the […]
Iraq's Dysfunctional Elite
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. Last month, demonstrators in the southern Iraqi cities of Nassiriya and Basra organized nightly rallies to protest the government’s failure to provide enough electricity for households during the notoriously hot summer. With temperatures exceeding 113 degrees Fahrenheit during July […]
Bomb Shuts Kirkuk-Ceyhan Pipeline
By John Lee. Reuters reports that a bomb attack stopped oil flows through the pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan (pictured) early on Tuesday. Iraqi oil officials said the stoppage started at around 0230 GMT (10:30 p.m. Tuesday EDT). The pipeline has been repeatedly attacked by militants and has also suffered technical […]
Anbar Completes Highway to Saudi Arabia
Anbar province recently announced its completion of a 12 billion Iraqi dinar ($10.3 million) highway project linking western Iraq to Saudi Arabia. Anbar province spokesman Mohammed Fathi Hantoush explained that the highway, called the Land Pilgrimage Road, is 230 kilometres long and links central Anbar to the Saudi border at Arar border crossing. Hantoush added […]
Video: Scores Dead in Ramadan Bombings
From Jewish News One. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. A series of car bombs in mainly Shiite areas of Baghdad killed dozens of people and wounded more than 150, in what appeared to be co-ordinated attacks on people celebrating the end […]
Video: Fresh Violence Claims More Lives
From Al Jazeera. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. At least seven more people have been killed in shootings and bombings in Iraq, a day after a wave of deadly bombings left 91 people dead. Gunmen on Sunday opened fire at a […]
Marathon Expects Kurdish Oil Production by 2015
On Thursday, Marathon Oil Corp. said it expects to start producing oil from its operations in the Kurdish region of Iraq within the next two years. The company posted an 8.4 percent increase in net income for the second quarter of 2013, according to its quarterly report. According to UPI, the company said it is planning […]
PetroChina to Join Exxon on West Qurna Oilfield
China's largest energy firm, PetroChina, will join ExxonMobil in developing Iraq's giant West Qurna oilfield and is in talks with Lukoil to buy into a second project at the field, according to the South China Morning Post. China is already the top foreign player in Iraq's southern oilfields, and a deal at West Qurna would boost […]
Kurdistan Opens Oil Trade Route Via Iran
According to The Express Tribune, Iraq’s Kurdistan region is exporting crude oil by truck to an Iranian port for shipping to Asia, using a trade route that is likely to anger both Baghdad and Washington. In a dispute largely over revenue sharing, Kurdistan’s crude exports through a pipeline controlled by the Iraqi central government, dried […]
Iraq, Libya Outages Could Cut OPEC Output
On Friday, the International Energy Agency warned that oil supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was falling, as it raised its forecast for demand for the exporters group's crude this year. "Continued supply outages in Iraq and Libya…may reduce the group's output in coming months," the IEA said in its monthly oil […]
Security Remains Top Risk for Iraqi Journalists
By Laith Hammoudi of IWPR. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Jinan Hussein decided to miss the United Nations conference rather than have her brand new iPhone confiscated by a sentry outside the Green Zone in central Baghdad. “I wanted to make a call […]