By John Lee. Reuters reports that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) expects an initial payment of 1 trillion dinars ($858 million) from Baghdad to clear next week after the two sides settled their dispute over payments to oil producers. "By 2015, we are looking at 1 million barrels per day. We're on track, regardless of […]
By John Lee. Iraqi government spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh (pictured) has said that the cabinet has approved a $358.8 million contract with Italy's SICIM and Dubai-based Drake and Scull to lay pipelines in the southern Zubair oilfield. The two-year extendable deal is part of a series of contracts aimed at developing Zubair which should have […]
By John Lee. Delays in the construction of an Iraqi pipeline threaten to stall production at Shell's Majnoon oilfield for at least three months, forcing the field to miss a 2012 target of 175,000 barrels per day, reports Reuters. In February, production at Majnoon was 54,000 bpd, Shell says, but averaged only 18,600 bpd for the […]
By John Lee. Oil pumping from Iraq to Turkey was suspended temporarily on Monday due to a pipeline fire in Turkey. The fire occurred in Dorkulu village, near the town of Slopi in Turkey's Sirnak province. It is understood that the fire has been extinguished, but the loading of tankers at Ceyhan port has been […]
By John Lee. An MP and member of the Parliamentary Oil and Energy Committee has hit out at Saudi Arabia for its "hostile policy" towards Iraq. Udai Awad, of the Ahrar bloc within the Sadrist Trend, told AIN: "The reason for the dispute with Saudi Arabia is the attempt by KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] […]
By John Lee. Estimates vary as to when oil will flow again through the pipeline that runs from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan (pictured), following the attack that halted exports on Sunday. Dow Jones quotes a shipping agent as saying on Wednesday that pumping is not expected to resume until he weekend. Reuters, […]
By John Lee. Reuters reports that the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline was bombed on Sunday night, knocking out flows. Officials from the Turkish Energy Ministry said on Monday that repairs could take up to 10 days. The blast occurred in Mardin province, north of Turkey's border with Syria. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was behind the […]
By John Lee. An explosion and fire shut two pipelines that transport oil from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan (pictured) on Friday night, and it was unclear when oil would resume flowing. Security sources blamed sabotage by Kurdish separatists for the explosion at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT) on Friday near the town of […]
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for Energy, Hussain Al-Shahristani, talks to CNBC about the oil price, the risk of Iran shutting the Strait of Hormuz, and the possibility of rehabilitating the pipeline from Iraq through Saudi Arabia. (Source: CNBC)
Levels of violence fell in Iraq last week, but the overall number of attacks was still above average. At least 69 people were killed and 179 injured in nationwide incidents. A total of 48 bombings left 42 people dead and over 160 injured. A rise in small arms attacks left 27 people dead and 11 […]
A leading Iraqi energy adviser says the country may need to invest in as many as 120 crude oil tanks, each with a capacity of half a million barrels. Speaking at CWC‘s Iraq Petroleum 2012 conference in London, Dr Mussab al Dujayli, a former Director General of Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), said that […]
In May, Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan announced they would build pipelines taking oil and gas from Iraq into Turkey, then possibly Europe. But according to this article from NIQASH behind the energy dream, lurks a nightmare of militant Kurdish independence fighters and the spectres of energy giants, Iran and Russia. Any opinions expressed are those […]
