No Substantial Change in Oil Exports in August

The Deputy of the Iraqi Oil Minister declared that almost two million barrels of Iraqi oil are exported daily and the volume is unlikely to change. In a statement to AKnews on Thursday Mu'tasam Akram said "in June Iraq sold daily some 1.9m barrels of oil abroad and the number is expected to fluctuate only […]

Vast Exploration Updates Iraqi Ops

Vast Exploration Inc. has provided an update on the settlement of final payment terms with the Kurdistan Regional Government with regard to the acquisition of an additional 10% working interest announced in September 2009, and a progress update on the Qara Dagh - 1 Exploration Well. Capacity Building Payment “Profits Royalty” As previously announced, in […]

Kurds and Baghdad in Row over Oil Smuggling

Iraqi oil officials and their Kurdish counterparts have exchanged accusations of smuggling large volumes of crude oil and by-products to neighboring Iran. There are two oil ministers in Iraq. Heading the Oil Ministry in Baghdad is Husain al-Shahristani. The semi-independent Kurdish region has its own government with Ashti Horami [Ashti Hawrami] heading the Ministry of […]

Iraq's Building Boom

Scaffolding is creeping up the walls of bullet-scarred villas across rubble-strewn Baghdad, and gangs of labourers are piling up bricks as growing security allows a mini-construction boom to take hold in Iraq, according to a report from Reuters. It may be the leading edge of a building surge as work now limited to a few […]

Intracom Signs New Agreement with Ministry of Interior

INTRACOM IT Services Middle East and Africa signed an agreement with the Ministry of Interior in Iraq, which aims to ensure the Ministry’s sustainability by implementing innovative" EMC” solutions in storage consolidation and back up recovery solutions with disaster recovery, hence helping the Ministry maintain its business by protecting its valuable dates and information. INTRACOM […]

WiMAX Improves Communications in the Arab World

By end of June 2010, 26 out of 55 operators licensed to offer WiMAX offered the service. WiMAX is commercially available in Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the UAE. Moreover, Yemen and Oman are slated to WiMAX services in the second half of 2010. WiMAX stands for World […]

Dutch and American Electicity Proposals in Basra

A Dutch firm has proposed an electricity investment project to local authorities in Basra province, southern Iraq. “The proposal includes the construction of a new power stations in Basra,” the province’s Governor, Shaltagh Aboud al-Mayiah, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Wednesday. He noted that the local authorities in Basra allocate greater importance to electricity […]

Iraq Blacklists 146 Companies and Contractors

The office of General Inspector in Iraq Ministry of Planning and Development said that 146 companies and contractors were added to their black list for submitting falsified documents, according to Al SumariaTV. Meanwhile, 4 employees were suspended for submitting false documents. An official source from the General Inspector's office said that it reassessed the official […]

Investing in Iraq: Post-Conflict Constraints and Rewards

By Tariq Abdell, Founder & Chairman, Mesopotamia Insight. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Iraq's Lebanized democracy coupled with its lingering and convoluted political impasse are perfect recipes for a week and sectarian-based government, that is shackled by the region's geopolitics […]

DNO Stock Surges on RAK Petroleum Bid Talk

Iraqi oil producer DNO International ASA (DNO.OL) leapt to a 14-month high on Wednesday, following reports that Emirates-based RAK Petroleum may bid for the 70 percent in the Norwegian company it does not already own. DNO was the first Western company to drill for oil in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion and although it cannot […]

Iraq Oil Revenues 95% of State Income

Revenues from oil sales account for 95 percent of Iraq's income, Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said on Tuesday, underlining the war-battered nation's reliance on crude to rebuild its economy. Shahristani said Iraq raised 171 billion dollars from sales between 2006-2009, which accounted for all but five percent of the government's income during those years. Shahristani […]

Government Criticized on Value of the Iraqi Dinar

The outgoing Iraqi government has faced criticism from economists for failing to increase the value of the Iraqi dinar despite the rise in oil prices on the international market, according to a report from AK News. The dinar continues to suffer from it's significant difference in value from the hard currencies and this divide has […]