IBBC delegates visited the Khor Al Zubair Fuel Depot this week as part of a Mission to Basrah.

Host Mike Douglas, CEO of SKA International, welcomed the delegation and highlighted the following points on making business in Iraq:

“You need to be tenacious, as well as patient, in order to succeed in Iraq. What you see today is the latest stage of a $250M investment plan which is part of our Joint Venture with our partners BP and is an investment in the future of Iraq. Our project is unique, in that it is the first privately owned, purpose built, commercial storage and distribution facility in Iraq for refined petroleum products.

“ Iraq needs over 800,000 barrels of refined products every day and can only produce 60% of this requirement. The high quality products that we import and distribute help to make up the shortfall. We help keep the lights on, the air conditioning running and cars and trucks moving on the streets.”

“Iraq needs much more foreign investment, and encouragingly the government has now started to make the necessary regulatory reforms to make this possible. It is a very difficult investment environment at the moment, but the fact that the Government is starting to take the necessary steps is a positive step although a lot more still needs to be done to attract more investment. SKA have been in Iraq for the last 12 years and we will still believe Iraq offers huge opportunities and our continued investment in this kind of infrastructure is testimony to that belief. ”

The visit was the second day of an IBBC Mission that included the conference ‘Basrah: Open for Business’ held on the 5th October.