Lukoil to Go it Alone at West Qurna 2
Lukoil, Russia's second-largest crude oil producer, has confirmed that it will be able to develop Iraq's West Qurna-2 oilfield without partners. "Today we are able to implement this project by ourselves," president Vagit Alekperov told reporters in the Spanish city of Barcelona on Friday. Reuters reports that production from the field will reach 150,000 barrels […]
Starwood/Sheraton to Build New Hotel in Erbil
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has signed an agreement with BCD Co. to manage a new-build Sheraton hotel in Erbil, Iraq. Scheduled to open in 2015, the Sheraton Erbil Hotel will mark the re-entry of Starwood in the country after 20 years. Located in the new part of the city, approximately 10 minutes from Erbil […]
Iraq Buys Wheat and Rice
Reuters reports that Iraq has bought 300,000 metric tons of wheat and 150,000 tons of rice According to Hassan Ibrahim, Director General of the Iraqi Grain Board, the rice was all from Thailand, while the wheat was: 150,000 tons from Australia; 100,000 tons from Canada; and, 50,000 tons from Kazakhstan. (Source: Reuters)
British Ambassador Concludes Week-Long Visit to Kurdistan
Britain’s Ambassador to Iraq on Friday concluded a one-week visit to the Kurdistan Region by meetingwith President Masoud Barzani and Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani. He visited all three of the Region's governorates, meeting students, officials and civil society representatives. Ambassador Michael Aron met with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials and visited all three provinces of […]
Japan's Toyo Engineering wins SOC Contract
Japan's Toyo Engineering Corp said it has signed a General Engineering Service Agreement (GESA) to provide technical services to upstream projects to be undertaken by Iraq's state-run South Oil Company (SOC). "This agreement covers all oil fields and related facilities that SOC is responsible for in the south of Iraq. TOYO will, on a long […]
GKP Up 5% on Kurdish Update
Gulf Keystone today provides an update on its ongoing exploration and appraisal programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which includes the Shaikan block, a major discovery with independently audited gross oil-in-place volumes of between 8 billion barrels to 13.4 billion barrels calculated on the P90 to P10 basis, with a mean value of 10.5 […]
Iraq to Get First F-16s early-2014; KRG Concerned
Iraq's the deputy head of the parliamentary security and defence committee, Iskander Witwit, has told Reuters that Iraq will take delivery of the first 24 of 36 F-16 fighter jets it has ordered from the United States at the beginning of 2014. He said the first 24 planes would make up two air force squadron, […]
Iraq signs $363m Power Deal with Orascom
Iraq's electricity ministry signed the $363 million, 1,014 megawatt, power plant deal with Egypt's Orascom Construction, which was announced in February. The contract involves building the plant and installing six 169 MW generators, which Iraq bought from Siemens in 2008, at the facility in Baiji [Beiji, Bayji]. The project is expected to be completed within 21 […]
Lanco picks SGS for Inspection Contract at Power Plant
SGS has been awarded a three-year contract by India's Lanco Group [Lanco Infratech, LANCI] to manage on-site quality control for the construction of its new gas power plant in Anbar Province, Iraq. The AKAZ [Akkaz, Akkas] power plant at al-Qaim will have a capacity of 250MW (2x 125MW) and is estimated to require three years […]
Video: Floating Plants to Ease Power Shortage
Nine years after the war and with billions of US dollars spent, electricity is still in short supply in Iraq. The government is looking to use electricity-generating ships to meet the expected uptick in demand in the coming summer months. In electricity-strapped provinces like Basra, where the power generated by a Turkish 'floating electricity plant' […]
Video: Iraq Tears Down Blast Walls
Crews in Baghdad pull down a series of massive concrete walls that had divided the Iraqi capital, sparking hope that life in some parts of the battle-scarred city will return to normal: (Source: Reuters)
Nissan Opens Major Service Centre in Erbil
Aswat al-Iraq reports that Japanese auto-maker Nissan will open its biggest service center in the Middle East in May in the city of Erbil. "Iraq started to take positive steps in investment by providing appropriate [conditions]," Ahmad al-Kaswani, general director of Carzone, told the news agency. Carzone is part of the Sardar Group. (Source: Aswat […]