Iraq Oil Revenues Hit New High

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has announced preliminary oil exports for May of 102,303,020 barrels, giving an average for the month of 3.300 million barrels per day (bpd), slightly down from the 3.380 million bpd exported in April.

The exports from the oilfields in central and southern Iraq amounted to approximately 98,946,914 barrels, while exports from the Kirkuk fields through the port of Ceyhan amounted to 3,002,133 barrels.

While not explicitly stated by the Ministry, these figures seem to imply that exports by road to Jordan totalled 353,973 barrels for the month.

Revenues for the month were $11.436 billion, at an average price of $111.79 per barrel.

April’s export figures can be found here.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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Iran Reduces Gas Supply to Iraq, as Iraq Misses Payment

By John Lee.

Iran has reduced its gas supply to Iraq by 5 million cubic meters per day, causing a reduction in electricity production, according to a statement on Wednesday from Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity.

The Iranian government had demanded payment of debts relating to gas supply, which AFP says totals $1.6 billion and dates from 2020, by the end of May. 

The Ministry blames the non-payment on the delay in approving the general budget, and “the search for an alternative solution to the Food Security Law.

Iraq exported a record $11.436-billion worth of oil in May.

(Sources: Ministry of Electricity, AFP)

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Dispute over Iraqi Kurdistan’s Energy Resources ramps up

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

Dispute over Iraqi Kurdistan’s energy resources ramps up

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has announced plans to establish a new oil company for the Kurdistan Region.

Click here to read the full article.

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KRG Minister of Natural Resources Resigns

From Rudaw. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

KRG Minister of Natural Resources resigns

The office of the Kurdistan Region Prime Minister announced on Thursday that Minister of Natural Resources, Kamal Atroshi (pictured), has resigned from his post over health issues, at a time of high tension between Erbil and Baghdad over the semi-autonomous Region’s oil and gas laws.

Click here to read the full article.

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China Wins Engineering Deal for Giant Iraqi Gas Plant

By John Lee.

China Petroleum Engineering Procurement & Construction (CPECC) has reportedly won an engineering contract for a plant to process gas from the Gharraf (Garraf) and Nasiriyah fields.

According to Upstream Online, the contract was awarded by lead contractor Baker Hughes.

More here (subscription required)

(Source: Upstream Online)

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IBBC hosts largest ever Spring Conference

The Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) hosted the largest attendance for their Spring conference at the Mansion house on 24th May, with just under 300 attendees, half of whom came from Iraq.

Widely considered a success, the overall theme was ‘sustaining economic growth in Iraq’, There were multiple panels and roundtable sessions; including four panels focused on Finance and Energy, and additional themes of Education and Skills, Future Tech, Privatisation and a Kurdish ministerial roundtable with full attendance at all.

The conference was opened by Baroness Nicholson, president of IBBC.

Notable speakers included the Governor of the central bank H.E Mr. Mustafa Ghalib Mukheef, the Governor of Kirkuk, H.E. Mr Rakan Aljoubouri, the Chairman of the Trade Bank of Iraq, Dr Salem Chalabi and H.E. Dr Dara Rasheed, Minister of Planning, Kurdish Regional Government, and Mr Louis Taylor, CEO of UKEF, while Lord Howell gave an insightful and powerful speech on energy provision and the continuing importance of oil and gas distribution and production, especially in the light of Russian aggression. Professor Frank Gunter offered his paper for privatisation to a packed room. Dr Luay Al Khateeb, Distinguished Fellow Columbia University, chaired the Energy Transition session alongside with panellist from BP, Shell, GE and Oilserv.

The Rasmi AL Jabri award to the most outstanding, well run, professional Iraqi company engaged with the UK and international business from Iraq, was awarded to The Sardar Group and accepted by Mr Sardar Al Bebany from Rasmi’s son and Baroness Nicholson.

Delegates came from all regions of Iraq, including KRI, Basra and Baghdad, with chambers of commerce, leading Iraqi businesses, and private investors and business- people engaged and supplying IBBC corporate members.

Principal sponsors included the Iraq private banking league, who brought 20 banking members, gold sponsors – The Sardar Group and Hydro C and Bronze sponsors – GE.

The Conference was also made available online and a recording of the Tech forum is available here.

(Source: IBBC)

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Iraq confirms exceptional April Oil Exports

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has announced preliminary oil exports for April of 101,390,662 barrels, giving an average for the month of 3.380 million barrels per day (bpd), up from the 3.244 million bpd exported in March.

This is the highest daily export rate since the 3.438 million barrels per day achieved in April 2020.

The exports from the oilfields in central and southern Iraq amounted to approximately 98,100,042 barrels, while exports from the Kirkuk fields through the port of Ceyhan amounted to 2,991,060 barrels.

While not explicitly stated by the Ministry, these figures seem to imply that exports by road to Jordan have resumed as planned, and totalled 299,560 barrels for the month.

Revenues for the month were $10.609 billion, at an average price of $104.637 per barrel.

March’s export figures can be found here.

(Source: Ministry of Oil)

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Genel Energy appoints new Chief Financial Officer

By John Lee.

Genel Energy has announced that Luke Clements (pictured) has been appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with immediate effect.

Luke, who was previously Interim Chief Financial Officer, has been responsible for a broad range of financial, commercial, and treasury related activities at the Company.

Having joined the Company in 2011 to advise on the merger of Vallares Plc and Genel Enerji, he became Group Financial Controller in 2015. Prior to joining the Company, Luke spent seven years at KPMG, where he was head of department and advised multiple FTSE100 and FTSE350 companies across a range of sectors.

David McManus, Chair, said:

Luke is the ideal person to continue delivering the financial platform that facilitates our strategy, a strategy he has been integral in building, as we seek to utilise our growing financial strength to add production and further bolster our progressive dividend.

“Genel’s low-cost production generates significant cash flow, in turn supporting investment in growth and material shareholder returns, and we look forward to Luke playing a significant role as we continue to aim to create material value for shareholders.

(Source: Genel Energy)

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Meet Top Iraqi Officials at IBBC Conference

Hear Iraq’s principal ministers and financiers share their vision and policies for Energy, Finance and Educational sectors at IBBC’s Mansion House conference on 24th May.

Iraq is on the cusp of forming a new Government and is benefitting from high oil revenues and stability. The IBBC Spring conference is ideally timed for a potential new Government announcement with key players in both oil and finance speaking and sharing their vision of what policies and the future landscape lies in store for Iraq and the private sector.

Iraq is clearly open for business, and we can expect to hear strong indicators of where the economy and investment will be directed and how banks and government expect to achieve this.

Addressing the new government agenda of reforms, we have a panel dedicated to the Iraqi Government White paper, led by Dr Alaa, the executive director or the Prime Minister’s reform unit.

It is also expected that the Minister of Oil will announce several investment opportunities that will be discussed in a separate session after the energy panel during the afternoon

This is your opportunity to meet these confirmed speakers: the Minister of Oil H.E. Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismaael, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq, H.E Mr. Mustafa Ghalib Mukheef, Ms Taif Sami, Deputy Minister of finance, the Minister of youth and sport H.E. Adnan Darjal Motar Al-Rubaye, and higher education, as well as a Dr Salem Chalabi, President & Chairman of the Trade Bank of Iraq and a delegation of Iraqi private banks. In addition, key IBBC members including BP country director Zaid Elysari, Shell, Total, GE, Siemens, KBR, SKA, Serco, Petronor and Petrofac, PWC, EY, Standard Chartered Bank, JP Morgan, TBI, SAP, Barclays, City and Guilds among many, and from the UK Government Mr Louis Taylor, director of UKEF are attending.

The overall theme will examine how Iraq can sustain economic growth going forward, through the significant speaker energy, finance and Insurance panels who will discuss this at length.

New topics include privatisation of state-owned enterprises at a round table discussion led by Prof. Frank Gunter with the participation of the Prime Minister’s Office, additionally, a special paper on the subject written by members of the IBBC Advisory Council will be launched on the day and form the backdrop of the discussion.

Panels on project finance and energy transition are included during the day.

Beyond these topics many companies will find ample opportunity to meet the key speakers, as well as network with large businesses in Iraq and UK during the conference and in separate sessions. IBBC constantly advocates for the opportunity of private business to change economies and this conference confirms the benefits business brings to Iraq.

Economic sustainability is not just confined to energy and finance sectors as the knock-on effect of an expanding economy is creating big demand for skilled employees across all sectors, an issue that will be addressed by the educational panel including MSelect, who’s Iraq employment report has shed great light on the unprecedented nature of skills and sectoral requirements and how they might be addressed.

IBBC are very proud to be holding, possibly our best conference and we hope those companies’ operating in Iraq and considering joining our council, will attend at this time of opportunity and evolution for Iraq’s economy to meet the people who are shaping its future.

Click here to register.

(Source: IBBC)

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