Among the economic activities of the Iraqi Business Council, the Council hosted on Saturday September 5th 2020, via Zoom application, the Iraqi Oil Minister Engineer Ehsan Abdul Jabbar Al-Zubaidi to talk about projects and investment opportunities in the oil and gas sector in Iraq.
On the part of the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Mr. Naseer Azziz Director General of the Studies Department and Dr. Hisham Yass Shaalan Director General of the Economic Department participated in the meeting.
On IBC side, Dr. Majid Saedi IBC Chairman, IBC Deputy Chairman and Secretary General Mr. Saad Naji and IBC Director General took part in the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, IBC Chairman Dr. Saedi welcomed the Iraqi Oil Minister and the participants.. lauding the professionalism and extensive experience of the Iraqi Oil Minister.
Dr. Saedi also talked about the role of the Iraqi businessmen and investors and their high capability to contribute to the reconstruction and building in Iraq, reviewing the achievements of the Iraqi Business Council and investments of its members in Jordan, Iraq and the Arab Homeland, as Iraqi investments abroad amounted to a figure close to 300 billion Dollars.
He also stressed the need to overcome all investment obstacles in Iraq, provide appropriate environment to attract foreign investments, which would only be achieved with the presence of local partners and labor, appropriate legislations and logistic facilities.
Dr. Saedi also pointed out to the need to address the challenges facing business owners, and emphasized the great experiences enjoyed by IBC members and the important role of the Iraqi private sector in building Iraq..
After that, the Iraqi Oil Minister Engineer Ehsan Abdul Jabbar thanked IBC for organizing the meeting and stressed the role of IBC members, including businessmen and investors, in the economic development and transferring their experiences to Iraq.
The Minister then talked about the strong shocks witnessed by Iraq recently such as the drop of oil prices, OPEC determinants, the crisis of Corona Virus Pandemic and the general closure, which unveiled the fragility of the Iraqi economy and the absence of true partnerships with investors.
The Iraqi Oil Minister expected recovery of the Iraqi economy during the coming months with the rise of oil price and return of exports to 3 million b/d, and also emphasized the desire of the Iraqi government headed by Mr. Al-Kademi, to open up on the Iraqi private sector in many activities especially the activities of the Iraqi Oil Ministry since the marketing operations are now secured.
The Iraqi Oil Minister proposed a number of projects of the Iraqi Oil Ministry including investment project to build an oil refinery in the Zubair area near the Zubair oil field in Basra Province to produce 300 thousand barrel in the final phase, and 150 thousand barrels at the start of the project, with an investment volume of 4 billion Dollars, which will be implemented and lead by ENI Company of Italy.
The second project is the “Nebras” project, which is an 8.5 billion Dollars petrochemicals manufacturing project in which Iraq owns a share of 51%, that will have government support to purchase the product.
The Iraqi Oil Minister proposed the possibility of holding a virtual meeting via video with the representative of SHELL, the foreign investor and partner n this project is Mr. Ali Al-Janabi / the company’s Director General in Abu Dhabi and Iraq, to get acquainted with the project’s profits and details.
Mr. Saad Naji IBC Deputy Chairman and Secretary General then steered the questions- answers session, that included a number of interventions by the participants, which were all answered by the Iraqi Oil Minister.
