The latest news from Kurdistan – security updates, reconstruction and more – brought to you by Iraq Business News.
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 fourth agro-food trade fair will open in Erbil next week with 350 companies from 21 countries coming to put their products on show. Aziz Ibrahim, director of trade in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)'s Ministry of Trade and Industry, told a news conference in Erbil on Thursday that there were new companies among the […]
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 […]
Last week saw a notable decline in attacks in Iraq, but incidents have worsened once again over the past three days. Activity was concentrated in the central provinces, although Baghdad itself remained unusually quiet until Sunday. Conditions now appear to be returning to an unfortunate level of normality. Roadside bombings are currently the most commonly […]
As part of its interim management statement, Heritage Oil plc has issued an update on its operations in Iraqi Kurdistan. : Heritage successfully completed testing of the Upper Cretaceous reservoir in the Miran West-3 well after drilling to a depth of 876 metres. During testing the maximum measured rate achieved from this reservoir section was […]
As part of its interim management statement, Afren plc has issued an update on its operations in Iraqi Kurdistan. The shares are up 11% since the statement: On 2nd November, the Company announced completion of the acquisition of a 60% operated interested interest in the Barda Rash PSC and 20% non-operated interest in the Ain […]
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 fallout from the agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and ExxonMobil to explore six blocks in Kurdistan continues to be felt. According to a report on Friday by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the U.S. government-funded news outlet, Iraq’s central government said it had settled the oil dispute with the KRG with an agreement […]
Gulf Keystone CEO Todd Kozel (pictured) has told Reuters that the Kurdistan-focused oil explorer has interest for its 20 percent stake in the Arki-Bijeel block in the semi-autonomous region, but any sale was still in the preliminary stages: "We've got a lot of interested parties, but we have not identified a purchaser. "We haven't gone […]
An adviser to the Resources Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) confirmed on Friday that ExxonMobil has signed agreements to explore for oil and gas in six blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to Dow Jones. This is big news, as the Baghdad government has previously excluded companies operating in the Kurdish region from oil contracts […]
With the debate about the U.S. troop presence in Iraq seemingly out of the way, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Barham Salih urged the Vice President of the United States Joseph P. Biden to deploy the broad array of diplomatic and economic tools necessary to ensure that the stability and prosperity […]
