Baghdad – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, while standing by his resigning minister of electricity Karim Wahid, blamed the latter for raising people’s expectations and promising quick solutions to the electricity problems. The truth is, he said, the situation will not improve until the projects to build new power plants and install turbines contracted from GE and Siemens are done within two years. But would they? Maliki is committing the…
Dathar Al-Khashab
Dathar Al-Khashab, Director General of Midland Refinery Co, gives his take on Iraq’s planned refining investment conference scheduled for June 26, in an interview with Ruba Husari in Baghdad. Q: Do you expect Iraq to succeed in getting foreign investors to build any of the four refineries on offer? A: It is very hard to get investors to invest in any refineries anywhere, not just in Iraq because margins are…
Refining Dilemma
Oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani says Iraq will become an exporter of refined products within a few years. That’s a very optimistic assessment of the status of the Iraqi refining sector. True, Iraq has four new grass roots refineries with a combined capacity of 740,000 barrel per day offered to private investors. But it still has a long way to go before any investor jumps in and spends billions on building…
Gas Challenge
The most recent bid round launched this month for the three gas fields of Akkas, Mansouriah and Siba, promises to be challenging for both sides; the Iraqi oil ministry and the international oil companies, not least because it involves a third party: the electricity sector. The non-associated gas to be produced from the three fields, estimated collectively at a minimum of 700 MMcf/d to 900 MMcf/d will be allocated as…