Shahristani to Lose Oil Ministry ... Well, Sort Of
A confidante of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki claims there will be a shake-up in the oil and energy portfolio when the new cabinet positions are announced. According to Iraq Oil Report, Hussain al-Shahristani will move from his current position as Minister for Oil and Acting Minister for Electricity, into a newly-created Deputy Prime Minister role […]
Japan to Invest $600m in Kurdistan
The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has allocated US$600 million [700 billion Iraqi dinars] for service projects in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, according to Aswat al-Iraq. The media director of the Region’s Planning Ministry, Adnan Haji Kaka, told the agency on Wednesday that, "Kurdistan’s Planning Minister, Ali Sindi, has discussed with JICA’s Chairman, Aquari Satochi […]
New Power Stations in Basra
Local government in Basra province announced that a new gas-powered electricity station with a capacity of 500 MW will soon be built in Najibia region in the north of the province. Technical deputy Munthir Niema told NMC that the cost of the station will depend on petro-dollar balance, and its output will be used for […]
Shell Gas Extraction Plant Announced in Basra
The Iraqi Oil Ministry announced on Tuesday plans to establish a natural gas extraction company in Basra in collaboration with Shell, according to reports from AKnews. Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told the agency that the joint venture would extract the gas from the fields in Basra to power electrical generators. "The company will seek to […]
Iraq will ‘Soon Achieve Self-Sustainability in Oil Products’
Iraq will soon achieve self-sustainability in oil products with the completion of the four new oil refineries now under construction, the Director General of the General Company for Southern Oil Refineries said on Wednesday. “Our production of oil products is presently increasing, as we have boosted the production of petrol about two-fold, and the coming […]
Measuring Corruption in Iraq: Between Perceptions and Reality
The following article was written by Ali Al-Mawlawi, an Iraqi research fellow at Baghdad-based independent think tank, the Iraqi Institute for Economic Reform. It was published by openDemocracy, and is reproduced here under their Creative Commons licence. The World Bank has described corruption as ‘the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development.” The prospects […]
Mortars Hit Basrah Airport
Basrah airport has been hit by several mortars over the last week. Although no casualties were reported the facility was shut for several hours and flights delayed and cancelled as a result. Local militancy Blame has speculatively been assigned to local Shi'ah militia groups, such as those affiliated with the now splintered Jaysh al-Mahdi (the […]
Core inflation jump not what it seems
Last week a Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) official revealed that October year-on-year core CPI inflation jumped to 3.2% from just 1.87% in September, breaking a nine-month downtrend. At first glance, you might conclude that Iraq is now at the start of the same CPI uptrend that its neighbors, and indeed much of the developing […]
Gulf Keystone Gains on New Drilling
Shares in Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LSE: GKP) gained 4% this morning following the commencement of drilling at the Shaikan-2 appraisal well. The text of the company's announcement follows: Gulf Keystone announces the commencement of drilling operations on its Shaikan-2 appraisal well, on December 1, 2010. This is the first deep appraisal well to be drilled […]
Over $100m New Arms Sales to Iraq
The United States Department of Defense has issued notification of proposed sales of arms from the US to Iraq. General Dynamics is to be the prime contractor on a $36m deal for the supply of ammunition for Iraq's Abrams M1A1 tanks (pictured). The sale consists of: 14,010 TP-T M831A1 120mm Cartridges; 16,110 TPCSDS-T M865 120mm […]
New Air Routes Between Egypt and Iraq
The Egyptian Consul General to Kurdistan Region, Suleiman Othman, said that flights between Egypt and the Region will commence in December, and passengers to Egypt can get their visas in Erbil. In an interview with AKnews on Monday, the consul said that Nile Air will launch Cairo-Erbil and Sulaimaniya-Cairo routes. "This step will definitely improve […]
Lafarge Continues to Increase Capacity in Iraq
Lafarge, the world’s biggest cement maker, plans to increase its annual capacity in Iraq by 2 million tons by 2013 as the country rebuilds homes and infrastructure destroyed by war, according to a report from Bloomberg. Lafarge currently has capacity of 6 million tons a year across three plants and is producing 4 million tons, […]