Iraq and Turkey to Open New Border Crossings
Turkey and Iraq have agreed to open two new border crossings to boost trade and accommodate increasing traffic between the two neighbors, according to a report from Today’s Zaman. The issue was discussed during a two-day visit by Iraqi Foreign Affairs Minister Hoshyar Zebari to Ankara on Wednesday. The formal agreement for the opening of […]
2 of the 3 Mobile Telcos Select Banks for IPO
Asiacell has selected HSBC and Morgan Stanley to manage its initial public offering (IPO) on the Iraqi bourse, according to Bloomberg. Chief Executive Officer Diar Ahmed told the news agency that the company will offer 25 percent of its shares, but did not specify when. The company, which is an affiliate of Qatar Telecom, is […]
Basra Plans Fifth Floating Oil Pier
The Director General of the South Oil Company said on Wednesday that they plan to build a fifth floating oil pier when the four currently under construction are completed. Aswat al-Iraq reports that the four piers are expected to be finished by late-2013 or early-2014. The first of these piers will start exporting oil at […]
Weekly Security Update for 12th October 2011
Levels of violence fell slightly in Iraq over the past week, with incidents concentrated in Baghdad, Mosul, and an arc stretching from Taji in Salah ad-Din province to Ba’qubah in Diyala province. Ta’mim province also saw a scattering of incidents while there was at least one successful attack and one prevented in Basrah province. The […]
State Department to Employ 16,000 in Iraq
The U.S. State Department plans to deploy 16,000 civilian employees in Iraq, the Washington Post reports. And while the U.S. military is supposed to be out of Iraq by the end of the year, the two governments are trying to negotiate an agreement for a small training force to remain. But those forces will be […]
Halfaya Output to Rise in 2012
Output at Iraq’s Halfaya oilfield will rise to 70,000 barrels a day in 2012 with the drilling of 48 wells, As Sabah newspaper said on Tuesday. Bloomberg reports that two projects valued at a total of $187 million will be built next year at the oilfield. The projects include a crude oil processing facility with […]
Gulf Keystone Updates on Ber Bahr Exploration Well
Gulf Keystone Petroleum has announced that the Ber Bahr-1 Exploration Well has spudded on the Ber Bahr block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on Monday, 10th October 2011. Ber Bahr-1 is the first exploration well to be drilled on the Ber Bahr block, which covers an area of 208 km² and lies to the […]
Dubai's MAF Eyes Expansion into Iraq
Dubai's Majid Al Futtaim Holding (MAF), sole franchisee of hypermarket chain Carrefour in the Gulf, is to set up a sukuk programme (debt securities structured to comply with the Islamic law) as market volatility continues to thwart its plans for a conventional issue, according to a report from Reuters. MAF completed roadshows for an offering […]
Iraq Infrastructure & Technology Event -- 18-20 Oct
Iraq has the fourth largest oil reserves in the world exporting approximately 96% for the country’s economy, in 2010 100’s of contracts were signed to develop Iraq’s oil and gas infrastructure and increase oil production. Over the last year contract holders have implemented intense geological surveying, drilling, well rehabilitation, security tightening and planning to develop […]
Australia Plans Consulate in Basra
Australia is planning to open a consulate in the oil-rich province of Basra in order to boost Australian-Iraqi business relations in the area, according to a report from AKnews. Australia's Ambassador to Iraq, Lyndall Sachs (pictured), is currently visiting Basra to examine the possibilities for a consulate, as well as for an airline connection. "This […]
Paralysis Hits the Iraqi Parliament
The following article was published on Saturday by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It is reproduced here with the author’s permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq […]
Govt to Review Budget due to Oil Prices
Iraq's budget will be reviewed due to changes in oil prices, according to Aswat al-Iraq. MP Haitham al-Jubori said the differences center around the expected price of 85 dollars per barrel, pointing out that the government wanted to set the price at 80 dollars per barrel. This review necessitates sending the budget estimates to the […]