By John Lee. Iraq's central government is considering trimming federal budget payments to the country's Kurdistan by more than $3 billion to cover losses it says came from the autonomous region's oil exports, reports Reuters. Ali al-Moussawi, advisor to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said a committee found losses of more than $3 billion resulting from […]
By John Lee. Iraq's Kurdistan is to continue pumping oil for export until 15th September, extending its deadline for the central government to make disputed payments to companies working in the region. The KRG had halted exports for several months from the start of April over $1.5 billion it said was owed to foreign oil […]
By John Lee. Sterling Energy Plc has announced the following updates in the Sangaw North Production Sharing Contract ("PSC") in Kurdistan: 2D Seismic Acquisition: The acquisition of 2D seismic data in the Sangaw North PSC, which commenced in July, has now been completed. 117 km of data was successfully acquired and is now being processed, […]
Outgoing Japanese Ambassador Susumu Hasegawa met on Wednesday with President Barzani to bid him farewell as he prepares to leave Iraq. Ambassador Hasegawa thanked the President and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for their support and assistance. He discussed Japan’s relations with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, as well as the projects that Japanese institutions […]
By John Lee. The Kurdistan Regional Government has again warned Baghdad that it will stop exporting oil if the central government continues withholding payments to the oil companies operating in the region. The KRG has set 1st September as the start date for halting oil exports. An official has said Baghdad has not given any […]
By John Lee. The Chief Executive of Italian oil and gas group Eni says the company does not plan to compromise its business in Iraq by making energy deals with Kurdistan. Paolo Scaroni (pictured) said that one of the conditions for developing the Zubair field was that there could be no deals with local governments […]
By John Lee. Kurdistan's Minister for Natural Resources, Ashti Hawrami (pictured), has hit back at reports that the US has warned oil companies not to sign any oil deals with Kurdistan without Baghdad's approval or Baghdad may take legal action against them. According to AKnews, Hawrami described the media reports quoting Nuland as "baseless ….These […]
By John Lee. Genel Energy has increased its commitment to oil exploration in Iraqi Kurdistan with the announcement that it has agreed to acquire an additional 26 per cent interest in the Miran exploration block from Heritage Oil. The announcement comes just a day after the Kurdistan Regional Government's Oil and Gas Council approved the […]
By John Lee. At the US State Department's Daily Press Briefing on Monday, Spokesperson Victoria Nuland was asked to clarify the US Government's official position on oil contracts in Iraqi Kurdistan. "Our position on this has not changed", she said. "We’ve spoken about it many times here. We speak about it in Iraq. With regard […]
By Zanko Ahmad. This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Two families in Iraqi Kurdistan seem to reserve all the top political jobs for relatives. Recently the ‘crown princes’ both got new, high level jobs. The […]
By John Lee. The Chinese Ambassador to Iraq, Mr Ni Jian, met with Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani yesterday to explore ways of strengthening ties with the Kurdistan Region. Ambassador Jian presented his credentials to the Iraqi President last year November, and this is his first visit to Kurdistan. In his meeting with Prime Minister Barzani, […]
By John Lee. The Kurdistan Regional Government Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr Ali Saeed, last week met with British ministers and universities to deepen and expand cooperation in the higher education and scientific research sectors. Minister Saeed led a delegation from the Kurdistan Region’s Council of Ministers and Ministry of Higher Education, […]
