Top Energy Stories

A rocket attack on Wednesday night appeared to target a major oil refinery complex in Erbil operated by the Iraqi Kurdish company KAR Group.
At least one rocket landed about 1 kilometer from the facility, which houses both the Kalak refinery and the Ninewa refinery, according to an official familiar with the details of the incident. The attack comes just three weeks after Iran conducted a ballistic missile strike that destroyed the house of Baz Karim, the head of KAR Group. The IRGC has claimed without evidence that Karim's house was somehow affiliated with Israel. If Tuesday's attack was indeed targeting the refinery, it would suggest an escalating threat against KAR Group, which also operates the 150,000 bpd Khurmala Dome oil field and owns a power plant in Erbil province. KAR is also a minority partner, along with Russia’s Rosneft, in the Kurdistan Pipeline Company, which operates the Kurdistan region’s oil export pipeline to Turkey, and the company has commercial interests in southern Iraq. KAR was recently contracted to extend Kurdistan's gas pipeline infrastructure to the Turkish border, raising the possibility of future gas supplies to Turkey that would offset or compete with imports from Iran and Russia.

Oil Minister and INOC President Ihsan Ismaael gave a wide-ranging interview to Iraq Oil Report. He spoke about the status of a mega-deal with TotalEnergies, negotiations over the future of West Qurna 1, development of the Akkas and Mansuriya gas fields, and the future of the Iraqi National Oil Company (INOC). Read the full interview on Iraq Oil Report.

Iraq's federal government earned a record $11.07 billion in oil export revenues in March as global oil prices spiked as a result of Russia's war on Ukraine. Preliminary estimates from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil showed a slight dip in exports from oil fields under federal control, which fell in March to 3.244 million bpd from 3.314 million bpd in February. But the higher oil price, which averaged $110.090 per barrel for Iraq in March compared with $92.083 in February, compensated for the lower volumes. Export revenues in February came in at $8.544 billion, a ten-year high that has now been surpassed. Read the full story on Iraq Oil Report.

How To Navigate Iraq's Business Environment

A message from Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC):

International and regional companies operating in Iraq need good advocacy, insights, and support to navigate Iraq’s business environment. IBBC has many years of successful operations on behalf of our members, with strong Governmental and supply chain contacts to enable and promote your business. Why not apply for membership and attend our international London and Dubai conferences open to non-members?

Register for our upcoming IBBC Spring Conference at the Mansion House, London on May 24 via our website here.

IBBC also runs trade missions to Iraq, at least three events a month in the UK, Iraq and MENA region, special member away weekends, dinners, and meetings with Iraqi officials in UK and Iraq, and regular advisory papers on economics and political economy of Iraq. We are Iraq’s International business network with a strong anchor in the UK, and we welcome reputable businesses from all sectors, including especially Education, Training and Heritage, Professional Services, Energy, Tech, General Trading, Construction and Finance.

Email london@webuildiraq.org for further information.

More National News

Rafeeq Hashem al-Salihi is a tribal leader, a member of the government's al-Hashid al-Shabi (Popular Mobilization) paramilitary forces, and a member of Parliament with the Fatah Alliance. In an interview with Iraq Oil Report, Salhi said he is determined to use his role in Parliament to advocate for Basra to receive is allotment of petrodollar payments under a law that, in theory at least, allocates $5 per barrel to provinces for the oil they produce. Salihi also spoke of the impact that oil production has had on the agricultural sector, which he said was in a poor state and needed additional funding and support for farmers whose livelihoods have been disrupted by projects led by foreign oil companies. Read the full interview on Iraq Oil Report.

The National: Iraq suspends TV show ridiculing rampant corruption in the army

Iraq’s media regulatory body has suspended a TV show after it broadcast a parody interview on corruption in the Ministry of Defence, a move that has been strongly criticised as inviting more curbs on freedom of speech in the country.

... In Monday’s episode, actor Ayad Al Taie performed as an army officer in an interview with Mulla Talal. Al Taie told him how officers make money by allowing the soldier to go on leave in exchange for half of his salary.

... Mulla Talal also shed light on how posts are sold after paying senior military leaders and politicians and how officers extract bribes from shopping centres, nightclubs, shops selling alcohol and checkpoints at the entrances of main cities.

... Iraq's Defence Ministry described the performance as “slander and offence” and threatened legal action against the anchor and the actor.

NPR: In Mosul, art springs up from the ruins

While some parts of the Old City are coming back, the walls of many of its narrow alleyways are still pockmarked from shrapnel.

Munir Majed, with a group called Art Revolution, started painting murals here three years ago highlighting the city's heritage. The 21-year-old engineering student points to a painting of a woman looking out a window.

"The woman is looking at the symbols of Mosul," he says. "The statues, the gates, the things that were destroyed by ISIS. And if you see the wall in the background, the bullet holes. Most of these walls were exactly the same — they had bullet holes."

Asked if he could have painted something like this during ISIS' control of the city, Majed laughs nervously. He slashes a finger across his throat and says he would have been killed if he tried to do this under ISIS.

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