Baghdad, Erbil conclude First Round of Talks on Oil

By John Lee.

The Iraqi federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have concluded a first round of talks to discuss the management of the Kurdistan region’s oil and gas resources.

The meeting follows the ruling by a federal court in February that exports of oil and gas from the Kurdistan region were unconstitutional.

After the meeting, Baghdad’s Ministry of Oil has said that it has proposed that existing oil contracts in the region be transferred to a new company, to be set up in Erbil but owned by the federal authority. 

Revenues from sales would be lodged to an escrow account at an international bank, owned by the Ministry of Finance.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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AirSada wins Medevac Contract with JGC in Iraq

By John Lee.

The Turkish-based private jet charter company AirSada has won a contract to supply medical evacuation (medevac) services to Japan’s JGC Corporation in Iraq.

JGC is the main contractor for the major upgrading project at South Refineries Company’s (SRC) Basra refinery.

The contract with AirSada, which runs to September 2025, includes air ambulance and medical treatment services.

It was signed by Mr Tolga Urcu, CEO of AirSada, and Mr Hiroto Ogura,  Project Manager for JGC at SRC Basra.

(Source: AirSada)

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What does Russia’s War in Ukraine mean for Iraq?

By Samuel Ramani, for The Middle East Institute. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

What does Russia’s war in Ukraine mean for Iraq?

Although Iraq has avoided taking sides in Russia’s war with Ukraine, the conflict could exacerbate factional divisions and profoundly impact the Iraqi economy’s near-term trajectory.

While the strides made in Russia-Iraq cooperation over the past decade are unlikely to be destroyed by the war, Baghdad is likely to limit its cooperation with Moscow to essential spheres and overcome the impact of sanctions by embracing a genuinely multipolar foreign policy.

Click here to read the full article.

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IBBC Iraq Conference, London, Tuesday 24th May 

The IBBC Iraq conference at the Mansion House – meeting at a most important time for Iraq – Tuesday 24 May 

After a two-year absence, IBBC is back at the Mansion House hosting its Iraq conference on Tuesday May 24th focusing on finance, energy and sustaining economic growth in Iraq.

The country stands at another pivotal moment with a new government still in formation, record high oil and gas prices and a world supply crisis, in recovery mode after the pandemic and a strong desire to diversify the economy, grow the private sector and improve employment prospects, particularly for the young, a possible Iranian / US nuclear settlement, issues over water supply and food production, diversifying into renewable energy  and still much work to be done on repairing and renewing infrastructure, but progress being made on improving governance and hugely enhanced government revenue to provide business opportunities across all the sectors.

International interest in investing in Iraq remains strong with the Chinese (Rumaila) and French (Total) Governments being particularly aggressive and most recently a wish expressed by the Saudi Government to join them.

In each sector we are hosting influential Iraqi ministerial attendees including the Minister of Oil H.E. Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismaael and Mr Kareem Hatta Deputy Oil Minister for Upstream Affairs, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, H.E Mr. Mustafa Ghalib Mukheef, the Minister of Youth and Sport H.E. Adnan Darjal Motar Al-Rubaye, as well as Ms Taif Al-Shakarchi, Deputy Minister of Finance , Dr Salem Chalabi, President & Chairman of the Trade Bank of Iraq, a delegation of Iraqi Private banks.

From the UK side Louis Taylor, Chief Executive of UKEF, UK Ambassador Mark Bryson- Richardson, BP President Iraq Zaid Elyaseri, and Richard Wilkins from JP Morgan will address the audience with latest developments and opportunities and Professor Frank Gunter will present his latest views on the political economy.

Principal panel subjects include developing the banking sector, project finance, energy transition and how to boost short term production, education and skills, insurance, in addition to an online Tech panel addressing the benefits of crypto currency.

For companies interested in Iraq, this is a prime opportunity to hear what some of the most important players, both government and private sector are saying and thinking, and an excellent place for networking with potential partners and customers from both national and international organisations.

For further information and to register – please follow the link below:

IBBC Spring Conference at the Mansion House, London – IBBC (iraqbritainbusiness.org)

A reminder to overseas attendees, to arrange for visas to UK within the next few days as is relevant for your country.

(Source: Iraq Britain Business Council)

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Iraq Oil Revenues hit 50-Year High

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has announced preliminary oil exports for February of 100,563,999 barrels, giving an average for the month of 3.244 million barrels per day (bpd), down slightly from the 3.314 million bpd exported in February.

The exports from the oilfields in central and southern Iraq amounted to approximately 99,115,064 barrels, while exports from the Kirkuk fields through the port of Ceyhan amounted to 1,488,935 barrels.

Revenues for the month were $11.07 billion, at an average price of $110.090 per barrel. This is the highest monthly oil revenue in Iraq since 1972.

February’s export figures can be found here.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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Deloitte report on Oil and Gas in Iraqi Kurdistan

As part of the KRG’s drive to promote transparency, Deloitte have been commissioned to produce an audited report detailing oil and gas exports, production costs, and revenues for the second half of 2021.

The report, which analyzes the oil and gas industry on a quarterly basis, is now available as a PDF in English, Kurdish and Arabic on the KRG website.

Click here to download the reports.

(Source: KRG)

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BHEL to supply Compressor to Baiji Refinery

By John Lee.

New Delhi-based Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has won an order to supply a news compressor to Baiji Refinery in Iraq.

The order, placed by the North Refineries Company (NRC), envisages design, engineering, manufacturing and supply of electric motor driven Recycle Gas Centrifugal compressor and will be executed by BHEL’s International Operations Division along with its manufacturing units at Hyderabad and Bhopal.

The new compressor will replace the existing compressor, also supplied by BHEL in the year 2000, which was damaged due to the war in Iraq.

BHEL has previously supplied several Gas Turbine based Power Plants, including 4×157 MW Gas Turbine Generator (GTG) units for Baiji Power Station and 2×125 MW GTG units for Rumailla Power Station. BHEL has also executed a turnkey order for construction of 4×125 MW Gas Turbine based Sulaymaniyah Power Project in Iraq.

(Source: BHEL)

(Picture: a compressor previously installed by BHEL in Iraq)

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Russian Invasion of Ukraine, and Iraq’s Economy

By Salam Zidane for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Russian invasion of Ukraine has sharp impact on Iraq’s economy

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused shortages of food in Iraq and forced the government to pay more in gasoline subsidies, but the high price of crude oil plus sanctions on Russia has opened new opportunities for Iraq.

Click here to read the full article.

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Genel Energy outlines Payments to Govts for 2021

By John Lee.

Genel Energy has just published details of its payments to governments for the year 2021:

Introduction and basis for preparation

This report sets out details of the payments made to governments by Genel Energy plc and its subsidiary undertakings (‘Genel’) for the year ended 31 December 2021 as required under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (the ‘DTRs’) and in accordance with our interpretation of the Industry Guidance issued for the UK’s Report on Payments to Governments Regulations 2014, as amended in December 2015 (‘the Regulations’). The DTRs require companies in the UK and operating in the extractives sector to publically disclose payments made to governments in the countries where they undertake exploration, prospection, development and extraction of oil and natural gas deposits or other materials.

Governments

All of the payments made in relation to licences in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (‘KRI’) have been made to the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government (‘KRG’).

Production entitlements

Production entitlements are the host government’s share of production during the reporting period from projects operated by Genel. Production entitlements from projects that are not operated by Genel are not covered by this report. The figures reported have been produced on an entitlement basis rather than on a liftings basis. Production entitlements are paid in-kind and the monetary value disclosed is derived from management’s calculation of revenue from the field.

Royalties

Royalties represent royalties paid in-kind to governments during the year for the extraction of oil. The terms of the Royalties are described within our Production Sharing Contracts and can vary from project to project. Royalties have been calculated on the same barrels of oil equivalent basis as production entitlements.

Materiality threshold

Total payments below £86,000 made to a government are excluded from this report as permitted under the Regulations.

Payments to governments – 2021

Country/Licence KRI Total (1) Taq Taq (2)
Production entitlement (bbls) 1,234,564.87 1,234,564.87
Royalties in kind (bbls) 216,930.95 216,930.95
Total (bbls) 1,451,495.82 1,451,495.82
Value of production entitlements ($ million) 78.52 78.52
Value of royalties ($ million) 13.74 13.74
Capacity building payments ($ million) (3) 1.25 1.25
Total ($ million) 93.51 93.51
  1. Under the lifting arrangements implemented by the KRG, the KRG takes title to crude at the wellhead and then transports it to Ceyhan in Turkey by pipeline. The crude is then sold by the KRG into the international market. All proceeds of sale are received by or on behalf of the KRG, out of which the KRG then makes payment for cost and profit oil in accordance with the PSC to Genel, in exchange for the crude delivered to the KRG. Under these arrangements, payments are in fact made by or on behalf of the KRG to Genel, rather than by Genel to the KRG. For the purposes of the reporting requirements under the Regulations however, we are required to characterise the value of the KRG’s entitlement under the PSC (for which they receive payment directly from the market) as a payment made to the KRG. Therefore, estimated value in $millions is not paid to the KRG, and is calculated to meeting the reporting requirements under the regulations
  2. The amount reported for Taq Taq, is the gross payment made to the KRI by the operating company (TTOPCO), Genel’s share of these payments is equal to 55% (with the exception of capacity building payments)
  3. Capacity building payments reported are payments made by Genel directly to the KRI in cash as required by the PSC.

(Source: Genel Energy)

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