Category: Iraq

Starting production at Iraq’s West Qurna-2 oil field shows Russia’s Lukoil views Iraq as one of its most valued assets. Lukoil President Vagit Alexperov said his company positioned itself as a strategic player with the launch of operations at the West Qurna-2 field. "The start of production at West Qurna-2 is strategically important for LUKOIL," he said in a statement Saturday. West Qurna-2 is estimated to hold up to 14 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, making it among the largest undeveloped fields in the world. Lukoil said West Qurna, located near the Iraqi port city of Basra, will begin in phases, with an initial start up volume of around 400,000 barrels of oil per day. A production plateau of 1.2 million bpd is expected to last for nearly 20 years. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its March market report Iraq was one […]

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Starting production at Iraq’s West Qurna-2 oil field shows Russia’s Lukoil views Iraq as one of its most valued assets. Lukoil President Vagit Alexperov said his company positioned itself as a strategic player with the launch of operations at the West Qurna-2 field. "The start of production at West Qurna-2 is strategically important for LUKOIL," he said in a statement Saturday. West Qurna-2 is estimated to hold up to 14 billion barrels of recoverable reserves, making it among the largest undeveloped fields in the world. Lukoil said West Qurna, located near the Iraqi port city of Basra, will begin in phases, with an initial start up volume of around 400,000 barrels of oil per day. A production plateau of 1.2 million bpd is expected to last for nearly 20 years. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its March market report Iraq was one […]

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BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of attacks in Iraq, including a shooting at a security checkpoint and a suicide car bomb, killed 16 people and destroyed a bridge on Sunday, said officials. Police officials said the deadliest attack took place when attackers sprayed with bullets a group of troops manning a checkpoint early Sunday, near the city of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad. Police said seven soldiers were killed in the attack. Hours later, a suicide bomber set off his explosive-laden car on the main al-Houz bridge near Ramadi city, killing five people and wounding seven. Police said parts of the bridge fell into the Euphrates river. Ramadi is 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad. Fierce clashes pitting government security forces and allied Sunni tribal militias against a coalition of insurgents have been raging in Anbar province since late December. Also, a bomb explosion at […]

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Members of Iraq’s electoral commission retracted their resignations on Sunday, having threatened to quit en masse in protest against political interference just one month before a nationwide vote. The entire board of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) tendered its resignation last week, further complicating the outlook for polls that have already been clouded by violence across the country. In a statement following a visit by the United Nations’ envoy to Iraq, IHEC said: "The decision has been taken to withdraw the resignations and resume our duties in full confidence". IHEC said it had found itself caught between conflicting rulings from parliament and the judiciary regarding the exclusion of certain candidates from the election, due on April 30. Members of the commission said the conflict stemmed from divergent interpretations of the electoral law, which includes a clause allowing for candidates "of ill repute" to be barred […]

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OAO Lukoil (LKOH) will start pumping crude from Iraq’s second-largest oilfield tomorrow as the nation boosts output to levels last seen more than three decades ago. Russia’s biggest publicly traded oil producer will start producing 120,000 barrels a day at West Qurna-2 in the south. The field is expected to eventually yield 1.2 million barrels daily, or about a third of the nation’s current output. Iraq is now the second-biggest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries behind Saudi Arabia after adding 1 million barrels of output since 2007. Wars and sanctions crippled the country for decades, contributing to four of the 11 biggest global supply shocks in the past 60 years, according to the International Energy Agency in Paris. “Iraq has been the key growth center within OPEC,” said Amrita Sen, the chief oil market strategist at Energy Aspects Ltd. in London. The nation plans to increase […]

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Iraqi oil income is set to surge in April as Basrah Light crude to Asia sells at the highest rate in more than a year against Saudi prices and shipments expand. The CHART OF THE DAY shows a tightening discount for Basrah Light, Iraq ’s biggest export, relative to Saudi Arabia ’s Medium grade for Asian customers. Iraq is set to export the most Basrah Light in at least two years next month, at the same time as the grade’s discount to Saudi crude is the narrowest in 17 months. “It looks optimistic for them,” Alexander Poegl, a JBC Energy GmbH analyst in Vienna, said by phone. “They should be on track for a good April. There’s great export capacity available and that will help boost confidence among customers that they’ll get their crude when they want it.” Oil producers in the Persian Gulf sell the bulk of their […]

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Though gross production for 2013 slumped, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, active in the Kurdish oil sector of Iraq, said Thursday it had a successful year. The company, which has headquarters in London, said gross production for 2013 declined more than 40 percent from the previous year to 496,921 barrels of oil. Its sales, all of which came from the Shaikan reserve area in the Kurdish north of Iraq, generated $6.7 million in revenue last year, compared with $32.2 million in 2012. Chief Executive Officer Todd Kozel, however, said 2013 was a successful year for the company because it transitioned from an exploration company to a development and production company in large part because of its stake in Kurdish oil. "We continue to be encouraged by the recent positive political developments in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where the fast pace of economic development was maintained in 2013, not solely but […]

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Iraq’s premier warned Wednesday that April legislative polls may be delayed as he pushed for a controversial election law to be amended after electoral chiefs suddenly quit complaining of political interference. The electoral officials are pressing for the same reform to the law ahead of the April 30 vote, amid doubts the polls can in any case be held countrywide as anti-government fighters still control a city on Baghdad’s doorstep. Much is at stake as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki bids for a third term with his security credentials dented by a surge in violence to levels not seen since 2008, and as the country battles to rebuild its conflict-battered economy and boost oil production. Diplomats have said that even though the Independent High Electoral Commission’s nine-member board resigned en masse on Tuesday, the vote was unlikely to be delayed as all major political parties had agreed it […]

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Thirty-seven people were killed on Friday in a wave of bombings and attacks across Iraq, and eight soldiers were kidnapped, security officials said. At dawn, a suicide bomber drove a truck filled with explosives into a police station in northeastern Diyala Province, followed by gunmen who sprayed bullets from speeding S.U.V.s. Eleven police officers were killed, including the commander of the unit, officials said. In the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, gunmen in S.U.V.s attacked an army unit, took control and killed five soldiers, while kidnapping eight others and bringing them to an undisclosed location, a police official said. A curfew was imposed in Samarra. Jafar al-Jibory, a security analyst and an army officer during the Saddam Hussein era, placed blame for the attacks on militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a powerful jihadist group once affiliated with Al Qaeda that is also […]

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As U.S. mediators work to broker a temporary export deal between Erbil and Baghdad, Kurdistan has pledged to pump 100,000 bpd through federal channels. Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region said it will begin contributing 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the country’s national oil exports starting April 1, in an effort to revive stalled negotiations with Baghdad over oil policy. "As a goodwill gesture, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has offered to make a contribution to Iraq oil pipeline exports to give the negotiations the maximum chance of success," said KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in a statement issued Thursday. "The KRG h…

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