Heritage Oil Reserve Update
By John Lee. Heritage Oil, an independent upstream exploration and production company, has announced the publication of an independent Competent Person's Report ("CPR") compiled by industry specialists RPS Energy Consultants Limited ("RPS"). Trading in the company's shares remain suspended pending an acquisition. On 29June 2012, Heritage announced the proposed acquisition of a major interest in […]
Video: Cross Breeding Helps Revive Iraq's Fish Industry
By John Lee. After years of decline, the Euphrates and Middle East Fish Farms, Iraq's largest and best designed hatcheries, were operating at less than 40% capacity due to conflict, sanctions, and production problems. In 2008, USAID's Inma Agribusiness Program began a partnership with Euphrates Fish Farm to help improve the carp fingerling production in […]
The IBBC Opens New Office in Iraq
As part a major effort to boost its presence in Iraq, the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) has opened its first office in Basrah. Later this year the Council will open another in Erbil, then Baghdad. Speaking at the opening ceremony in Basrah the IBBC's Executive Chairman Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne said: "I am delighted […]
IBN Introduces New Tenders Service
By John Lee. Regular readers of Iraq Business News will have noticed that we've updated our very popular Tenders page. In our continuing efforts to bring you a better quality of service, we have improved the layout of our Tenders page so that you can see a summary of new opportunities at a glance, and […]
Oil Production at Starts at Halfaya
By John Lee. PetroChina and its partners Total and Petronas said on Wednesday that oil production has started at the Halfaya oil field in southern Iraq. Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Karim Elaibi [Luaibi] said the field will produce 100,000 barrels a day and reach 535,000 bpd in 2016. The consortium will be paid $1.40 for each […]
New Iraqi Oil Prices for August
By John Lee. Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has adjusted its official selling prices for its Basra Light and Kirkuk crude grades for August. In common with some other countries, Iraq’s oil is priced relative to regional benchmark prices: For shipments to US, contracts are priced are relative to the Argus Sour Crude Index […]
Iraq Halves International Phone Charges
By John Lee. Iraq's General Company for Post & Telecommunications, which is part of the Ministry of Communications, has announced a steep reduction in the price of international telephone calls. NINA reports that a statement by the company on Wednesday said that prices would be cut from 250 Iraqi dinars [per minute?] to 108 dinars. […]
WesternZagros Updates on Kurdistan Operations
By John Lee. WesternZagros Resources has completed the remediation work at its Sarqala-1 producing oil well and is preparing to test the promising Shiranish reservoir in the Kurdamir-2 well. WesternZagros also continues to actively cooperate with the Kurdistan Regional Government ("KRG") in the effort to assign the third party participant interest ("TPPI") within the Garmian […]
Chevron "Buying 2 Kurdistan Blocks from Reliance"
By John Lee. Two oil executives in the Kurdistan Region have told Reuters that Chevron is purchasing 80 percent of the Sarta and Rovi blocks from India's Reliance Industries. Austria's OMV holds the other 20 percent interest in Sarta/Rovi. Chevron reportedly declined to comment on Wednesday, saying that it continued to be interested in pursuing […]
ISX Year-end Jinx Lifted?
By Mark DeWeaver. The ISX historically has tended to go down in the second half of the year. Last November, I argued that this may be due to the timing of capital increases. (See this post.) If this is the case, the recently announced new rules on share suspensions mean that the market will no […]
Alstom Grid wins $42m Kurdistan Electrical Contracts
By John Lee. Alstom Grid has announced that it has won contracts worth €34 million ($42 million) from KAR Construction & Engineering Company to engineer and supply substations for the electrical grid. The company will supply four 132/33/11 kV Air-insulated Switchgear (AIS) substations and one 132/33/11 kV Gas-insulated Switchgear (GIS) substation for the Kurdistan Regional […]
Iraq to Reduce Gulf Crude Exports by 3.8% in 2H-July
By John Lee. Bloomberg reports that Iraq will reduce its daily exports of Basrah Light crude from the Persian Gulf by 3.8 percent in the second half of July, compared with shipments in the previous two weeks. Twenty-four cargoes are scheduled to be shipped from the al-Basrah Oil Terminal (pictured), up from 18 in the […]