Legacy of Destruction
By Leanne Case. Years of war and suffering in Iraq have left a legacy of destruction which includes ancient monuments and broken cities. During my time there I pestered those that I knew to share both their stories and images of what once was. One doesn’t have to go far to discover a land of […]
Zain Iraq Plans to Invest $100m in Kurdish Zone
The Iraqi unit of Kuwait telecoms firm Zain is planning to spend $100m this year as part of its plan to expand throughout the entire Kurdish region over the next five months, its chief executive said yesterday. Emad Makiya, CEO of Zain Iraq, the country’s biggest mobile phone operator, said the firm planned to extend […]
New Fact-Sheet on Water in Iraq
The United Nations' Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit (IAU) has issued a fact-sheet on water in Iraq. According to the report, Iraq faces difficulties in meeting the target of 91% of households using a safe drinking water supply by 2015. Currently 20% of households in Iraq use an unsafe drinking water source2 and a further […]
WesternZagros Begins Drilling Sarqala-1 Sidetrack
WesternZagros Resources has begun drilling the planned sidetrack in the Sarqala-1 well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Company intends to drill a 100 metre sidetrack from the cased wellbore to test the Jeribe reservoir. Results from the drilling and testing program are anticipated in mid April, 2011. The Company originally drilled Sarqala-1 in […]
German Ambassador Announces Basra Investment Conference
Germany's Ambassador to Iraq, Karl George Christian, announced an investment conference in Basra to be held in mid-April, and said that German companies are keen to establish a presence in the southern Iraqi province in the fields of construction, oil and manufacturing. At the head of Basra provincial council, Jabbar Amin Jaber, told AKnews that […]
KBR Receives LogCAP III Award Fee
KBR announced on Monday that it received a $15.5 million award fee related to its LogCAP III work in Iraq for the six month period of performance beginning March 2010 and ending in August 2010. On March 21, 2011, KBR received its LogCAP III award fee determination letter confirming the award fee from the United […]
Etisalat Has Not Ruled Out Iraq Expansion
UAE telecom Etisalat has not ruled out expansion into Iraq after dropping its $12bn bid for a chunk of Kuwait’s Zain that would have given it access to the market, a senior executive said, according to a report from Arabian Business. “We are looking at all opportunities,” said Ahmed Bin Ali, group senior vice president […]
CBI Forecasts More Iraqi Inflation
An adviser from the Iraqi Central Bank (ICB) said on Thursday that inflation will continue to rise if the Iraqi economy continues its dependence on crude oil revenues. Muzher Mohammed Saleh told AKnews that the inflation will continue increasing unless the agricultural and industrial sectors are stimulated, in addition to supporting local production. "The monetary […]
UK Minister Clarifies Iraq Aid Commitment
British Minister of State Alan Duncan visited Iraq last week. He met with Government of Iraq and international partners to discuss the future of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) Iraq programme, how oil and gas revenues could help to provide basic services to the Iraqi people and what the Iraqi government could do […]
Complex Alliances in Babel
The following article was published on Sunday 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 […]
Companies Bid for South Iraq Oil Field
American, Japanese and Chinese companies have submitted bids to develop the al-Qatiaa oil field west of the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, according to a report from Bloomberg. The Oil Ministry is studying the offers from the three companies, Hussein Aziz, head of the municipality of al-Shatra in Nassiriya province, told reporters. He did not […]
ExxonMobil Hits Target at West Qurna
As predicted, ExxonMobil and its Iraqi partners have reached "a major milestone" for oil production at the West Qurna oil field in southern Iraq, according to a report from UPI. ExxonMobil announced field production at West Qurna-1 rose from 244,000 barrels of oil per day to 285,000 bpd under the terms of its technical services […]