Infrastructure & Finance news in South Kurdistan

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Our construction group ranks among the world's top global contractors. Engineering and construction are at the heart our business; we also have investments in construction materials such as fabricated steel manufacturers.





Some important investment schemes
http://www.kurdistanconference.com/imag ... distan.pdf

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Dana Gas has been active in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq since April 2007, when it entered into certain agreements with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq for the development of its substantial gas resources.

Dana Gas’ interests in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq are held via a 40% shareholding in Pearl Petroleum Company Ltd (“PPCL”), the partners being Crescent Petroleum 40%, OMV, 10% and MOL 10%. In May 2009, OMV acquired a 5% interest in PPCL from Dana Gas for a consideration of $175 million and MOL acquired a 5% interest in exchange for a 3% shareholding in MOL. Both companies acquired an equal interest from Crescent Petroleum.

Dana Gas, together with its partners, is one of the largest private foreign investors in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Company was appointed to develop, process and transport natural gas from the Khor Mor Gas Field, and to also appraise the potential of the Chemchemal Gas Field, in order to provide natural gas supplies to fuel domestic electric power generation plants near Erbil and Suleymania which now provide electricity supplies to over 4 million Iraqis. This project has saved the KRG the need to use diesel for power generation with significant cost savings.

The fast-track development of the Khor Mor gas field and construction of a 176km natural gas transmission pipeline was completed in just 16 month and production of gas and condensate started in August 2008. A two train gas processing plant, with a capacity of 300MMscfpd, has been constructed at Khor Mor with LPG production commencing in January 2011.

Ongoing studies to evaluate the Khor Mor and Chemchemal reservoirs highlight the fact that these are two potentially world class gas fields. Whilst the existing wells on Khor Mor have been tested and have sufficient deliverability to meet the current requirements of the power stations, plans are in place for drilling new wells with the dual objective of delineating the fields and increasing deliverable capacity.







http://www.amircompany.com/Gallery.html
http://www.danagas.com/en/project/opera ... egion.html

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Majidi warehouse

Built area 95,000m²
Construction time: Finished
Designers: Arch. Hussein S. H
Project value: US $ 17,000,000
Projects elements: Office Building, Cold Stores, Warehouses









http://hewa.com/index.php?option=com_co ... 07&lang=en

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(Rudaw.net) - 2010

A group of 7 international students studying to establish KRG's Aviation in Qatar, Rudaw magazine reports .

In an interview with (Rudaw) magazine, the students stated their main purpose, which is for IKU to allow KRG to establish a Kurdish international independent Aviation, stressing that the main conditions set by IKU for any country to operate its own independent Aviation is to have experienced pilots and engineers , and that they have also purchased few airplanes .

Jamil Ali one of the students said "we were 1st accepted in Doha's pilot college in sept 2008 , we want to prove that Kurds just like any other nation in the world can show their skills and capability in every aspect of life and we can be very dedicated people to our work". he stated that him and his fellow colleagues are very keen on completing their major and bring the degrees back home to serve Kurdistan region.

Ali said that KRG is looking after the full cost of their studies and that they are very thankful for the help and support . he also stated " there has been a lot of fresh interests from Kurdistan wanting to follow our path, and we will support and show them the way which will make it way easier for them" . Jamil told (Rudaw) that their group is at the front of all the other students in the college and that one of them 'Mahamad Ali Osman' came first with a degree of 98/100 in the whole college last year.

Hajar Ahmed who is studying engineering in airplane systems says "we are very grateful for what the KRG has offered us so far".

Its worth mentioning these 7 students will graduate in 16 months and the new applicants are to enroll once they've finished and returned home.

http://www.rudaw.net

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Tasluja cement project


http://www.orascomci.com



Bazyan cement project







Halabja Factory of Ready Concrete

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Erbil Bank opens branch in Sulaimaniya



08/04/2011 10:21

Sulaimaniya, April 8 (AKnews)- Thursday evening Erbil Bank opened its third branch in Sulaimaniya, the Kurdistan Region. An official from the private bank said in 2010, the back will be expanded by three more branches.

banke erbilWith the assistance of some businessmen and investors the branch of Erbil Bank in Sulaimaniya was launched, Amin Ahmed, bank council’s head said.

The bank has been operating in Erbil, Kurdistan capital and also in Baghdad for some years.

Ahmed added the new branch was founded with an asset of 100 billion Iraqi Dinars (IQD)- almost 88.2 million US Dollars.

The official also said the board has also planned to open three more branches in the other Iraqi cities, but he did not allude to any names.

Mohammed Amin, the manager for the new branch said the bank offers long-term and short-term loans, transferring money, current account and some other services.

“We strive to operate under the best banking system and according to universal standards,” he added.

Reported by Dilshad Saifaddin
Lh/AKnews

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771 families to be reimbursed for land to Dohuk airport


06/04/2011 12:13

Dohuk, April 6 (AKnews)- The media and relation officer at Dohuk Municipality Office said some 771 families in the province will be paid for giving up their lands for Dohuk International Airport.

ismail mostefaIsmael Mustafa told AKnews the families in Semele district, who have been living in the area for the past 15 years, each will be paid 22 million Iraqi Dinars- nearly 185 thousand U.S. Dollars.

The municipality has also decided to give plots of land in a nearby area to the members of those families who have recently married.

Reported by Rondak Zaki

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Pioneer Company for Pharma Industries was founded on 2001 . The headquarter office is located in Sulimanya-Kurdistan (Iraq). The appropriate pharmaceutical license has been issued first time on 2002 by the Iraqi Ministry of Health in Baghdad in the Name of AL-Harroot Company for Pharma. Industry where the name is later changed to Pioneer Company for Pharma Industries.

Pioneer Company for Pharma Industry is located 400 kms north of Bagdad in the Sulimanya industrial zoning close to Sulimanya Government. Pioneer project is divided into five buildings: the Management building, the utilities building, the Generics building-I(Solid Dosage), the Generic Building-II(Liquid oral & Parenterals) and the Dormitory Building.

The purpose of Pioneer Pharma plant is the production of various formulations of Generics group drugs (not belonging to any special classes) for the local market and export.

PIONEER’S products cover a wide range of therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, anti-infective, CNS, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, analgesic, dermatology, and respiratory.

The main production lines manufacture various dosage forms including tablets, capsules, syrup, dry suspension, and intravenous solutions.

PIONEER which located in Sulaymaniya was founded under the license of the Ministry of Health in 2010; and started production in November 2010 after passing all the required validations and qualifications as per



opening ceremony














http://www.pioneerpharma.org/
http://www.kurdsat.tv/news.php?id=13&type=kurdistan

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UAE's plan to increase investment to 6 Billion Dollar in Kurdistan 15-Mar-11 [10:15]


PNA- Nabaz Bayani/ Sulaimaniya- As Kurdistan opened its door for foreign investment, the Ministry of Investment of United Arabs Emirate has decided to increase the rate of investment in Kurdistan.
Shilan Abdulsamad Khanaqa, the representative of Kurdistan Regional Government for trade to the government of Emirate told Peyamner News Agency:" the ministry of Investment of UAE has decided to increase its country's investment rate in the Kurdish region as a result of the growth and security, which took place in Kurdistan" she also has mentioned that Kurdistan is well-known for its security and rapid growth among Arabic states. Shilan Khanaqa has also added: "according to statistics collected by ministry of trade in UAE, they have already invested 3 Billion Dollar in Kurdistan; they recently decided to increase this number to 6 Billon Dollar.

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Economy - UAE company begins producing liquid natural gas in Kurdistan




PNA-UAE's "Dana" Company has began producing liquid natural gas in northern Iraq's Kurdistan Region, according to a Kuwaiti newspaper on Tuesday.

."UAE's Dana Company has continued to pump gas to the electric power stations in Arbil and Barzan cities in Kurdistan Region, with a maximum production percentage exceeding 2009 by 76%, and this increase would rise with the beginning of the production of liquid natural gas in the Region.

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Economy - largest gas field discovered in Kurdistan



PNA - "The discovery of a major gas field of up to 12.3 trillion cubic feet (348 billion cubic metres) in-place with exceptional flow rates makes this one of the largest gas fields to be discovered in Kurdistan even in iraq," a statement said.


The UK-based Heritage Oil Company announced that it has made a huge discovery of natural gas in the Miran area west of Suleimaniya. The statement reads that the field has between 6.8- and 9.1-trillion cubic feet (approximately between 192- and 257-billion cubic meters) of natural gas.

Heritage, which is planning to start production in 2015, says it is also exploring development options. Those could see the company bringing gas into Turkey and Europe through the planned U.S. and EU-backed Nabucco pipeline, which aims to bring gas from the Middle East and Caspian Sea region to Europe via Turkey and Bulgaria.

"The discovery of a major gas field of up to 12.3-trillion cubic feet (348-billion cubic meters) in place with exceptional flow rates makes this one of the largest gas fields to be discovered in Iraq," the statement said.

Heritage Oil, which was awarded a production sharing contract (PSC) with the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Natural Resources in October 2007 to work in the Miran Field, claims that it has 75-percent working interest in the field. "We are considering various development options including a tie-in to planned infrastructure that will achieve first production for both oil and gas in 2015," the company said.

Heritage said it was "currently considering potential development options that could include either bringing gas into Turkey and/or into Europe via the Nabucco pipeline," a proposed link to bring Asian supplies to Europe.

Heritage Oil also stated that this discovery in the Miran West field has increased the possibility of positive results in the Miran East exploration and drilling process, as they are hoping to find more reserves of gas, and possibly oil there soon.

Despite this huge discovery, the company's shares witnessed a sharp fall in the London Stock Exchange (LSE), where the Heritage announcement did not get a welcome response. Shares in U.K.-based Heritage tumbled nearly 30 percent Wednesday, January 26, indicating investors had been hoping for details of a large oil--not gas--find.

Brokers expected the drill to be more promising. They were disappointed that the Miran deposits contained gas rather than oil, which would have had a higher market value. They also raised concerns about infrastructure costs involved in getting the gas to market. "The viability of such a project, which could include construction of a pipeline to Turkey, raises concerns among investors," said Sean Power, an analyst at City Index.

Before this discovery, Kurdistan Region was known only for its vast oil reserves. However, finding out that abundant natural gas is also available in the Region signifies that the region is an oil-gas field as a whole.

Now, as the second gas reserve field has been discovered in the region, it has become more and more attractive internationally, especially to European countries as they eye Kurdistan as a supplier for the giant Nabucco project.

DanaGas and Crescent Petroleum, co-owners of the Kormor gas field, the first gas field discovered in Kurdistan, have already been in negotiations with Nabucco companies over selling Kurdistan gas to the pipeline, which is aimed at lowering Europe's dependence on Russia's gas supplies.

However, the 'never-ending' dispute between the KRG and the central government of Iraq regarding the region's oil and gas production sharing contracts signed with international oil and gas companies since mid 2007 is still an obstacle to future prospects from which the region would benefit and the destiny of the oil companies working in the region.

Iraqi government's ex-Oil Minister was firmly against any oil activities done in Kurdistan without his control, and labeled all its oil deals illegal. Moreover, refusing the KRGs request from Baghdad to pay the international oil companies' fees led to a stoppage of Kurdistan's oil exports in 2009.

Nevertheless, hopes are back on again with the new government's promises to solve these disagreements, especially the new Iraqi Oil Minister's statement that his new government will recognize the KRG's PSCs and that the region's 150- to 200-barrel-per-day exports would resume shortly.

Assuming that those issues are solved, such oil and gas discoveries and developments would have immense effects on the economic development both in Kurdistan Region and the country as a whole.

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Economy - City academics based in the Kurdistan region , Education project




PNA-ACADEMICS at Nottingham Trent University are to play a key role in a £3 million project designed to help rebuild Iraqi higher education.

Experts will provide training for teaching and support staff, help to develop and modernise the curriculum and seek out opportunities for future research partnerships as part of the Development Partnerships in Higher Education Iraq project.

The two-year scheme is being paid for by the Department for International Development and managed by the British Council in Iraq.

The university's involvement is worth almost £100,000 and will focus on improving building services in Iraq.
Experts from the university's school of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment will work on the project, along with staff from its Centre for Academic Development and Quality.

Dr Fouad Mohammad, a project co-ordinator and senior lecturer in structural analysis and design at Nottingham Trent, said: "We hope to vastly improve teaching and learning in our partner institutions, helping to improve academic writing skills and implementing an e-learning system using online assessment software.

"We also have an extremely strong research base here at the university and will be able to provide invaluable advice on issues such as global warming, green building and sustainable design and crucial energy-saving methods."

Academics from three Iraqi institutions, based in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, have already taken part in an initial two-week visit to the university attended training workshops.

The Iraqi delegates will visit once more during the project, while Nottingham Trent staff will visit Iraq twice.

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14.01.2011

PNA - kurdistan gas is unlikely to be exported to Europe via the planned Nabucco pipeline before 2020, London-based consultant Jennifer Coolidge said on Tuesday.

European gas companies have been hoping to import gas from Iraq to allow them to diversify their sources of supply but political and logistic difficulties are likely to prevent this happening quickly, Coolidge told a roundtable at the European Autumn Gas Conference.

Iraq needed to form a government, agree to a gas strategy and then synchronize policy with Kurdish authorities in the north.

"It might not be . . . until sometime after 2020 when large exports could be coming out," Coolidge said.

Iraqi leaders are in talks now to break an eight-month deadlock over the formation of a new government to give incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a second term, but negotiations have been very slow.

European gas companies have been courting the Iraqi Kurdistan government but the central government in Baghdad maintains domestic power supply has to be provided in the war-damaged country before gas can be sent abroad.

Coolidge said once the government had been formed, the next step would be the passing of hydrocarbon legislation. Kurdistan and Baghdad then needed to agree a unified approach to allow small amounts of gas to be shipped out of northern Iraq.

www.peyamner.com

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Economy - US welcomes Kurdish gas in Europe-bound energy projects

13.10.2010
PNA - A senior US official has welcomed possible Iraqi Kurdish participation in planned Europe-bound pipelines, saying, however, that the Kurdish regional administration and the central government in Baghdad must first resolve their disputes on power and revenue sharing.
“If we could get the Kurdish gas, that would be a very positive thing,” Richard Morningstar, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s special envoy for Eurasian energy, told a group of journalists on Friday at the end of the three-day Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum, a high-profile conference that was organized by the Atlantic Council and brought together decision makers, investors and experts from the US, Turkey, Europe, Iraq, Azerbaijan and others in İstanbul. “We believe it is important and Turkey believes it is important that the Kurdish gas will ultimately be able to go to north and to the southern corridor,” said Morningstar, referring to planned pipelines that will carry gas from the Caspian region to Europe.

The US and EU-backed Nabucco and two smaller projects, the Interconnection Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), all aspire to ship natural gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas fields to Europe, forming a web of pipelines -- the southern gas corridor -- that will link Caspian gas reserves with European markets without transiting Russia. Iraq has lately emerged as a significant potential contributor to Nabucco, which looks to gas from outside the Caspian region as well to fill its planned capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year, following the discovery of vast gas reserves particularly in the Kurdish-run north.

But Iraq has yet to join the global energy plans due to its unresolved internal disputes over power and revenue sharing. The country has yet to adopt necessary legislation that would pave the way for energy exports from the north amid Kurdish demands for recognition of more federal rights on power and revenue sharing. Earlier on Friday, the Kurdish minister for natural resources, Ashti Hawrami, said the gas from Kurdish fields could be proven enough to meet Nabucco’s requirements alone but insisted that any deal that would unblock the current stalemate should guarantee Kurds’ constitutional rights.

Morningstar appeared to acknowledge that Iraq will remain excluded from the Europe-bound energy plans unless a deal is reached between Kurds and the Baghdad government. “We recognize that this [Kurdish participation in the southern corridor] cannot and should not happen without an agreement between Baghdad and Arbil. We hope that this will occur. We hope a compromise can be found,” he said.

Turkey, a key transit country in the southern gas corridor, is a prime energy investor in northern Iraq but does not import gas from the Kurdish region since export contracts signed by the Kurdish administration and foreign partners are not recognized by Baghdad.

The US envoy also lamented that Armenia is not part of any energy projects in the region amid a territorial dispute with neighboring Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. “I think that the failure to achieve a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh and therefore to improve the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan has made it difficult, if not impossible, for Armenia to participate in the southern corridor. I think that’s really a shame,” Morningstar said. “If somehow an agreement could finally be reached and Armenia could become a full participant in the region’s economic and energy projects, I think that would be to benefit of everyone in the region.”

Although Washington is convinced that the future of Europe-bound gas projects will be decided on the basis of commercial considerations, Morningstar said political factors were also always involved, as manifested in the US and European reluctance to include Iranian gas in Nabucco or other projects due to a dispute between the West and Iran over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

“With respect to Iranian participation in southern corridor, that is clearly a political issue. One can make the argument for Nabucco on political grounds because it is a larger pipeline and it would do so much for Europe,” Morningstar said, although he appeared to leave the door open for a different policy in the future, saying: “Having said that, any pipeline project has to be a commercially reasonable project. You cannot separate politics but as a necessary condition, the project has to be commercially viable.”

Russia welcome to join Nabucco, but as a minority supplier

The top US official left the door open on participation in Nabucco of another unlikely participant, Russia -- the very gas supplier that Nabucco was originally designed to bypass because Europe is already too dependent on Russia for energy. But that participation, he said, would be on certain terms, something that Moscow is likely to balk at.

According to Morningstar, Russia is welcomed to participate in Nabucco provided that it will be a minority supplier without a controlling stake. “Up to 50 percent of the gas that will go into Nabucco is up for competition. That means anybody can bid to provide up to 50 percent of gas to the Nabucco pipeline. There is no reason why Russia cannot bid on that,” he said. But he added: “I want to be clear: I don’t think it would be healthy to see Russia in a controlling position with respect to the Nabucco pipeline, but if it could contribute and create a win-win situation as a minority supplier that would seem to be a normal business.”

Asked whether he has received any signals from Russia indicating that it might be interested, Morningstar said, “No.”

Turkey, US in sync over energy

Morningstar, who also had talks with Turkey’s energy minister, Taner Yıldız, while in İstanbul, praised Turkish-US cooperation on energy policies and said the strong ties in this particular field will remain strong in spite of whatever ups and downs the two NATO allies might have in their political relationship.

Many in Washington began to question whether Turkey is abandoning its role as a reliable ally of the West as Ankara moves to build close ties with its eastern neighbors, including Iran, and directs severe criticism against Israel on its Gaza policies.

“Both Turkey and the US have been very careful not to let other issues interfere with those issues where we can cooperate very closely,” said Morningstar. “I think it is extremely important that we continue to have strong cooperation on issues where can agree and I think energy is one of those issues. Turkey and the US have done a very good job in maintaining that very strong relationship in spite of what other issues there might be.”

Morningstar said he had “extremely good” discussions with Yıldız about the southern corridor, Iraq and other issues. “We are very much in synchronization,” he said.

todayszaman

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PNA - Kurdistan Beekeepers Association in Duhok said that expects the quantity of produced honey to double during the current year because of the quantity of rain that fell this year

However, beekeepers uttered concerns regarding a potential regression in the production because of the dust burst in the region. Head of Kurdistan Beekeepers Association Khorshid Ahmad said that the region’s honey production will reach 600 tones while last year’s production was of 300 tones.

He added that the regression this sector underwent during the last couple of years was because of the drought.