Maritime Security

The Iraqi navy will have a daunting task of protecting Iraq’s export outlets in the Gulf and securing Iraq’s territorial waters and the tankers routes once the US military wraps up its mission and hands over security responsibilities to the Iraqi side by the end of December 2011. But that won’t be the end. Just as neighboring countries benefit from the presence and the might of the US navy in…

Dhiya Jaafar

South Oil Co (SOC) Director General Dhiya Jaafar gives an update on the state of Iraqi oil production, infrastructure expansion and ongoing projects and problems in an interview with Ruba Husari Nov. 1st, 2010, in his office in Basrah. Q: How do you explain the continued decline in production at Rumaila oil field where BP was the first to sign a development contract, precisely to arrest the decline and increase…

Mr. Five Percent

I was privileged two years ago to be invited, as an observer, to attend a roundtable in Paris where about 30 Iraqis from inside and outside of Iraq, with experience in government and the oil sector, convened over three days to discuss in a candid and open manner how to define an oil policy for Iraq. To my surprise – and the shock of everyone else in the room –…

Iraq’s New Oil Manager Spells Out Plans

6 May 2003 The new chief executive of the Iraqi oil sector, Thamer al-Ghadban, issued instructions to his staff Sunday to draw up an accelerated plan setting oil production targets for an interim period of several months. In an interview with International Oil Daily, the first since the Saturday announcement of his appointment by the US-led Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) as chief executive of the interim management…