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An adviser to Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki has said that ExxonMobil, BP and Italy’s Eni plan to invest $100bn to upgrade three oilfields in southern Iraq.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s publication of production-sharing contracts (PSCs) and relevant amendments for all 42 of its licence areas is an important challenge to its critics in Baghdad. The federal Ministry of Oil had previously criticised the Kurdish Natural Resources Ministry for only revealing the terms of a few contracts.

Trade and energy minister Yukio Edano has been in Abu Dhabi in an attempt to shore up Japan’s position as the emirate’s largest crude customer.

Gulf Keystone to sell stake in Akri-Bijeel, Glencore, Vitol, join energy auction; fees are revised

Rival drafts of a new hydrocarbons law are at the heart of a dispute between Erbil and Baghdad after Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki called a meeting to discusss proposals when most Kurdish members were absent

Six oil companies were added to the list of pre-qualified bidders in the upcoming auction for licences for oil and gas exploration rights in the country.

Consensus has built behind the EU’s threat to embargo Syrian state oil companies, crude exports and products imports in an effort to seriously squeeze the Assad regime

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”.

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 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

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.

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

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