Baghdad is launching a series of initiatives which would see Iraq’s regions get greater control of and benefit from its planned oil capacity surge. Proposals for more regional oil companies and local control of a …

Algeria’s budget for 2010 projects a rise of 10.6% in total revenue to AD3,081.5bn ($42.2bn) and an increase of 12.9% in total expenditure to AD5,869.9bn ($80.4bn), with a resulting deficit of AD2,779.4bn ($38.1bn), slightly up …

OPEC will have to rein back production if it wants to avoid an output surfeit that could pressure prices, supply/demand balances in the latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) show. Despite downgrades to its projections …

Although the European Union’s deal last week to help bail out Greece partly allayed fears that the country would default on its huge debt pile, global bond markets remain volatile and pricing has ratcheted higher …

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on 24 January presented to the Majlis (parliament) the draft budget for the Iranian year 1389 (starting on 21 March 2010) which projects a 31.8% increase in expenditures to IR3,680 trillion …

Kuwait’s National Assembly approved a KD30.8bn ($107.1bn) four-year (2010-14) development plan on 2 February, raising hopes that long-stalled major energy projects can now push ahead. Surprisingly for Kuwait’s often fractious parliament, the bill was agreed …

Unusually cold weather in the northern hemisphere appears to have held OPEC crude supply firmer than OPEC’s own supply/demand figures would warrant, the latest MEES output data indicates. January OPEC output appears little changed from …

Yemen became the focus of international attention late in 2009 when a Nigerian man, trained in the Arab Gulf country, attempted to blow up a US airliner over Detroit. A meeting called in late January …

International oil companies (IOCs) holding shares in consortia with production sharing agreements (PSAs) in Kazakhstan could find themselves facing a new set of financial criteria in the years ahead, if Astana proceeds to introduce new …

Firms investing in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) area of northern Iraq have welcomed recent efforts by the region’s Minister of Natural Resources, Ashti Hawrami, to resolve the Kurds’ dispute with Baghdad over their contracts. …