By Simon Watkins for the OilPrice.com. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. China Tightens Its Grip On Iraq With Major Successes in Licensing Rounds With this new slew of oil and gas license awards, it may be that China has ultimately got […]
By John Lee. Iraq's Ministry of Oil has concluded its fifth-plus and sixth oil and gas licensing rounds, with Chinese companies winning most of the fields awarded: Fifth-plus licensing round: Abu Khema: Zhenhua Oil Ad Daimah: KAR Group Alan: KAR Group Block 7: China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Dhufriyah: Anton Oil Fao: United Energy […]
By John Lee. Iraq was the largest beneficiary from China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2021, according to a study by the Green Finance & Development Center, at Shanghai's Fudan University. It says the country with the highest construction volume was Iraq, with about $10.5 billion, followed by Serbia (about $6.8 billion) and Indonesia […]
Writing in Oil Price, Simon Watkins says that China has continued to press home the geopolitical advantage given to it in Iraq following the official end of the U.S.'s 'combat mission' in the country with the conclusion of three huge deals, all focused on the oil sector. Click here to read the full article.
By John Lee. The Chinese company Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) has signed a deal to develop the Mansuriyah gas field in Diyala. The field, near the Iranian border, is expected to produce 300 million standard cubic feet (Mmscf) per day of gas, which will be used for electricity generation and "various industrial projects". […]
By Ahmed Mousa Jiyad. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. IOC's Strategic Positioning in Iraq Upstream Petroleum Much talk have been circulating recently on "Big Oil" abandoning Iraq upstream petroleum projects after they rushed into the country many years ago. How much […]
By John Lee. The Chinese company Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) has won a contract to develop the Mansuriyah gas field in Diyala. The field, near the Iranian border, is expected to produce 300 million standard cubic feet (Mmscf) per day of gas, which will be used for electricity generation. In 2010, an agreement […]
By John Lee. Bloomberg reports that Sinopec -- the state-owned China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation -- is considering a takeover of the recently restructured Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP). The news agency cites un-named sources as saying that the world’s biggest refiner is working with advisers and has made an approach to the company, which was […]
By Simon Kent. Iraqi PM Haider al Abadi recently met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss high level strategic projects for both countries to cooperate on. The major discussions focused on a plan for Iraq's State Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) and Chinese state run refiner Sinopec to coordinate the shipment, refining and marketing of […]
By Simon Kent. There is growing speculation over a planned energy initiative between Iraq and China, with both Iraqi PM Haider al Abadi and oil minister Adel Abdul Mahdi travelling to China for "deep discussions" on the proposal. According to The Wall Street Journal, Unipec, the trading branch of Chinese state refiner Sinopec, will be working with […]
By John Lee. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad in a rare Chinese high level diplomatic mission to Baghdad. The two men discussed increased Sino-Iraqi cooperation in areas such as oil development and arms sales. Until recently, Iraq has been frustrated by slow deliveries of weapons systems from […]
By John Lee. Reuters reports that China's state-owned Sinochem Corp plans to use Iraqi crude oil for 40 percent of the capacity of its new refinery, in what the article describes as "the latest example of Iraq beating Middle Eastern rivals in the competition for new markets in Asia". The deal wold replacing a preliminary […]
