Talk Show Host Wants US to Take Iraqi Oil
A Fox News talk show host has called for the US to take Iraq's and Kuwait's oil to "make them pay for their liberation". Sean Hannity (pictured), who was discussing high oil prices with his “Great American Panel”, expressed outrage at the proposed increases in the price of oil and suggested that Kuwait and Iraq […]
Weekly Security Update for 19th January 2011
Overview Levels of violence fell last week, but the past 48 hours have seen three suicide attacks in the central provinces, killing dozens and injuring over 200. As with the recent spate in assassinations in the centre of the country, the main target of the suicide bombers were state employees and members of the Iraqi […]
Kurdistan Oil Exports to Resume in February
Reuters reports that Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq has agreed with Baghdad to resume oil exports from the start of February, the Kurdish prime minister Barham Salih (pictured) said, taking the two sides closer to resolving bitter disputes over oil and land. Around 40 companies, such as Norway's DNO, have invested in Kurdistan, but […]
Iraqi Drilling Company - 140 Wells in 2011
Citing a report from Reueters, we reported at the weekend that Iraq's state-owned Iraqi Drilling Company was planning to dig 76 wells in 2011. But according to Aswat al-Iraq, the company dug 189 oil wells in 2010 and is planning to dig and rehabilitate another 140 other oil wells in 2011. "Our Company had dug […]
Iraq to Cut Poverty From 23% to 16% by 2014
Iraqi authorities aim to decrease the percentage of poverty in the country from 23% to 16% by the year 2014, according to the Planning Ministry's Central Statistics Body on Tuesday. "The strategy to decrease poverty will be activated this year," the Central Statistics Body's official spokesman told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that "the […]
Zain Iraq Expects Boost from Kurdish Region
The Iraqi unit of Kuwait's Zain expects to add up to 18,000 new subscribers a month after starting operations in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, Reuters has reported. "I would expect that we will be adding around 15,000 to 18,000 (new subscribers) a month," chief executive Emad Makiya told the news agency, adding that the total […]
Kurdistan Signs MoU with Sweden
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq signed two memorandums of understanding with two Swedish counties on Tuesday: Örebro (pictured) and Jönköping. The move aims help Swedish companies to invest in Kurdistan. Both memorandums were signed in a meeting between Erbil's governor, Nawzad Hadi, the mayor of Örebro, a representative of Jönköping, and the Swedish consul in […]
Kirkuk Cuts Off Electricity to Baghdad
According to a report from AFP, Iraq's northern Kirkuk province said it had stopped supplying electricity to the national grid on Tuesday, in a bold move to force the central government's hand in a dispute over power rationing. "Kirkuk province has decided to cut the power going out from its electricity stations to other provinces […]
WesternZagros to Target Over 1 Billion BOEs during 2011/2012 Exploration Program
WesternZagros Resources has announced that Sproule International has completed an independent audit of the Company's resource assessment of: the Tertiary Eocene and Cretaceous reservoir intervals of Kurdamir-1; the Jeribe reservoir at Sarqala-1; and the Upper Fars reservoir at Mil Qasim in the Kalar-Bawanoor Block ("Block K44"). This audit, together with the previous audit results of […]
Rail Project to Ease Baghdad Traffic
[Please click here for update] The Iraqi National Rail Company announced on Sunday that under its supervision the urban rail project in the Iraqi capital will be completed in 2013.. According to AKnews, the company’s press secretary, Jawad Kharsani, said the project will be carried out in conjunction with the French company Tharyom (sic) [Iraq […]
Stan Harbison on Iraq's Increased Oil Output
By Stan Harbison, Vice President of Research and Analysis at energy consultants EPRINC. In the past week, the ministry announced that two fields won at Iraq’s 2009 oil auctions had achieved their first significant benchmark. Production at Rumaila and Zubair each met the 10% production increase which allows them to begin to earn their per […]
Turkey Wants Regional Free-Trade Zone to Include Iraq
The Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, met the Iraqi Parliament Speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi, in Baghdad on Sunday and congratulated him on his election as the Parliament Speaker. Davutoglu said he was pleased over the developments in Iraq and underlined that, "we will be pleased to see inclusion of Iraq to a free trade zone among […]