Barham Salih [Saleh], the Prime Minister of Kurdistan's Regional Government, said he expects 12 per cent growth in the region’s economy next year. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Sulaimaniyah Trades Fair, Salih (pictured) praised the economic boom in the Kurdistan Region. “This city [Sulaimaniyah] used to be like a military camp, a war […]
Iraq's oil minister said on Sunday that Iraq will send ExxonMobil a further letter demanding an explanation of its contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after receiving no response so far from the U.S. oil group, according to a report from Reuters. "So far we have sent Exxon three letters and tomorrow we will […]
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is embarking on a water supply and sewerage programme worth $910 million USD (1 billion IQD), according to AKnews. Samir Abdullah [Samir Abdullah Mustafa, Samir Akrawi], Minister of Municipalities and Tourism (pictured), told a press conference that the Goptapa-Chamchamal water project will supply drinking water for 300,000 people in central […]
The Financial Times has interviewed the Natural Resources Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Dr Ashti Hawrami, about the future direction of the region's oil industry. Please click here to see the full video.
CNN's Arwa Damon brings this report from Kurdistan on the continuing struggle between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad's Ministry for Oil over the right to grant oil contracts in the Kurdish region. (Source: CNN)
According to Dow Jones, the Iraqi oil ministry could ask Shell to develop Iraq's supergiant West Qurna Phase 1 oil field in southern Iraq, if the government decides to terminate ExxonMobil's contract after it signed a deal to explore for oil in Iraqi Kurdistan. "We have many options," said Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, head of the […]
To encourage investment in Iraqi Kurdistan, state authorities are able to gift land to important projects. However the process is plagued by corruption and injustice and has resulted in empty plots, unfinished projects and some undeservedly wealthy locals, according to this article from Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author and interviewee, and […]
The Financial Times reports on Thursday that Shell has pulled out of oil-development talks with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in an effort to protect lucrative investments in southern Iraq,. The newspaper cited people familiar with the discussions as saying Baghdad is seeking to impose a de facto ban on companies operating in Kurdistan. Following […]
In the continuing row over ExxonMobil's contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government, Baghdad has called the deal a violation of the law. Reuters reports that Iraq's government said it would move to end a major contract with ExxonMobil, apparently referring to the company's multi-billion dollar contract with Iraq's oil ministry to develop the 8.7 billion […]
The following article was published on Monday by Reidar Visser, an historian of Iraq educated at the University of Oxford and currently based at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. It is reproduced here with the author’s permission. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq […]
The Kurdistan-Iraq Oil and Gas Conference in Erbil heard confirmation that the Kurdistan Regional Government has signed an oil exploration contract with ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company. Ashti Hawrami, the minister for natural resources, told the conference that the KRG had signed a contract with ExxonMobil and that the federal government was kept informed […]
Following the confirmation that ExxonMobil will be exploring six blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan, oil major Chevron is said to be in talks with the Kurdish government to begin exploration activity in the region. KRG’s natural resources minister Ashti Awrami revealed that his government was in talks with 3 major oil companies to begin exploration in […]
