Leighton Looks to Move on from Iraq Scandal
By John Lee. Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) chairman, Riad Al Sadik (pictured), has said Leighton's name “became very, very bad in Iraq” in 2012 following the bribery scandal. “HLG was definitely affected,” he told The Australian. “It took us quite some time to clean this up.” The company sacked a senior manager last year as […]
Iraq Ports See Influx of 'Mediocre Products'
By Omar al-Shaher for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Iraq has continued to implement strict inspection measures on imported goods through its maritime ports in the southern city of Basra, after having been accused of turning into “a warehouse for […]
Protests at West Qurna-2
By John Lee. Hundreds of locals blocked a main entrance of Iraq's giant southern West Qurna-2 oilfield on Tuesday. According to Iraq Oil Report, local residents have long complained that oil development has caused them to lose agricultural land for which they have not been adequately compensated, while many expected to receive jobs at oil […]
Video: From Baghdad to Stockholm
From Al Jazeera. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Over the past decade, tens of thousands of Iraqis have fled their country to resettle in Sweden. Iraqi-born Swedes are today one of the largest ethnic minority groups living in Sweden. In 2007, […]
Video: Iraq Hit by Deadly Bombings
From Al Jazeera. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. A wave of bombings across Iraq have killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 100 others, officials said, just days before the country's first elections since US troops withdrew. Most of […]
Video: Attacks Kill Dozens Ahead of Polls
From AFP. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Dozens of attacks across Iraq on Monday killed at least 24 people just days before the country's first elections since US troops withdrew. In Tuz Khurmatu, which lies 175 kilometres (110 miles) north of […]
Video: Al-Qaeda, Saddamists Expand Terror Activities
From Iran’s PressTV. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. A political analyst tells PressTV that the Baath party and the remnants of the former regime, the Saddamists are taking advantage of al-Qaeda and making a strategic alliance with al-Qaeda to spread terror […]
Oil Ministry Raises Estimated Reserves
Iraq's oil ministry is raising its estimate for the country's proven oil reserves by nearly 5 percent, from 143 billion barrels to 150 billion barrels, according to a report from UPI. Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said the higher figures are the result of increased exploration over the past two years, adding that the revised estimates […]
"No Plans" for Egypt-Iraq Pipeline
The Iraqi embassy in Cairo says there are "no further plans" regarding an oil pipeline from Iraq to Egypt, but confirmed that Iraq's State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP) signed an agreement for the export of oil to Egypt. "There is currently an agreement between us, but we haven’t yet received any official communications from […]
2,300 Foreign Firm in Kurdistan
There are 2,300 foreign firms working in Iraqi Kurdistan, in addition to approximately 15,000 local companies, according to a report from Shafaaq News. The KRG's Minister of Trade and Industry reportedly added: "It is necessary to take into consideration the significance of those companies when fining or penalizing them." (Source: Shafaaq)
Hawrami: Iraq’s Unity Hinges on Flexibility Over Kurd Oil
The KRG's Natural Resources Minister, Ashti Hawrami (pictured), has said that the Kurdish region could export 250,000 barrels of oil a day this year and is "on track" to ship 1 million bpd by 2015 and 2 million by 2019. "We need to get oil from the Kurdistan region -- and more widely from northern […]
Lebanese Truckers Re-Route through Iraq
Lebanon's Daily Star reports that deteriorating security in Syria is forcing Lebanese truck drivers to abandon the Damascus road and re-route through Iraq before entering Jordan. Until recently, the Syrian army accompanied convoys from the Masnaa crossing through Damascus before heading south to Jordan, but for the past two months this has proved impossible. Chafik […]