Iraq budget moves toward passage
Iraq’s Parliament looks set to pass its 2016 budget, cutting spending projections as it grapples with collapsing state revenue from oil, political power struggles in Baghdad, and the war against Continue Reading
Seventy Britons killed in Syria and Iraq – Home Office official
Talha Asmal, believed to be the UK’s youngest suicide bomber, was killed in Iraq in June Between 750 and 800 Britons have gone to Syria and Iraq, and 70 have Continue Reading
Who is fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq?
. View photo French navy personnel muster aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, deployed in the eastern Mediterraean, on November 23, 2015 (AFP Photo/Anne-Christine Poujoulat) Beirut (AFP) – A breakdown of the main forces fighting Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria, after operations by warplanes from France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier were launched on Monday: – Syrian and Iraqi armies – – SYRIA: The Syrian army numbered 178,000 troops in 2015, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Syria’s army has been roughly halved from its pre-war strength by deaths, defections and increased draft dodging. In its fight against rebels and jihadists, it relies on militias, which boast 150,000 to 200,000 members. – IRAQ: The army counts 177,600 men, according to the IISS. After the US invasion in 2003, the Americans dissolved the army, which was then 450,000 strong, and rebuilt a new force, […]
KRG hit with $100 million court order
An engineer looks out over gas processing facilities at the Khor Mor field, which is operated by the Emirati companies Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas, in 2013. (JACOB RUSSELL/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography) A British court has ordered the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to pay gas consortium Pearl Petroleum $100 million for condensates and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) produced at the Khor Mor gas field over the past two years.If the KRG doesn’t settle up or apply to appeal within 14 days, the government, and potentially its senior officials, could be held liable.Executives from several international oil companies invested in Kurdistan have told Iraq Oil Report they are taking a keen in… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .
Oil Crash Means Biggest Boomers Halt Supply Growth in 2016
To understand what the oil price crash will mean for global crude supplies next year, look no further than the two nations that added more barrels to world markets in 2015 than anyone else. The U.S. and Iraq, whose extra crude this year equates to about 80 percent of the global surplus, will fail to boost output in 2016, according to the world’s biggest forecasters. While the U.S. curtailment is mainly because prices are too low to spur fresh supply, the Middle East country’s ability to boost output is also being crimped by a need to fund its battle with Islamic State. Slowing output in the the two fastest-growing producers signals the global glut, which has depressed oil prices to near $40 a barrel, may begin to dissipate next year, according to Barclays Plc. While that would start to fulfill Saudi Arabia’s plan to re-balance world crude markets, Iraq’s […]
Iraqi oil selling at $30
Iraq may increase oil output further in 2016, although less dramatically than this year, intensifying a battle for market share between OPEC members and non-OPEC rivals that has forced Baghdad to sell some crude grades for as little as $30 a barrel. Iraq’s output in 2015 has jumped almost 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 13 percent, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). That has made Iraq the world’s fastest source of supply growth and a key driver of surging OPEC production. At most, that growth is likely to give way to a modest rise next year, easing downward pressure on prices that are close to a 2009 low. But a lifting of sanctions on Iran or an easing of violence in Libya could further boost OPEC supplies, without cutbacks by Saudi Arabia or other members. “Stable to limited growth in output from Iraq would give some potential […]
Kurdish oil reaches Baltic, targets Russian markets
Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan has begun targeting Baltic crude markets in north-western Europe, rivaling traditional Russian supplies and increasing an oil glut in the region, trading sources said and shipping data showed. At least three vessels with Kurdish oil arrived in the Baltic ports of Gdansk in Poland and Butinge in Lithuania in October-November, traders told Reuters. "These are the first Kurdish barrels going to Europe’s north," a source with a trading house told Reuters. Kurdistan this week for the first time detailed its oil exports operations, explaining how it bypassed Baghdad since 2014. It says its exports are now going to as many as 10 countries but it is premature to disclose final destinations as Iraq’s state oil firm Somo is still threatening to take buyers to court. Reuters previously reported Kurdish oil has reached Israel and Hungary. The arrival of Kurdish barrels further intensifies the fight […]
Exclusive: How Kurdistan bypassed Baghdad and sold oil on global markets
General view shows Rumaila oilfield in Basra, southeast of Baghdad December 17, 2014. Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan has for the first time detailed its secretive oil exports operations and said it plans to sell more, whether Baghdad likes it or not, as it needs money to survive and fight Islamic State. The region’s minister for natural resources, Ashti Hawrami, said that to avoid detection oil was often funneled through Israel, transferred directly between ships off the coast of Malta, and decoy ships used to make it harder for Baghdad to track. Kurdistan says it had been forced to bypass Baghdad and begin exporting oil directly because the latter refused to respect budgets in 2014 and 2015. The current and former Iraqi central governments have both said the Kurds have failed to respect deals to transfer agreed volumes of oil to Baghdad. Kurdistan is entitled to 17 percent of […]
Maersk gets nod for Kurdish oil work
Danish energy company Maersk says it’s received approval to start oil field development in the Kurdish north of Iraq. File photo by Maryam Rahmanian/UPI COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Nov. 17 (UPI) — Danish energy company Maersk Oil said it received approval to start an oil field development plan in the Kurdish north of Iraq. The semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq approved a field development plan for the Swara Tika discovery in the region. "This is an important milestone on our journey towards building a material business in the country," Richard Doidge, managing director of Maersk Oil Kurdistan, said in a statement. The Danish oil company said one well from the area is already producing oil at a rate of around 3,000 barrels per day. The field development plan means production could reach around 15,000 bpd by next year and eventually top out at around 50,000 bpd. The Peshmerga, a Kurdish […]
Low oil revenues could stymie Iraq’s counter-terrorism measures
Iraqi budgetary constraints from conflict and low oil prices might curb revenue needed to support counter-terrorism efforts. File photo by Aaron Allmon/U.S. Air Force NEW YORK, Nov. 16 (UPI) — Iraqi revenues are under strain from conflict and low oil prices, creating a shortage of cash needed to back counter-terrorism efforts, Moody’s Analytics said. Supported by U.S.-backed coalition forces in the air, more than 7,000 members of the Kurdish military force known as Peshmerga pushed fighters loyal to the Islamic State out of the strategic northern city of Sinjar last week. During the weekend, the U.S. Department of Defense said coalition aircraft conducted 12 airstrikes in Iraq, including four near Ramadi that destroyed 10 Islamic State fighting positions. The vacuum left by simmering Syrian civil war has been filled by elements with or loyal to the terrorist group calling itself the Islamic State. More than five years after U.S. […]