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AIM-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum has denied recent media speculation that it is being sold. The company said in a statement on its website on 30 August that “it remains committed to creating value for shareholders, via the continuing 2011/12 drilling programme on its world-class assets in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq”.

While Kuwait and Baghdad have been edging towards compromise in the war of words over Iraq’s Mubarak Al-Kabir port mega-project, tensions are being stoked by threats from an Iraqi militant group with strong Iranian connections. Washington shares Kuwait’s concerns about Kataib Hizbollah’s potential to further inflame tensions in the region

The new entrants to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) area reflect the comfort felt by many Africa-focused international oil companies operating in the Kurdish environment, a feature not replicated elsewhere in the Middle East. One of the reasons for this is that KRG natural resources minister Ashti Hawrami spent much of his oil industry career working in Africa.

The risks previously associated with doing business in Kurdistan – offending the federal government and discoveries being shut in by Baghdad’s refusal to recognise PSCs – has sparked significant new interest from large IOCs

The Iraqi government is committed to driving through a much-delayed package of four energy laws to put the sector on a firm footing. But it still faces entrenched opposition from a number of quarters. Momentum created by the ongoing series of licensing rounds, the fourth of which is in preparation, plus recent developments such as the approval of Shell’s controversial gas deal, suggest that Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s administration is able to get its own way.

The proposed merger of the regional assets of Norway’s DNO and Ras Al-Khaimah’s RAK Petroleum will create a focused upstream exploration company combining aggressive expansion with increased local expertise The strategic rationale behind the merger of DNO International and RAK Petroleum is to create an enlarged company that will be easier to list on the London Stock Exchange. It will also diversify DNO’s operations. “We will be growing our base in the Mena region, and diversifying within the Mena region,” spokesman Tom Bratlie told GSN.

The initialling of Shell’s gas joint venture with South Gas Company (SGC), more than two-and-a-half years after the heads of agreement between Shell and the Iraqi authorities were signed, effectively ends the long-running political battle against the project

A growing trend for Gulf states to import liquefied natural gas from Pacific Rim and other sources underlines a hard truth: within a short period, many of the GCC’s fast-growing, high rent economies may no longer be defined as energy exporters and within the coming decade will be energy-dependent polities with all that implies for their fiscal and external balances

After infuriating MPs and the clerical elite by installing himself as oil minister following the 12 May dismissal of Massoud Mirkazemi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad bowed to pressure by appointing ally Mohammed Aliabadi as caretaker minister in early June.

Although delayed until January 2012, international oil companies are already assessing 12 contract areas to be tendered. GSN analyses the politics behind the round, and the fields’ associated security risks

The state-owned Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has fired almost 300 oil workers for taking part in a week-long strike in March in support of pro-democracy demonstrators.

A dispute between Taqa and its former boss has revived speculation about a contract to expand Morocco’s biggest power plant, fanned by politicking over the issue in Morocco, as the kingdom works through its own Arab Spring.

Shell has been approached for gas imports from its Iraqi fields, although there is no guarantee the deal will go through given power shortages in Iraq. At the same time, Kuwait wants to increase output from its own fields

Doha’s offer to buy crude from the interim council puts it at the forefront of initiatives to end the Qadhafi regime

Sinohydro Corporation has signed a $2bn deal with the local Farabi company to build a 1,500MW hydroelectric dam in south-west Iran, state media reported on 21 March.