Video: Volunteers step up efforts to Feed the Poor

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

Poverty is on the rise in Iraq as more cases of COVID-19 are reported.

Daily wage earners are being forced to stay at home because of the lockdown there.

Volunteers are helping some of the millions struggling without an income.

Al Jazeera’s Simona Foltyn reports from Baghdad:

Kurdistan, Iraq discuss Oil Production

From Middle East Monitor, under a Creative Commons licence. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

An official Kurdish delegation arrived on Sunday in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to discuss oil production.

“The delegation, led by the Kurdistan government’s Finance Minister, Awat Sheikh Janab, will discuss the federal budget, low oil prices, and the region’s participation in the Iraqi commitment to reduce oil production in accordance with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s decision,” Kurdish Prime Minister Khalid Shwani told reporters.

The Kurdistan Region recently said it would export “250,000 barrels per day of oil to Baghdad to support the Iraqi federal budget.”

“The region must abide by the federal government’s decision to reduce crude oil production,” Shwani stressed.

Oil prices have fallen sharply since Russia and OPEC countries failed to agree on an additional 1.5 million barrels per day of oil production cuts in early March. Concerns over the market impact of the global coronavirus outbreak are compounding the price fall.

Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and Russia-led non-OPEC oil producing countries – a grouping known as OPEC+ that pumps over 40 per cent of the world’s oil – agreed earlier this month to new oil production cuts which will come into effect in May and are expected to stabilise prices.

Iraq announces Changes to Curfew, Other Restrictions

By John Lee.

Iraq’s Higher Committee for Health and National Safety held a meeting in Baghdad on Sunday via video conferencing under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Adil Abd Al-Mahdi.

The Committee decided the following:

  • From 21/04 until 22/05, the curfew hours will be between 7 PM and 6 AM Sunday-Thursday, and for 24 hours Friday- Saturday
  • Current exemptions for certain business categories including bakeries and pharmacies, and key workers such as health teams and security forces, will be maintained
  • Restrictions on public gatherings and social distancing rules remain in place
  • Schools, universities, educational institution, sport venues, malls, wedding halls, mosques and places of worship will remain closed
  • Restaurants and  cafes will remain closed, but will be permitted to provide delivery services
  • Shops and factories can resume work but only outside curfew hours
  • Government departments are permitted to resume working, but with minimum staffing which must not exceed 25% of the workforce
  • Taxis can operate, but large public transport vehicles are only permitted to carry four passengers at any one time
  • International travel in and out of Iraq remains suspended as is travel between Iraqi provinces
  • The wearing of face masks outside the home becomes compulsory, and those who do not comply with the rule will face legal action

Supporting Iraq’s health workers

The Committee discussed measures to support Iraqi frontline health workers and agreed to:

  • Make a monthly bonus payment to frontline health teams who are caring for Covid-19 patients
  • Allocate, free of charge, a plot of land to all health workers who are caring for Covid-19 patients
  • Request the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers to prepare a draft law to double the period of service of frontline health staff during the current emergency for the purpose of calculating future pensions; the law will also seek to extend the retirement age for doctors

The Committee urged all Iraqis to continue to follow health instructions and guidelines, and to only leave home when it is absolutely necessary.

For the latest Covid-19 updates, please visit:   https://www.facebook.com/MOH.GOV.IQ/

(Source: Govt of Iraq)

Medical Aid Arrives in Baghdad from China

By John Lee.

A third batch of medical aid from China arrived on Monday in Baghdad.

It includes medical protective equipment such as protective clothing, masks and gloves.

(Sources: Ministry for Health, CGTN)

Rockets strike near Chinese oil site in Iraq

By John Lee.

Two rockets have reportedly struck near a Chinese oil facility south of Baghdad on Saturday.

According to AP, there were no casualties.

It cites an Iraqi army statement saying the rockets struck near a Chinese company in the Nahrawan area, and speculates that the company involved is ZhenHua, a subsidiary of the arms manufacturer Norinco, which has been working in the nearby East Baghdad oil field.

(Source: AP)

Mechanics, Vendors Protest Coronavirus Lockdown

By John Lee.

Mechanics and vendors staged protests on Saturday against the continuing lockdown across the Kurdistan Region, calling on the government to allow them to reopen their garages and shops after a month of closures.

Workers in Erbil and Duhok said the lockdown, implemented to stem the spread of COVID-19, is impacting their ability to provide for their families.

More here.

(Source: Rudaw)

Doubts about Iraqi Govt’s Coronavirus Figures

By Mustafa Saadoun for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Cloud of doubt surrounds coronavirus figures reported by Iraqi government

Iraqis are highly skeptical of the statistics announced by the Iraqi government regarding the country’s number of coronavirus cases. This doubt is evident in media reports and blogs of journalists and activists on social media.

Health Minister Jaafar Allawi said April 12 in a television interview, “The number of coronavirus cases is subject to international monitoring. Death certificates and forensic medicine are monitored and coronavirus statistics cannot be manipulated in any way.” As of April 14, the country had registered 1,400 cases and 78 deaths, according to a statement by the Health Ministry.

An administrator working at a medical center east of Baghdad said during an interview with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The numbers that the Iraqi Health Ministry announces daily are not the real numbers. On one day, we recorded more than 30 cases in one health center, but in the evening the Iraqi statistics that were revealed showed fewer cases than those recorded in our center.

Click here to read the full article.

Jiyad: Oil Market Collapse Damages the Iraqi Economy

By Ahmed Mousa Jiyad.

Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Oil Market Collapse, Damages the Iraqi Economy and Changes Oil Geopolitics

The collapse of the global oil market is undoubtedly unprecedented in its timing, magnitude, spread and devastating impacts across the globe. A strange and unpredicted association of a few, but major, factors had contributed to the current threat, causing much uncertainty and vulnerability on national and global levels.

The revised “OPEC+” production cut agreed on 12 April prompted initial minor improvement in oil price, but there remains very many serious concerns that such reduction is much below what is needed to bring stability to and balances a saturated global oil market.

This article aims at estimating the collapse in oil market on Iraq first then on both Russia and Saudi Arabia, as they are accused for “OPEC+” failure early last March that ignited the oil price war, and assesses the geopolitical and political economy consideration that contributed to and further complicate the impasse.  The article provides a summary of two articles written and published in Arabic recently and an update on recent deliberation by “OPEC+” and G20 Energy Ministers to rescue the situation and bring some stability to global oil market under  existing threat of Coronavirus to the world biosecurity.

My two articles attempt to provide comparative assessment of the impact of the collapse with particular focus on short-term horizon, i.e., the remaining nine months of this year under different Brent oil price scenarios on Iraq, first article , while the second focuses on Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Click here to download the full report in pdf format.

Mr Jiyad is an independent development consultant, scholar and Associate with the former Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES), London. He was formerly a senior economist with the Iraq National Oil Company and Iraq’s Ministry of Oil, Chief Expert for the Council of Ministers, Director at the Ministry of Trade, and International Specialist with UN organizations in Uganda, Sudan and Jordan. He is now based in Norway (Email: mou-jiya(at)online.no, Skype ID: Ahmed Mousa Jiyad). Read more of Mr Jiyad’s biography here.

IS Group seeks comeback under cover of Coronavirus

By Omar Sattar for Al Monitor. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News

Islamic State seeks comeback under cover of coronavirus

The Islamic State (IS) is seeking to take advantage of Iraq’s preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic and the global coalition’s suspension there of military operations against IS.

Accordingly, Iraqi forces have launched a preemptive operation to cut off IS supply routes and weaken its combat capabilities.

“Despite the suspension of the global coalition’s operations, Iraqi forces are conducting operations to hunt down the terrorist organization on the border with Syria,” Iraq Defense Ministry spokesperson Yahya Rasoul told Al-Monitor. “IS has incurred huge losses in recent days as it tried to exploit the coronavirus crisis to expand its terrorist operations.”

Click here to read the full story.

Genel Energy Report on Payments to Govts for 2019

Report on payments to governments for the year 2019

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 2019 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 publicly 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.

This report is available to download at www.genelenergy.com/investor-relations/results-reports-presentations.

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 – 2019

Country/Licence KRI Total (1) Taq Taq (2)
Production entitlement (bbls) 2,158,407.69 2,158,407.69
Royalties in kind (bbls) 435,881.47 435,881.47
Total (bbls) 2,594,289.16 2,594,289.16
Value of production entitlements ($ million) 128.43 128.43
Value of royalties ($ million) 25.80 25.80
Capacity building payments ($ million) (3) 4.63 4.63
Total ($ million) 158.86 158.86
  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 thesepayments is equal to 55% (withthe 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)