Energy

Iraq seeks backup options for West Qurna 2

As a sanctions deadline looms, Basra Oil Company is poised to manage the 480,000 bpd field while Lukoil continues negotiating to sell its stake.

A ceremony at the West Qurna 2 oil field in Basra to mark the opening of two new well complexes on June 1, 2023. (JASSIM AL-JABIRI/Iraq Oil Report)

Jul 31, 2008

Iraqi oil production peaks

Iraqi oil production has risen to its highest level since the 2003 invasion on the back of improved security across the country, according to a new US government report. Iraq pumped an average of 2.43m bpd between April and June, according to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, writes Demetri Sevastopulo for The Financial […]

Jul 24, 2008

Firms line up for Iraqi oil, but outlook murky

An oil refinery in the once restive and violent city of Haditha is working once again. The reopening ceremony was attended by Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani who thanked the people of the Province of Anbar, of which Haditha is a major town, for their efforts to restore relative stability. The refinery was shut due to […]

Jul 22, 2008

Kirkuk oil exports resume following debt payment to Turkey

Turkey restarted loadings of halted Iraqi oil exports on Tuesday after Iraq paid $50 million of a total $100 million debt, a senior source from the state pipeline company Botas told Reuters. An Iraq oil ministry official had said earlier Iraq's Kirkuk oil exports to Turkey had been halted after a Turkish court ordered the […]

Jul 20, 2008

Refinery back up in Iraq’s Anbar province, yet oil is “finished”

"Iraq has many underexplored and underexploited fields, but who can tell what's going to be happening with Iraq?" said Paul Sullivan, economics professor at the National Defence University in Washington, DC. The remark was made in a recent discussion on energy, security and development at the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan. […]

Jul 17, 2008

Iraq limits no-bid oil contracts to one year

The Iraqi government is planning to limit no-bid contracts being negotiated with several major oil companies to one year to avoid overlap with longer-term deals expected to be signed next June, the Associated Press reported. The no-bid contracts have sparked controversy because several major Western firms have been involved in the discussions. There are concerns […]

Jul 10, 2008

Iraqi oil ministry schedules major energy conference

Reuters reported that the Iraqi Oil Ministry said the country will hold a major oil and gas conference in October to allow foreign oil firms to get a better understanding of the country's energy potential. The Oct 17-19 energy conference and exhibition will be the first event of its type in Iraq since the U.S.-led […]

Jul 8, 2008

Chomsky speaks on Iraqi oil

The deal just taking shape between Iraq's Oil Ministry and four Western oil companies raises critical questions about the nature of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq — questions that should certainly be addressed by presidential candidates and seriously discussed in the United States, and of course in occupied Iraq, where it appears that […]

Jul 6, 2008

Iraqi oil … on both sides of the pond

Here's a thought experiment from The Wall Street Journal: Assume that Iraq's democratic government declared it was nationalizing its oil industry, a la Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, while excluding American companies from the country. How do you think U.S. politicians would react? With angry cries of "ingratitude" and "this is what Americans died for"? Of […]

Jul 3, 2008

Iraq oil deals raise questions

Bush administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with close ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the regional Kurdistan government that ran counter to American policy and undercut Iraq’s central government, a Congressional committee has The conclusions were based on e-mail messages and other documents that the committee […]

Jul 1, 2008

Iraqi oil: Deal or no deal?

"The United States was not involved in any decisions to award contracts, to make determinations of what kinds of contracts would be offered, to provide advice over what kinds of contracts would be offered. These are technical experts that we have working in the Iraqi Oil Ministry, who are similar to the technical experts we […]