Iraq Seals 2013 Gasoil Deal with Vitol, BP
By John Lee. Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has finalised a deal to buy up to 1.097 million tonnes of gasoil for delivery next year from BP and Swiss trader Vitol, according to Reuters. The company has agreed to pay a premium of $7.99 a barrel above Middle East quotes on a delivered basis, […]
LUKoil Still Considering West Qurna-1
By John Lee. Russian’s LUKoil is said to be studying documents on Iraq’s West Qurna-1 oil field, with a view to possibly taking over ExxonMobil's stake. Bloomberg quotes Chief Executive Officer Vagit Alekperov (pictured) as saying that the company will make a decision on possible participation in the project by the end of the year. […]
US Marks Intl Day for Elimination of Violence against Women
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad hosted a roundtable discussion with a group of Iraqi government and civil society leaders on November 26 on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Around the world, violence against women and girls continues to be a serious problem, and women’s rights activists remain […]
A Kinder, Gentler CBI?
By Mark DeWeaver. On October 16, Prime Minister Maliki removed the head of the central bank, Sinan al-Shabibi, accusing him of mismanagement and currency manipulation. (There’s more on this story here, here, and here.) This move was widely seen as a power grab by the prime minister and a grave threat to the CBI’s independence. […]
Weekly Security Update
By Gary Sandiford, Olive Group’s Dubai based assessments manager. Olive Group is a leading provider of security and technology solutions and has operated continuously in Iraq since 2003. Overview Olive Groups Iraq statistics are drawn from multiple sources, including media reporting and direct liaison with in country assets. Included within the statistics are a […]
Housing Ministry Asks for $3.5bn Each Year
By John Lee. Iraq's Minister of Housing and Reconstruction, Mohamed Sahib al-Daraji [Mohammed Al-Deraji] (pictured), has asked the government to allocate $3.5 billion every year to alleviate housing shortages in the country, reports Azzaman. He said Iraq needed 60,000 housing units every year as well as a massive housing reconstruction program for the building of […]
Iraq to Give Jordan Free Crude Oil
By John Lee. The Iraqi cabinet decided on Tuesday to give neighboring Jordan 100,000 barrels of oil as a gift to help it overcome its economic difficulties. According to a report from Businessweek, the move could be seen as an attempt by the Shiite-led Iraqi government to offer support to one of its Sunni neighbors. […]
OptaSense Wins Contract in Iraq
By John Lee. OptaSense, which is owned by QinetiQ, has secured a key pipeline security contract in Iraq. The contract is to help provide protection to a new 180km pipeline corridor, owned and run by the State Company for Oil Project Iraq (SCOP). OptaSense will be providing the technology to allow vital operational and security […]
Video: Sonoro Energy Targets Northern Iraq
By John Lee. Richard Wadsworth, CEO of Sonoro Energy, talks to Proactive Investors at the Oil Council World Assembly. He says the company's licence area in the Salah ad Din Province in Northern Iraq is in a "very prolific, attractive" basin: (Source: Proactive Investors)
Two Lebanese Banks Target Iraq
By John Lee. Lebanon's biggest bank, Bank Audi, plans to enter the Iraqi market late next year. Chief Executive Samir Hanna (pictured) told Reuters that its new Iraqi operation will be a subsidiary of its Turkish business, which it launched in October and which is trading "more than 50 percent ahead" of the bank's target. […]
No Excuse for Violence Against Women
British Ambassador opens workshop to combat sexual violence As part of a global initiative to prevent violence against women, the British Ambassador to Iraq, Simon Collis, yesterday opened a workshop organised in cooperation with the British Embassy and the Ministry of Interior. A British expert in women’s rights, Harriet Ware-Austin, chaired the workshop which was […]
Sanctions and Collateral Damage
By Bob Nottelmann. Although in the very heart of the Fertile Crescent, defined by its abundant natural resources, Iraq is hardly a breadbasket for western Asia, let alone its own population. Nearly 80% of the country’s food is imported from neighboring countries Turkey, Syria and Iran. Nowhere is it more apparent that an effective and […]