The latest news from Kurdistan – security updates, reconstruction and more – brought to you by Iraq Business News.
After months of remaining out of public knowledge, the buyer of Kurdish oil in America has been revealed. The chemical firm LyondellBasell purchased two tankers worth of Kurdish oil in May. The shipments totaled nearly 533,000 barrels of oil and at the time did not result in any legal action. Data retrieved from the U.S. […]
The KRG Minister of Natural Resources, Ashti Hawrami (pictured), commented today (Wednesday) on the Iraqi federal government’s petition to a US court to seize crude oil produced in the Kurdistan Region. “The KRG’s lawyers sent a letter to a court in Texas to explain the misrepresentations of the Iraqi federal government. The Iraqi federal government […]
By Patrick M Schmidt. Despite a ruling yesterday that allowed United States Marshals to seize Kurdish oil onboard the United Kalavrvta, a federal judge overturned their own decision. Given the distance of the tanker from American shores, the United States Marshals could not have legally seized the cargo. The judge instead suggested that the dispute […]
By John Lee. As port of its operating and unaudited financial results for the second quarter of 2014, Talisman Energy Inc. (TSX:TLM) (NYSE:TLM) has given the following update on its operations in Iraqi Kurdistan: "In the Topkhana Block, testing continues on the T-2 well and is expected to be complete in the coming days. "In […]
By Patrick M Schmidt. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has announced that they will pursue a new energy contract with Iran. It is expected that this contract will be similar to the current one with Turkey. Sherko Jawdat, Head of the Industry and Energy Committee, said, “strong oil and economic relations with Iran are part […]
By Patrick M Schmidt. The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has successfully obtained the documentation needed to seize oil from the United Kalavrvta and place it under the protection of the United States Marshals. The value of the ship’s payload is approximately $100 million dollars (1.2 billion Iraqi dinars). The oil onboard had been “illegal” piped […]
By Patrick M Schmidt. On Sunday, the United States Coast Guard granted permission for the Kurdish oil tanker, United Kalavrvta, to offload its payload of crude oil from Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) controlled oilfields in northern Iraq. The State Department further indicated that they would not prevent tanker from offloading at port in Galveston, Texas […]
From the BBC. John McCarthy meets the Kurds of northern Iraq, a unique island of stability in a nation broken into warring fragments. He asks how a people who have been victims of abuse and atrocity for generations managed to transform their fortunes so dramatically. How did they recently gain the confidence to calmly take […]
By Patrick M Schmidt. While the security situation in some parts of Iraq remains in flux, the north region of Kurdistan continues to attract foreign businesses as a promising location for investment. With a 12 percent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2012 and another 8 percent growth of GDP in 2013, Kurdistan’s economic […]
By Shaida al-Ameen for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Kurdistan’s Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said its troops are not attacking armed groups in Iraq, but are just taking defensive positions. It said the speeches of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki do not scare the […]
The General Directorate of Water and Sewage in the Kurdistan Region is considering the implementation of the Ifraz Station-4 project, with a capacity of 25000 cubic meters per hour, due to the increase in the demand for drinking water in the capital, Erbil. The General Directorate of Water and Sewage last year started to implement […]
By Patrick M Schmidt. After a long journey across the Atlantic Ocean, the oil-tanker, United Kalavrvta [United Kalavryta], is just miles off the coast of Florida. The tanker is loaded with one million barrels of crude oil that has a current market value of approximately $100 million (117 billion Iraqi dinars). The oil onboard is […]
