Deloitte Report on Kurdistan Region Oil and Gas

Deloitte report on Oil and Gas review in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region – Q1 to Q4 of 2020

The KRG has published a report containing verified statistics covering the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports, consumption and revenues for period 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020, along with the consolidated report for the year 2020.

The report, available in Kurdish, English and Arabic, provides a quarterly analysis of oil export information and average prices.

The data verification was performed by Deloitte.

Transparency being central to the cabinet agenda, the KRG regularly assesses what additional disclosures would enhance the transparency of its oil and gas sector. Accordingly, from 2019 the KRG started providing information on the prepayment balances it owes to oil traders and in 2020 disclosures are further extended to include reconciliation between production and exports and local consumptions.

The KRG acknowledges the positive feedback received so far from domestic and international stakeholders. The council reiterates its commitment to the people of Kurdistan that Deloitte will continue to independently review the region’s oil and gas sector.

A frequently asked questions handbook (also available in Kurdish, English and Arabic) will help readers to understand the report’s contents.

Click here to download the reports.

(Source: KRG)

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Iraq, Jordan and Egypt agree Energy Projects

By John Lee.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah arrived in Baghdad on Sunday for a fresh round of talks aimed at strengthening cooperation between the countries.

It is the first visit by an Egyptian head of state to Iraq since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The leaders agreed on the importance of the electrical interconnector project between the three countries, and linking the gas transmission networks between Iraq and Egypt through Jordan.

They also pushed for the completion of the Basra-Aqaba crude oil pipeline, which will provide a new outlet for the export of Iraqi oil through Jordan.

(Source: Govt of Iraq)

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Rise in Iraqi Cancers may be linked to Wars, Environment

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

Rise in Iraqi cancer cases may be linked to wars, environment

The causes of the spike may be linked to Iraq’s wars or environmental pollution, but the evidence is sketchy.

Click here to read the full story.

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HRW: Inadequate Plans for Camp Closures

From Human Rights Watch (HRW). Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Inadequate Plans for Camp Closures

Recent camp closures have stripped thousands of displaced people of essential services during the Covid-19 pandemic, with inadequate government plans for their return home, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

Click here to read the full article.

(Source: HRW)

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The Dutch Disease and Iraq’s Foreign Exchange Rate

By Dr. Zeki Fattah, for The Iraqi Economists Network (IEN). Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The Dutch Disease and Iraq’s Foreign Exchange Rate

Economists who studied the reasons for the low per capita growth of GDP in developing countries that rely on revenues from abundant natural resources, (called ‘resource curse’), found it was actually caused not by high exchange rates, but by wrongly conceived economic policies over a long period of time.

We will visit this point again at the end of the paper. Meanwhile, and until recently, monetary economists in Iraq explained the fall in the Dinar exchange rate against the Dollar (a change within the expected norm) as a passing event caused by falling oil prices, and trepidation in the markets in the wake of COVID-19.

This explanation whilst went some way toward dampening the need for currency devaluation for a while, it didn’t help the Iraqi Government to raise the cash it needed to meet its obligations. Recently, the Government had to reduce the Dinar exchange rate against the Dollar considerably to increase the Dinars it receives from the Central Bank in exchange for the Dollar it receives mainly from oil exports.

Please click here to read the full report.

(Source: IEN)

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Saudi Arabia to Rehabilitate Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad

By John Lee.

The Saudi embassy has announced that King Salman bin Abdulaziz will fund the rehabilitation of Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad, as a gift to the Iraqi people.

A fire at the hospital last month killed at least 82 people, and left more than 100 injured.

Saudi Arabia will also take critically ill victims of the fire and provide them with medical care in the Kingdom’s hospitals at King Salman’s expense.

(Source: SPA)

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Iraqi, Syrian Oil Ministers discuss Gas Imports

By Al-Monitor staff. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Iraqi, Syrian oil ministers discuss gas imports

The Iraqi and Syrian oil ministers talked about the possibility of transporting Egyptian gas to Iraq through Syria during a meeting in Baghdad.

Click here to read the full story.

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Iraq Pays another $380m Reparations to Kuwait

By John Lee.

The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) made available $380 million to the Government of the State of Kuwait towards the Commission’s remaining claim with an outstanding award balance.

The United Nations Compensation Commission is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations Security Council. It was established in 1991 in accordance with Security Council resolutions 687 (1991) and 692 (1991) to process claims and pay compensation for losses and damages incurred by individuals, corporations, Governments and international organizations as a direct result of Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait (2 August 1990 to 2 March 1991).

The Commission received approximately 2.7 million claims and concluded its review of all claims in 2005. Approximately$52.4 billion was awarded to over 100 Governments and international organizations for distribution to the successful 1.5 million claims in all claim categories.

Successful claims are paid from the United Nations Compensation Fund which receives a percentage of the proceeds generated by the export sales of Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products. This rate was set at five per cent under Security Council resolution 1483 (2003) and reaffirmed in subsequent resolutions. Pursuant to Governing Council decision 276 adopted in November 2017, the percentage was set at 0.5 per cent for 2018, 1.5 per cent for 2019 and 3 per cent for 2020.

The rate will remain at 3 per cent until such time as the outstanding compensation has been paid in full. Payments are made on a quarterly basis utilizing all available funds in the Compensation Fund under Governing Council decision 267 (2009).

With today’s payment, the Commission has paid $50.7 billion, leaving approximately $1.7 billion to be paid towards the outstanding claim. This category E claim was submitted by the Government of the State of Kuwait on behalf of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and awarded $14.7 billion in 2000 for oil production and sales losses as a result of damages to Kuwait’s oil field assets. It represents the largest award by the Commission.

(Source: UNCC)

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Iraq-Lebanon Fuel Oil talks “Shrouded in Mystery”

By Noam Raydan, for Amwaj Media. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Iraq-Lebanon fuel oil talks remain shrouded in mystery

Despite Lebanon’s deepening financial crisis, its politicians remain committed to the same stop-gap measures that have crippled the country’s dilapidated electricity sector. Lebanese officials continue to experiment with ad hoc solutions to the power sector, which has long been a drag on the national budget.

Among the more controversial plans is the government’s attempt to import fuel oil from Iraq. Aside from its unsuitability for power plants in Lebanon, partly due to its high sulfur content, talks between Baghdad and Beirut over fuel supplies have been fraught with contradictory and factually inaccurate statements.

The full report can be viewed here (registration required).

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IBBC Webinar: Causes and Cures for Iraqi Corruption

Corruption Worse Than ISIS: Causes and Cures for Iraqi Corruption

The Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) is delighted to invite you to the public launch of Professor Frank Gunther’s new paper on corruption in Iraq on Monday 26th of April from 1pm – 2pm BST.

Following the presentation of the paper there will be comments from Dr Renad Masour, Chatham House, and Maya Gebeily, AFP. The ensuing discussion will be moderated by Shwan Aziz Ahmed from the IBBC Advisory Council.

Read the paper here

Register Here

Speakers:

Frank R. Gunter is a Professor of Economics, a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and a retired U.S. Marine Colonel. After receiving his Doctorate in Political Economy from Johns Hopkins University in 1985, Frank joined the faculty of Lehigh University where he teaches Principles of Economics, Economic Development, and the Political Economy of Iraq. He has won four major and multiple minor awards for teaching excellence. Based on his two years in Iraq as an economic advisor to the US Government, Frank wrote The Political Economy of Iraq: Restoring Balance in a Post-Conflict Society (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013). This book was published in both English and Arabic and was selected as an “Outstanding Academic Title” by Choice magazine. His most recent work, “Immunizing Iraq Against al Qaeda 3.0” (Orbis, 2018, Vol. 62, No. 3, pp. 389-408), discusses the possible economic causes of political instability in Iraq. Frank is married with three children and his family shares their Pennsylvania home with over 4,000 books.

Ms Maya Gebeily is a reporter with Agence-France Presse based in Baghdad, where she covers Iraqi politics, security, economics, and societal developments. Before this posting, Maya spent three years at AFP’s Beirut bureau covering the Syrian conflict. She covered Lebanon and Syria at local Lebanese news website NOW News, and have reported as a freelancer out of Beirut, Istanbul, and the Kurdish region of Iraq in recent years.

Dr Renad Mansour is a senior research fellow and project director of the Iraq Initiative at Chatham House. He is also a senior research fellow at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, and a research fellow at the Cambridge Security Initiative based at Cambridge University. Renad was previously a lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he taught the international relations of the Middle East and, from 2013, he held positions as lecturer of international studies and supervisor at the Faculty of Politics, also at Cambridge.

Moderator:

Abdul Aziz (Shwan) A. Ahmed, is the immediate past Chief of Staff to Deputy Prime Minister Dr Fuad Hussain and before him Deputy Prime Minister Dr Rowsch Nouri Shaways. As Chief of Staff he oversaw an office of 70 including 5 Director Generals,  covering the portfolios of Politics, Economics, International Partnerships, Media & Public Relations and Finance & Administration. In this position he has been at the heart of the Iraqi Government for the past 10 years actively participating in the work of several administrations. From 1997 to 2009 Shwan had a distinguished career at UNDP in several countries with his last posting being the Head of UNDP office in Puntland/Somalia from 2006 to 2009. He managed his own engineering business in Iraq from 1993 to 1997 and worked for the Ministry of Industry from 1987 to 1993. He graduated from the University of Technology in Baghdad in as Systems and Control Engineering in 1983. Shwan is happily married with three adult children. He is of Baghdadi Kurdish and Finish origin and is fully fluent in Arabic, Kurdish and English.

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