The latest news from Kurdistan – security updates, reconstruction and more – brought to you by Iraq Business News.
President Masoud Barzani received a United States military and diplomatic delegation at his office today. The U.S. delegation was headed by General Joseph Votel, the Commander of the Special Operations Command as well as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq and other U.S. defense and state officials. During the meeting President Barzani shared his perspective on […]
By Mohammed A. Salih for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. A law to found a paramilitary National Guard force in Iraq to assist in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) has put Kurds at loggerheads with other communities in northern […]
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq Needs an Estimated US$1.4 billion this Year to Stabilize the Economy The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is facing an economic and humanitarian crisis as a result of the influx of Syrian refugees (starting in early 2012) and more recently the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in 2014. According to a newly […]
By John Lee. Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL) militants have attacked Peshmerga forces on the Khazir frontline, north of Mosul, with the aim of seizing equipment and machinery belonging to US oil company ExxonMobil. A Peshmerga commander told BasNews that the extremist group was forced back from the area, including the key villages of Wardik […]
By John Lee. Anadolu Agency reports that international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Iraqi Kurdistan are reconsidering their investments as they have not yet been paid by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) recently suspended crude oil exports by truck from Iraqi Kurdistan, and was reported in November as saying that it […]
By John Lee. Talisman Energy, the Canadian producer being acquired by Spain’s Repsol, has fully impaired its investment in Block K44 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq by $234 million, after determining that future investment in a capital constrained environment was unlikely. The company has an interest in two blocks, Kurdamir and Topkhana, covering in […]
By John Lee. Shares in Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) were down 10 percent on Friday morning, after it announced the suspension of crude oil exports by truck from Iraqi Kurdistan. The company said it remains in a dialogue with the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Natural Resources ("MNR"), in order to receive the outstanding payments […]
By John Lee. Norwegian oil and gas operator DNO reported record oil and gas output in 2014, but the results were impacted by one-off impairment charges in the fourth quarter driven in part by the drop in global oil prices. Gross output was up 66 percent last year to 117,482 barrels of oil equivalent per […]
Kurdistan Regional Government’s Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani, yesterday in Erbil received the Austrian Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz and his accompanying delegation, which included the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the European Parliament, the Austrian Ambassador to Iraq and a number of senior officials from the Austrian Foreign Ministry, as well as Iraq’s Ambassador […]
Head of the KRG Foreign Relations, Minister Falah Mustafa, today received Ambassador of Armenia to Iraq Mr Karin Gregorian to discuss bilateral ties. In his first visit to the Kurdistan Region, Ambassador Gregorian commended Kurdistan Region for its political and economic developments as well as its culture of peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance. He briefed […]
By Denise Natali for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. US-led efforts to counter the Islamic State (IS) with Kurdish peshmerga partners is having a backlash on Sunni Arab communities. Relying on Iraqi Kurds to act as coalition boots on the ground may help eliminate […]
By John Lee. The European Union (EU) is to open a representative office in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative to the EU, Dlawar Azhgayi, told BasNews: “It is an important message that Europe is nurturing its relationship with the Kurdistan Region." He added that the process of choosing the representative has already […]
