New Tenders at Ministry of Oil
The Ministry of Oil has just issued a new tender for the supply of pumps, motor-sets, fire-fighting equipment, drinking water and intake water, at the Samawa Depot project. Bids are to be received by 12 noon on 9th January 2011. Please click below to download the tender document: SCOP-QR-05-5369-9-1
Weekly Security Update for 2nd Dec 2010
Overview After a quiet ‘Eid ul-Adha levels of violence rose again last week, with at least 46 people killed and over 110 injured in attacks around Iraq. The majority of violence was concentrated in Baghdad and Mosul, with a scattering of activity around Kirkuk, Ba’qubah and the northern fringes of Salah ad-Din province. Basrah airport […]
More Jobs For the Boys
It seems that the newly-appointed Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and his team are having to be increasingly inventive in their efforts to piece together a new cabinet. Creating, in effect, two energy ministries – if indeed these rumours are true – will help increase the size of the cabinet pie that he can then dole […]
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 […]