Iraq Allocates $85m to Boost Public Companies
The Iraqi government has allocated 100bn IQD ($85m) from the 2012 budget to kick start loss-making state-owned companies and make them profitable, according to AKnews. A committee member with responsibility for companies development, Mohammed al-Jabri said: "The Iraqi government is serious in dealing with economic problems facing non-profitable companies and in finding practical alternatives to […]
Iraq Still Hopes to Award Joint Nassiriya Oilfield, Refinery Deal
Iraq's deputy oil minister, Ahmed al-Shamma, said that Iraq still hopes to award a contract for the development of the 4.4 billion barrel Nassiriya oil field and the construction of a dedicated 300,000 bpd export refinery as one package. Iraq excluded Nassiriya from its three previous bidding rounds for oil and gas licences. According to […]
Women's Ministry Grants Bank Loans Worth 10m Dinars
AKnews reports that the Iraqi Ministry for Women's Affairs has granted about 10m dinars' worth of bank loans for women. Ministry spokesman Mohammed Hamza said the loans are part of the project submitted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs for women who are unemployed and registered with the ministry. Priority for awarding the […]
Sterling Energy Rises on Interim Management Statement
Shares in Sterling Energy rose 3.7% on Thursday following the publication of its interim management statement. In the statement, the company made the following commentary on its operations in Iraqi Kurdistan: The second, and final, sub-period of the exploration phase of the Sangaw North PSC commenced in November 2011 and has a duration of 2 […]
US-Kurdistan Business Council names Gen James Jones as CEO
The U.S.-Kurdistan Business Council (USKBC), a trade group of U.S. companies investing in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, named former U.S. National Security Advisor General James Jones (USMC-Ret) as the council's CEO last week during a reception honoring President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani. "General Jones is exceptionally knowledgeable about Kurdistan and about the […]
Sweden Appoints Diplomat and Trade Rep in Erbil
Sweden’s Minister of Trade and Ambassador to Iraq today, 18 April, concluded a three day visit to Kurdistan to officially open an Embassy Section Office and a Swedish Trade Council Office in the Region’s capital Erbil. At the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new offices this morning Sweden’s Minister of Trade Ms Ewa Björling said, […]
Weekly Security Update for 19th April 2012
Levels of violence fell slightly in Iraq last week. At least 38 people were killed and 40 injured in nationwide incidents. However, anecdotal evidence on the ground indicated that many Iraqis felt it constituted some sort of calm before the storm. This fear was realised earlier on 19 April when a spate of bombings struck […]
Double-Digit Growth Forecast for Iraq
While much of the developed world struggles to drag itself out of recession, Iraq managed to register real GDP growth of 9.9% last year, according to IMF estimates. Their projection for this year is 11.1 percent, followed by 13.5 percent next year, giving compounded growth over the three years of nearly 40%. Iraq may have […]
Iraq Could Have 214bn Barrels of Oil
Iraq could have total oil reserves to 214 billion barrels, according to the country’s Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for energy. Hussain al- Shahristani (pictured) made the statement today at the Iraq Refinery conference in London. Current proven oil reserves were revised up to 143 billion barrels in October 2010, not including oil in the […]
Design of Kerbala Refinery Needs to be Changed
Iraq's deputy oil minister, Ahmed Shamma (pictured), told the Iraq Refinery conference in London on Tuesday that the FEED (front end engineering and design) of Iraq's 140,000 barrel a day Kerbala refinery will have to be changed to reduce the fuel oil output of the proposed plant, reports Dow Jones. The Kerbala plant, one of […]
Iraq says Exxon won't Move on Kurdish Oil Blocs
Exxon Mobil has told Baghdad it will not break ground on its oil blocs in Iraqi Kurdistan until the central government in Baghdad approves the contracts, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy, Hussain al-Shahristani, said said on Wednesday. Shahristani has indicated many times that such approval was unlikely to be granted. Baghdad has threatened to exclude Exxon […]
Heritage Oil Down Slightly on Results
Shares in Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) closed down 2% on Wednesday following the announcement of its results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2011: 2011 Operational Highlights Awarded new licences in Tanzania which Heritage believes could be geologically analogous to the Lake Albert Basin, providing the Company with a key advantage in assessing the […]