WorleyParsons Awarded Contract Extension at Rumaila
By John Lee. WorleyParsons has been awarded a $90m contract extension by BP Iraq NV, and its partners PetroChina and Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), to continue providing engineering, procurement and management services to boost production from the super-giant Rumaila oilfield in Southern Iraq. In November 2009, BP and its partners entered into a […]
Iraq to Increase November Oil Shipments
By John Lee. Bloomberg reports that Iraq will keep the number of shipments of Basrah Light crude from the Persian Gulf unchanged in November compared to October, but will increase the total volume. According to the loading program, Iraq will ship 46 cargoes from the al-Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT) (pictured). Exports will total 73.9 million […]
MP Rules Out Deleting Zeros from Currency Soon
By John Lee. Iraqi MP and member of the Parliamentary Economic and Investment Committee, Nahida al-Dayni, has ruled out deleting the zeros from the Iraqi currency soon. Speaking to All Iraqi News Agency (AIN), she said: "The process of deleting the zeros from the Iraqi currency will not be done soon due to the lack […]
Erbil International Fair Attracts over 850 Companies
Advertising Feature Senior Kurdistan Regional Government representatives opened the 8th annual edition of the multi- sector trade fair, Erbil International Fair 2012, which was held under the auspices of the Kurdistan Regional Governmentfrom 15 to 18 of October 2012. This year’s edition, the biggest ever since the show’s beginning in 2005, attracted over 850 companies […]
Place Your Bets: Erbil or Baghdad
The dispute between Iraq's central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government over oil contracts in northern Iraq has been dragging on for years, but it recent times we've seen developments that push the sides further apart rather than bringing them together. While the short-term issue of payments for shipments from Iraqi Kurdistan appears to have […]
Biden's Brother to Bag Lucrative Iraq Deal?
By John Lee. Fox Business reports that James Biden, the younger brother of US Vice President Joe Biden (pictured), is about to land a potentially lucrative contract to build 100,000 homes in Iraq. Since November 2010, James Biden has reportedly been the executive vice president of HillStone, in which Hill International owns a 51% stake, […]
Saipem Negotiating $1bn Iraq Contract
By John Lee. The Chief Executive Officer of Italy's Saipem has said that the company is negotiating a contract worth around $1 billion in Iraq. According to Reuters, Pietro Franco Tali (pictured) said on a conference call that the negotiations could be finalised by the end of the year. Iraq Business News believes the contract […]
OMV to Hand Back Blocks to KRG
By John Lee. According to Iraq Oil Report, Austria's OMV will hand back two exploration blocks to the Kurdistan Regional Government. In its latest trading statement, OMV said it had written off exploration expenses at the "unsuccessful wells and exploration licenses" relating to the Mala Omar and Shorish blocks. The company has failed to find […]
2013 Budget Spending Up 18%
The Iraqi Council of Ministers has approved a draft budget of 138 trillion dinars ($115 billion) for 2013, an 18 percent increase on this year’s spending programme. The figures are based on expected average oil prices of $90 per barrel, and exports of 2.9 million barrels of oil per day, of which 250 thousand bpd […]
Iraq Awards $125m Contract for Najaf Airport
By John Lee. A joint bid by Baghdad-based Fourth Dimension and British company Copperchase has reportedly won a $125m contract to develop and expand Najaf International Airport. According to Zawya, the airport currently handles 20 flights a day servicing Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Kuwait, India and Bahrain; this number can rise to 45 on religious […]
250MW Power Station Opened in Karbala
Deputy Premier for Energy Affairs Hussein al-Shahristani (pictured) has opened a new 250-MW, gas-fired power station in Karbala. Sharistani said that the government is working on electricity generating stations in Babel, Karbala and Anbar provinces, while another 250-MW station will be opened in Hilla in the coming days. Iraq recently announced that it also plans […]
Final Settlement for Kuwaiti Airways Case
By John Lee. The Emir of Kuwait has signed into law the financial settlement reached with Iraq regarding Kuwait Airways. Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that law firms in Britain have been told to drop all proceedings against Iraqi Airways and Iraqi properties. Under this settlement, Iraq will pay $500 million as final compensation to […]