Welcome to This Week in Iraq, your one-stop source for all of the most important news on Iraq's energy sector, political developments, security dynamics, and investment climate, curated by the editors of Iraq Oil Report and sponsored by the Iraq Britain Business Council. To sign up and receive this free newsletter in your inbox every week click here.

Top Energy Stories

Oil companies in southern Iraq are pivoting to backup plans for reducing gas flaring — a sign they are not counting on France's TotalEnergies to move ahead with a major gas hub project. Oil Minister Ihsan Ismaael's signature initiative to address the gas flaring problem has been the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), a multifaceted deal that includes the construction of a gas hub at Ratawi that would ultimately gather and process 600 million standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) of associated gas in two phases from the Majnoon, West Qurna 2, Ratawi, Subba, and Luhais oil fields. TotalEnergies has not moved forward with the project, however, because of both political deadlock in Baghdad and tough negotiations over Iraq's potential commercial stake in the project. In the vacuum left by GGIP, operators in southern Iraq are now contemplating how they will deal with their associated gas if the Ratawi hub is indefinitely delayed. Read the full story on Iraq Oil Report.

Iraq’s nationwide exports edged up to 3.692 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, a slight increase over 3.667 million bpd in August. The federal government’s exports averaged 3.292 million bpd, including 72,000 bpd from the Turkish port of Ceyhan — a partial recovery in northern exports from an August dip to 36,000 bpd — according to preliminary Oil Ministry data. The semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) exported 400,000 bpd, according to tanker loading data obtained by Iraq Oil Report, up from 381,000 bpd the prior month. Read the full story on Iraq Oil Report.

Where To Find Business Opportunities in Iraq

A message from the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC):

There is no better place to build your network in Iraq than the IBBC conference in Dubai. On Nov. 10 and 11, business and government leaders will gather for sessions on finance, hydrocarbons and the energy transition, industry and trade, and the promotion of the private sector and tech. New this year, there's also a day devoted to business opportunities in Basra: oil and gas, utilities, environmental projects, agriculture, and food distribution and processing.

Attendees will include:

• the governor of the Central Bank of Iraq
• the chairman of the KRG Investment Board
• other top Cabinet officials and DGs to be announced

Click here to get more details and to register.

More National News

Car bombing kills counter-terrorism officer in Erbil, by Yomna Ehab and Amina Ismail for Reuters:

One person was killed and four were injured when a vehicle exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Friday, the Kurdistan region's counter-terrorism service said.

... A Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, identified the driver who was killed as 41-year-old Hawkar Abdullah Rasoul and the two women injured as Rasoul's wife and sister. Rasoul was a colonel in the PUK counter-terrorism service, the official said.

Iraqi resistance group makes credible new threat against Gulf states, by Hamdi Malik and Michael Knights for the Washington Institute:

On October 2, the Iraqi muqawama (resistance) facade group Alwiyat al-Waad al-Haq (AWH) issued a statement threatening to attack “companies that work on the [Arabian] Peninsula.”

... The AWH threat—and broader warnings of attacks on the Gulf states—should be taken seriously for two reasons. First, Iran is under huge pressure internally and no doubt feels the need to redirect that pressure externally.

... Second, AWH has a very credible track record regarding such threats. On the two past occasions when this facade was activated, drones have been launched from Iraq toward the Gulf states: first against Riyadh in 2021, and then against Abu Dhabi earlier this year. The August launch of a Qasef-2K from Iraq toward Kuwait indicates a buildup of intent regarding Gulf strikes as well as the introduction of the Qasef-2K to the Iraqi environment.

Iraq’s date palms at risk from climate change, by Sinan Mahmoud for The National:

Hope had grown in recent years in Iraq of reviving the ailing palm industry, which has been badly battered by decades of war, mismanagement and neglect.

... A final figure for this year's production is still unclear as the harvest season is still under way, but officials and experts are bracing for a decline given the climate crisis, scarcity of water and salinity.

... “The continuous heatwaves, drought, water scarcity and dust storms put the plants under harsh conditions,” said Nassir Al Radhi, a professor at the Agricultural College in the University of Kufa. “There is no doubt that this condition will impact the crops.”

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