$164m 'Fraud' Found in Baghdad Municipality
The discovery of two fake contracts in which officials from Baghdad municipality were involved has shed new light on the extent of corruption in the country, according to a report from Azzaman. The municipality claims that two of its senior officials were involving in doctoring two $164 million contracts for the construction of sports stadiums […]
Details of New Faw Power Station Released
The head of the Basra Investment Commission, Eng.Haidar Ali Fadhil, has announced details of the Faw [Fao] power station: The station will have a capacity of 50 megawatts; The project shall be open for investment companies; Interested companies are required to visit the BIC offices by 12th June; The power station is intended to use […]
Iraq Starts Drilling for Oil in Hamrin Mountains
The state-run Iraq Drilling Company started to drill and repair wells in the Hamrin mountains north of Baghdad for the first time in 21 years, according to Bloomberg. The company, affiliated with the country’s Oil Ministry, started to work on a total of 72 wells this week, the state-sponsored Iraqiya television said, citing Idriss Mohsen […]
Basra Investment Commission Approves $174m New Projects
The Basra Investment Commission has announced that it has granted 19 approvals for investment projects valued at $174m [204 billion Iraqi dinars]. The projects are in the areas of industry, trade, agriculture and tourism. In a statement issued by the commission, Eng. Haidar Ali Fadhil said that these approvals will create hundreds of jobs, and […]
Construction of Karbala Refinery to Start This Year
Iraq hopes to complete negotiations with European investors to build a new oil refinery in the city of Karbala [Kerbala], the country's Deputy Prime Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani (pictured), said on Friday. The projected 140,000 barrel per day (bpd) Kerbala refinery is part of a plan to build four new refineries, adding around 750,000 bpd of […]
KRG Welcomes UK All-Party Group
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Falah Mustafa Bakir, welcomed members from the British All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Kurdistan Region. The visit to the Department of Foreign Relations was part of a larger trip to the Kurdistan Region by the Parliamentary Group to meet political leaders and […]
A Security Review of the Last 8 Weeks
The average weekly number of attacks has risen in Iraq over the last two months. Conditions gradually worsened in the first five months of the year, and while the increase in attacks has not been dramatic, it is nonetheless still a concern, particularly as the US prepares to withdraw its military by the end of […]
Austria's OMV Strikes Oil in Iraqi Kurdistan
Just days after WesternZagros struck oil at Sarqala, Austria's OMV announces that it too has struck oil at its Bina Bawi block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. OMV is currently drilling an exploration well (Bina Bawi 3) and encountered hydrocarbons in one of the primary reservoir targets. The well is still being drilled and […]
Siba and Mansuriyah Gas Deals Signed
Reuters reports that Iraq signed the final contracts on Sunday to develop its Siba and Mansuriyah gas fields in deals involving Turkish, Kuwaiti and South Korean companies that will help diversify the country's fossil fuel production. The Korean Gas Corporation [KOGAS] signed the deal for the Akkas gas field earlier in the week. "This is […]
Iraq Issues Arrest Warrant for Bank Chief
Following Thursday's raid on the offices of the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI), CNBC reports that Iraqi authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the head of the bank, which is under investigation for alleged irregularities. An Iraqi government source said Hussein al-Uzri, president and chairman of the bank, had fled to Lebanon. He reportedly […]
Zubair Oil Storage Depot Bombed
A bomb attack on an oil storage depot in Iraq’s Zubair oilfield set one tank ablaze and halted pumping from the station, sources said on Sunday. AKnews reports that firefighters have got the flames under control, but 27,000 cubic meters of oil have been lost. Four devices were planted, one started the fire, two were […]
Is Iraqiyya a Sectarian or a National Party?
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. The opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq […]