Thread: Iraqi/Dinar news until March 1st, 2007

Kurdish leaders deny deal to allow Palestinians in Iraq safe haven

2/22/2007 AP
AMMAN, Jordan - Kurdish officials denied Wednesday that the Iraqi government agreed to allow thousands of Palestinian refugees in Iraq safe haven in northern Kurdish areas.

Earlier Wednesday, a Palestinian official in Jordan said Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani had agreed to take in Palestinians fearing attacks by militias in other parts of Iraq.

"Such topics didn't occur during the visit of Palestinian delegation to Kurdistan," said Barzani's spokesman Fuad Hussein.

The Palestinian official, Hamadah Faraaneh, who said he helped negotiate the deal, said the agreement was brokered in Iraq last week following negotiations with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Barzani and other officials.

The discrepancy could not immediately be clarified, and Faraaneh could not be immediately reached for comment.

Faraaneh, an Amman-based member of the Palestine National Council, which regards itself as a parliament in exile, told The Associated Press the deal would allow "Palestinian refugees trapped in Iraq a safe haven, a place to live, work or study in the Kurdish provinces and to treat them appropriately as guests of the Kurdish region.

The U.N. refugee agency estimates about 15,000 Palestinians live in Baghdad as refugees and face constant threats from militias and are unable to move freely. Some are being killed, kidnapped or forced to leave their homes in different Iraqi neighborhoods, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said.

Some Iraqis resent Palestinians living Iraq because of Saddam Hussein's longtime preferential treatment toward them until he was ousted in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Saddam gave large cash payments to Palestinian suicide bombers in the 1990s, when Iraq faced crippling economic sanctions and many Iraqis were jobless. That caused Iraqis to feel strong resentment toward Palestinians and other Arabs who came to work in Iraq. Palestinians have left in large numbers since the 2003 invasion because of widespread anger and violence toward them.

Associated Press reporter Yahya Barzanji in Kirkuk, Iraq contributed to this report.

Japan says Britain won't affect Iraq decision


TOKYO, Feb 22, 2007 (AFP) - Japan said Thursday that Britain's planned withdrawal of troops from Iraq would not affect its own decision on whether to maintain an air mission to the war-torn country.

Japan, like Britain a close US ally, last year ended its landmark troop deployment in Iraq. But Japanese air force personnel continue to fly supplies and personnel into Iraq for the US-led coalition and the United Nations.

Japan has not said if it will extend the mission when it expires in July. Some 210 air force personnel are based in Kuwait for the operation.

"Japan will make its own decision," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. "It has not been decided at this stage."

Asked if Britain's withdrawal announced Wednesday would have an impact on Japan's decision, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said, "There is no direct impact."

"Public security is now at levels we should be worried about, but the problems are concentrated in Baghdad and security in the other areas is improving considerably," said Shiozaki, the government spokesman.

"What is important is for Iraq to be able to govern itself," Shiozaki said.

Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma caused a stir last month when he decried the US decision to invade Iraq as "wrong." US Vice President Dick Cheney did not meet Kyuma on a visit to Japan this week.

Former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, a close friend of US President George W. Bush, strongly supported the 2003 invasion and took the landmark step of deploying Japanese troops to Iraq.

Some 600 troops were deployed until last year in the relatively safe southern city of Samawa on a non-combat reconstruction mission. The last of them returned home in July.

It marked the first time since World War II that Japan has deployed its military to a country where fighting was underway.

si/sct/sst

Britain-Iraq-Japan-military

Iraqis eke out living in Baghdad rubbish dump
(Reuters)

22 February 2007



BAGHDAD - Sitting amid mounds of rotting garbage in a rubbish dump in Baghdad, 13-year-old Huda Hamdan is the human face of a new UN report that says a third of war- torn Iraq’s 26 million people live in poverty.


The teenager, wearing a black veil, is taking a break from scavenging for aluminium cans and glass bottles that she sells for a few Iraqi dinars. She tries not to gag from the stench of the decomposing household refuse surrounding her.

She and her six brothers and sisters compete with scores of other diggers, many children and women, made homeless by sectarian violence that has forced them to flee their homes and seek refuge in the sprawling Shia slum of Sadr City.

Scores of displaced Shia families have made the rubbish dump their home -- living in unsanitary conditions in tents, crude shacks made from oil cans or squatting in an empty building -- and trying to eke out the barest of livings.

A report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and an Iraqi government agency released on Sunday found that 5 percent of Iraqis live in extreme poverty, with Baghdad the least deprived area, and the southern provinces the worst.

The report said a third of Iraqis overall were living in poverty. It gave no comparison with previous years.

But the UNDP said the study “showed a deterioration in the living standards of Iraqis” since Iraq was a thriving middle- income country in the 1970s and 80s. Four years of war, following a decade of UN sanctions in the 1990s, has paralysed the economy and fuelled soaring unemployment.

“It shows the failure of the state authorities to provide adequate services to the population,” UNDP said in a statement that also blamed Western-backed efforts to transform the economy into a free market for “exacerbating deprivation levels”.

Hamdan said she and her siblings fled Falluja, a Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, after a US sniper shot dead her mother, leaving them orphaned. Now they live with her grandparents and uncles in Sadr City.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are 1.6 million Iraqis displaced inside the country, including 425,000 who fled their homes after the bombing of the Samarra shrine in February 2006 unleashed a wave of sectarian violence.

“We are poor people. We have nothing,” Hamdan says softly.

Holding up her right hand, she takes off a blue and white woollen glove that helps protect her injured hand against the filth and carefully unwraps a surprisingly clean bandage.

Her little finger was severed by the tailgate of a rubbish truck as scavengers crushed around it, desperate to search it before it dumped its load on to the rubbish heap.

Illness and infections among the diggers are common. Looking around the dump it’s not hard to see why. Men, women and children, their clothes caked in thick grime, wade through fetid pools of water or climb mountains of garbage, poking through the rubbish with long, curved metal rods to hook the cans.

Fifteen-year-old Saif has struck lucky. “I found these,” he said, holding up four flat breads. “We’ll clean them and then eat them for breakfast. We have no money to buy food.”

Danger lurks

Nearby, Ali al-Yateem, who looks older than his 10 years, heaves a large white canvas sack of cooldrink cans on to the scale of a local scrap merchant, who pays him 2,000 dinars ($1.50) after checking he has not weighted the bag with bricks.

Jawad Habib, 21, was forced from his home in Abu Ghraib, a Sunni stronghold on the western outskirts of Baghdad. He took a job as day labourer in construction, but when a suicide bomber blew up among a group of labourers he came to the dump.

Even there he has found danger lurking in the rotting debris. “I found a grenade and called the police.” He was lucky. Other diggers say a young girl was killed in an explosion.

The plight of Ali, Huda, Saif and Jawad is the result of a ”deeply complex political and security crisis with no quick apparent solution”, the UNDP said in its report.

“I’ve been in conflict zones for 22 years. Iraq is unlike anything else on earth,” UNDP country director Paolo Lembo told Reuters in an interview from Amman.

He said the Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War, international sanctions and the chaos that followed the 2003 US-led invasion had delivered a series of hammer blows to Iraq’s economy that had created “a kind of deprivation that is unique”.

“Will the situation improve in the immediate future? No, I don’t think so, but that does not mean I am not optimistic. This country has an enormous wealth of resources.”

Denmark to withdraw troops from Iraq by August



MENAFN - 22/02/2007




(MENAFN) The Danish Prime Minister announced that Denmark is considering pulling out some or all of its troops from Iraq by August, CNN reported.

The premier, however, pointed out that Denmark is also planning to send more forces to Afghanistan. He added that the Iraq forces will be replaced by surveillance helicopters and civilian advisers to help Iraqi reconstruction efforts.

Iraq's 2007 budget allocates $2.3b for oil, $778m for electricity



MENAFN - 22/02/2007




(MENAFN) The Chairman of the Finance Committee at the Iraqi Parliament said that the 2007 budget was approved by the Parliament last week by which $2.3 billion were allocated to the Ministry of Oil, and $778 million to the Ministry of Electricity, Iraq Directory reported.

According to the official , the budget for the current year 2007 is estimated at $32.6 billion, while the expenditures are estimated at are $40.2 billion with a deficit hit less than $7.78 billion.

The chairman added the budget was approved by the majority of the Parliament members before sessions were adjourned for a month, concluding the works of the second legislative season.

National Guard May Undertake Iraq Duty Early

By DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: February 22, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 — The Pentagon is planning to send more than 14,000 National Guard troops back to Iraq next year, shortening their time between deployments to meet the demands of President Bush’s buildup, Defense Department officials said Wednesday.

Paul B. Southerland/The Oklahoman, via Associated Press
Maj. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, right, commander of the Oklahoma National Guard, talked last month about possible deployments to Iraq.

National Guard officials told state commanders in Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma and Ohio last month that while a final decision had not been made, units from their states that had done previous tours in Iraq and Afghanistan could be designated to return to Iraq next year between January and June, the officials said.

The unit from Oklahoma, a combat brigade with one battalion currently in Afghanistan, had not been scheduled to go back to Iraq until 2010, and brigades from the other three states not until 2009. Each brigade has about 3,500 soldiers.

The accelerated timetable illustrates the cascading effect that the White House plan to increase the number of troops in Iraq by more than 21,000 is putting on the entire Army and in particular on Reserve forces, which officers predicted would face severe challenges in recruiting, training and equipping their forces.

It also highlights the political risks of the White House’s Iraq strategy. Sending large numbers of reservists to Iraq in the middle of next year’s election campaign could drive up casualties among part-time soldiers in communities where support for the administration’s approach in Iraq is already tenuous, according to opinion polls.

A final decision on whether the additional Guard units will be required next year in Iraq will not be made for months, the officials said, and the full extent of the Guard role next year will depend on whether the situation in Iraq improves in the meantime.

It has been clear since Mr. Bush announced his plan last month that additional reservists could be required in Iraq, but the numbers and the identity of the specific units involved had not been previously disclosed.

Changing the reservists’ schedules means abandoning previous promises that they would get several years between deployments. And the acceleration means that soldiers who usually drill just once a month and for a few weeks in the summer will have to begin intensive preparations right away.

“We’re behind the power curve, and we can’t piddle around,” Maj. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, commander of the Oklahoma National Guard, said in an interview. He added that one-third of his soldiers lacked the M-4 rifles preferred by active-duty soldiers and that there were also shortfalls in night vision goggles and other equipment. If his unit is going to be sent to Iraq next year, he said, “We expect the Army to resource the Guard at the same level as active-duty units.”

He also noted that one of the brigade’s battalions that could deploy to Iraq next year was now in Afghanistan and was not scheduled to return until April, which would leave its soldiers with just over a year at home before having to leave for Iraq in June 2008. He said discussions were under way with top Army officials about providing necessary equipment and extra compensation for reservists in the Oklahoma Guard’s 45th Brigade Combat Team if the unit was sent back to Iraq two years earlier than planned.

Capt. Christopher Heathscott, a spokesman for the Arkansas National Guard, said the state’s 39th Brigade Combat Team was 600 rifles short for its 3,500 soldiers and also lacked its full arsenal of mortars and howitzers.

Of particular concern, he said, is the possibility that the prospects of going to Iraq next year could cause some Arkansas reservists not to re-enlist this year. Over the next year roughly one-third of the soldiers in the 39th will have their enlistment contracts expire or be eligible for retirement, Captain Heathscott said.

Guard and Reserve units were used most extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2004, and have regularly supplied brigades throughout the fighting. The reinforcements now heading for Iraq will raise the number of combat brigades now in Iraq, only one of which is a Guard unit, to around 20 total. Thousands of additional Reserve support troops would also be required sooner, officials said.

To draw more heavily on Reserve units, the Bush administration announced in January that it was revising rules that limited call-ups of Guard members. The previous policy limited mobilization of Guard members to 24 months every five years, but prolonged and large deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan led the Pentagon to abandon that rule.

The new guidelines allow units that have already been deployed in the last five years to be called up again, but the Pentagon has said that it will try to limit the total time Guard units are mobilized to a year, instead of the current year and a half to two years.

Given that they would be in Iraq for about nine months, that would leave only three months for training before they go. In the past, six months of training has been the norm before heading to the war zone.

To make up the difference, officials said the soldiers would get more part-time training, close to home, before being mobilized. That would cut the time they have to spend away from their jobs and families, Captain Heathscott said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/wa...html?th&emc=th

Analysis of the daily meeting Wednesday, 2007 / 02 / 21

عقدت صباح يوم الاربعاء 2007/2/21 سادس جلسة تداو ل لهذا الشهر وقد جرى تداول اسهم (27) شركة مساهمة ب عدد اسهم قدره (242) مليون سهم وبقيمة تجاوزت (531 ) مليون دينار تحققت من خلال تنفيذ (206) عقدا .Held on Wednesday morning 2007 / 2 / 21 sixth meeting Tdau told this month has been circulating shares (27) is a joint stock company b the number of shares (242) million shares with a value of more than (531 ) million dinars achieved through the implementation of a contract (206). وقد اغلق مؤشر السوق (ISX Price Index) على (26.142) نقطة مرتفعا بنسبة (0.141%) عن الجلسة السابقة .The index closed market (ISX Price Index) to (26.142) a high rate (0.141%) of the previous meeting.
وقد تم تداول اسهم (10) شركات مصرفية ارتفعت معدلا ت اسعار اسهم(3) شركات هي : مصرف الاتحاد العراقي بنسبة (18.75%) ومصرف بغدا د بنسبة (2.44%) واخيرا مصرف الشرق الاوسط بنسبة ( 2.38%) ، وانخفضت معدلات اسعار اسهم (2) شركة هي مصرف الورك اء بنسبة (2.86%) ومصرف دار السلام بنسبة (0.65%) , وقد حافظت(5) شركات على نفس معدلات اسعار اسهمها في الجلسة السابقة وهي : المصرف التجاري والمصرف الاسلامي ومصرف الاستث مار العراقي والمصرف الاهلي العراقي واخيرا مصرف بابل .The circulation of shares (10) companies rose bank rate T. prices of shares (3) companies are : Union Bank by the Iraqi (18.75%) and the Bank of Baghdad d rate (2.44%), and finally by the Bank of the Middle East ( 2.38%). The rates dropped prices of shares (2) the company is the Bank of hip purchase of rate (2.86%) and the Dar es Salaam by the Bank (0.65%) , I have maintained (5) companies on the same rates the shares at the previous meeting, which : Commercial Bank and the Islamic Bank and the Asian Alastth Mar and the Iraqi National Bank Iraqi Finally Bank Babel. وقد اغلق مؤشر القطاع المصرفي بــ (36.687) نقطة م رتفعا بنسبة (0.095%) عما كان عليه في الجلسة السا بقة .The banking sector index closed b (36.687) points m Rtva rate (0.095%) than in the meeting Elsa really.
وكانت حصة القطاع المصرفي من عدد الاسهم المتداول ة قد تجاوز اليوم (162) مليون سهما وبنسبة مقدارها (66.8%) من المجموع الكلي لعدد الاسهم المتداولة لجلسة اليوم وبقيمة تجاوزت (374) مليون دينار اي ب نسبة (69.9%) من المجموع الكلي لحجم التداول .The share of the banking sector of the number of shares in circulation e exceeded today (162) million shares and rate of (66.8%) of the total number of shares traded for today's meeting and exceeding the value of (374) million dinars any b the proportion (69.9%) of the total volume.
حقق مصرف الشرق الاوسط اعلى نسبة من حيث عدد الاسهم المتداولة بلغت (18.3%) من حيث عدد الاسهم المتدا ولة للقطاع المصرفي ، بعد ان جرى تداول اكثر من (29) مليون سهم بقيمة تجاو زت (63) مليون دينار .Bank of the Middle East has the highest proportion in terms of the number of shares circulation reached (18.3%) in terms of the number of shares Almetda with the banking sector, after the circulation was more than (29) million shares valued Tjau Zt (63) million dinars.
حقق مصرف دار السلام اعلى نسبة من حيث حجم التداول ب لغت (41.9%) من حيث حجم التداول للقطاع المصرفي ، بعد ان جرى تداول اكثر من (20) مليون سهم بقيمة تجاو زت (156) مليون دينار .The Bank of Dar es Salaam, where the highest proportion of the volume of transactions, b Lgti (41.9%) in terms of the volume of transactions of the banking sector, after the circulation was more than (20) million shares valued Tjau Zt (156) million dinars.

اما قطاع الصناعة فقد جرى تداول اسهم (11) شركة ارت فعت معدلات اسعار اسهم (2) شركة هي : الهلال الصناعية بنسبة (5.56%) والاصباغ الحديث ة بنسبة (4.55%) ، وانخفضت معدلات اسعار اسهم (2) شركة هي : بغداد للمشروبات الغازية بنسبة (5%) والصناعات ا لمعدنية والدراجات بنسبة (4.55%) , فيما حافظت (7) شركات على نفس معدلات اسعار اسهمها في الجلسة السابقة وهي شركة نينوى للصناعات الغذا ئية المنصور الدوائية والسجاد والمفروشات والصن اعات الخفيفة والصناعات الكيمياوية والفلوجة ال انشائية واخيرا كركوك الانشائية .The manufacturing sector has been circulating shares of the company (11), Art rates paid in shares of the company (2) are : Crescent industrial rate (5.56%), dyes talk e rate (4.55%). decreased rates (2) shares of the company are : Baghdad for carbonated beverages rate (5%) and the industries of a for metal and motorcycles by (4.55%). With maintained (7) companies on the same rates the shares at the previous meeting, a company Nineveh Industries Algza Eh Mansour pharmaceutical and carpets, upholstery and side of deodorant chemical and light industries and the Fallujah construction Finally Kirkuk construction. اغلق المؤشر الصناعي بـ (11.068) نقطة مستقرا عما كان عليه في الجلسة السابقة .The industrial index closed b (11.068) as a point of stable it was in the previous meeting.
وبصورة عامة جرى تداول (27) شركة من اصل (93) شركة م درجة ، ارتفعت معدلات اسعار اسهم (7) شركات وانخفضت معدل ات اسعار اسهم (5) شركات فيما حافظت (15) شركات على نفس معدلات اسعارها السابقة ، ولاتزال (18) شركة متوقفة عن التداول بسبب انعقاد هيئاتها السنوية العامة وتنفيذ قرارات هيئاتها ا لعامة و(11) شركة متوقفة عن التداول بقرار من هيئة الاوراق المالية العراقية .In general circulation was (27) out of a total of (93) Company M. degree, rates increased prices of shares (7) companies declined rate AT prices of shares (5) With companies maintained (15) on companies the same rates of the previous prices, It still (18) the company stopped trading because of the its annual general and the implementation of its resolutions a for general and (11), the company stopped trading on the decision of the body securities Iraq.
واليكم جدول تحليل الاسعار المرتفعة والمنخفضة و المستقرة لجلسة اليوم قياسا بالجلسة السابقة مع ا لشكل البياني الذي يوضح الرقم القياسي العام لجلس ات تداول هذا الشهر والاشكال البيانية التي توضح ع دد الاسهم المتداولة وحجم التداول .Here is the analysis of the high prices and low, stable for today's meeting compared with a previous session. the form chart, which shows the general standard figure for sat AT circulation of this month, and diagrams that illustrate p dd shares traded and the volume of transactions.

تكملة الموضوع على الرابط التالي:Plus subject to the following link :
http: //www.isx-iq.net/page/anliyes-dali.htmHttp : / / www.isx-iq.net/page/anliyes-dali.htm

Scramble for Iraq's oil begins as troops start to pull out
By Saeed Shah
Published: 23 February 2007

We are about to find out if the invasion of Iraq really was a war for oil. The country is on the verge of passing a petroleum law, which will set down rules for investing in its oil industry. That will set off a race among the foreign oil giants, scrambling for their slice of Iraq's vast oil riches. Britain's two world-leading oil companies, BP and Shell, both say they want to enter Iraq. Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Total, Russia's Lukoil and the Chinese will also form part of the rush.

Even while the security situation in Iraq remains dire, it seems the prize will be just too great for the oil majors to resist. The country has proven reserves of 115 billion barrels of oil, around the same as Iran, but it is thought that its actual reserves could be anywhere up to 300 billion barrels - which would make it bigger than Saudi Arabia. Much of the west of Iraq remains unexplored.

John Teeling, chairman of Petrel Resources, the explorer listed on London's AIM market which has had interests in Iraq since 1997, says: "Iraq has 70 discovered, undeveloped fields. You'd die for any one of them. Even the small ones have a billion barrels. If this isn't the holy grail, it's right next door to it."

It is hard to exaggerate the scale of the opportunity in Iraq, especially given the fact that foreign companies are, essentially, shut out of the rest of the Middle East and Russia is increasingly hostile to international players.

"It costs $1 a barrel to get oil out in Iraq. If you're getting $60 for it, that's good economics. You don't have to go to Harvard to figure that out," Mr Teeling says.

War-torn Iraq is currently producing less than 2 million barrels a day, well down on the 2.8 million barrels before the 2003 invasion by the US and Britain.

Tariq Shafiq, a former executive in the Iraq National Oil company and one of the experts called in to draft the country's petroleum law, says Iraq could "very easily" get to 3.5 million barrels a day. He says it is "physically" capable of producing 10 million barrels a day - around the current output levels of Saudi Arabia, the pre-eminent producer today.

Mr Shafiq, who now works for the consultants Petrolog & Associates, says that foreign involvement in Iraq's oil industry is needed for its technical knowledge, not capital - given the high price of oil, investment is pretty much self-financing. "Iraq has been left behind," he says.

The former president Saddam Hussein cut Iraq off from foreign oil technology, first by pursuing the war with Iran in the 1980s, then the international sanctions of the 1990s. Advanced oil recovery techniques, such as water injection, passed the country by.

The petroleum law, which is now in its third draft and is expected to go before the Iraqi parliament soon, allows wide-ranging and deep involvement in the sector. It envisages three type of international contract - buy-backs, production-sharing agreements (PSAs) and service contracts.

The PSAs are the deals most favoured by big oil, as they allow the foreign company to book the reserves. Buy-back contracts typically require upfront investment from the international company, with a guaranteed rate of return to repay the money.

Mr Shafiq says that the draft law does not specify a figure for the permitted rate of return, it talks of a "fair" return. This he interprets as being no more than 20 per cent.

The law awards much power to the regions for negotiating contracts, with the central government given an oversight role, a feature that did not exist in the Mr Shafiq's original draft and one that he believes will play into the fracturing of Iraq. However, the oil revenues will be shared between the provinces, according to their populations, not their oil resources - that gives the oil-poor Sunni areas a big stake in the success of the industry.

While the oil industry's majors and super-majors are not currently in Iraq, the minnows such as Petrel and the Norwegian group DNO, which is actually producing oil in the relatively safe Kurdish north, have shown that it is possible to operate in the country.

The lack of a law setting out the rules for the oil industry and the extreme security problems have kept the big operators formally away. But they have been active behind the scenes and, once the petroleum law is enacted, it is expected that all of them will rush to the Iraq oil ministry's negotiating table.

Shell and BP, for instance, have obtained precious knowledge of two of Iraq's biggest oilfields by providing free assistance. These projects do not involve having company personnel on the ground in Iraq. BP has studied the reservoir data from the Rumaila field in the south, to advise on how to maximise future production.

BP says: "Once the security situation permits, and the Iraqis seek assistance, we would consider opportunities there, as we would elsewhere in the world."

Shell is currently undertaking a reservoir study of the Kirkuk field, in the north, "in order to assist the Ministry of Oil to enhance production from this field".

Shell is more forthright. It says: "Shell has a very long history of working in Iraq. We would welcome the opportunity to help Iraq re-build its energy industry, but we will only enter the country once security, living and working conditions are improved. We have had discussions with Iraqi officials from the Ministry of Oil from outside the country, in order to better understand the complex situation in Iraq. We have experience with the technical and operational challenges that Iraq will face in future. This is based on our experience with similar situations in the Middle East. We aspire to establish a long-term presence in Iraq and a long-term relationship with the Iraqis, including the newly elected Government."

The Western oil majors will almost certainly have to wait until the security situation in Iraq improves before they are prepared to put their people on the ground. However, they are likely to tie up the Ministry of Oil in negotiations over projects until that happens - assuming that Iraq does not simply dissolve into all-out civil war. And, as the south and the north of the country, where most of the oil lies, are relatively less violent, it may be possible to operate in the country even while the central region around Baghdad continues to be a bloodbath.

The Russians and Chinese are almost certain to send their people in, no matter what the risks. Here the US group ConocoPhillips has pulled off a clever arrangement. Lukoil negotiated with the regime of Saddam Hussein for rights to the giant undeveloped West Qurna field. ConocoPhillips has taken a 20 per cent equity stake in Lukoil - a deal approved by the Kremlin - and it has apparently negotiated a 50 per cent share in Lukoil's West Qurna interest. So the Russian personnel would take the risks but Americans would still benefit.

Iraq's oil wealth is just too great for the majors to miss. The question is not if they will go in, but when.

Independent Online Edition > Business Analysis & Features

Principles and rules to transform companies into governmental
23 February 2007 (Iraq Directory)

The Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Industry, Professor Yaqub Shonia, said that adopting the economic reform as a new method to reform the economic and service institutions requires a special national development strategy based on Iraq’s needs at the current stage.

This came during his heading the first meeting of the Ministerial Committee assigned to put the principles and rules of transforming companies in Iraq into governmental and formed under the Ministerial Order issued by the Ministry of Industry and Minerals in November of the year 2006. Shonia said that the strategy of transforming companies into governmental requires a comprehensive program that includes experts and specialists from different economic departments and sectors. He added: to enter this approach, we need to make use of former international experiences in this field, and then tallying them on the economic and social facts in our country to come up with proper rules enable us to avoid any negative impact on the Iraqi experiment in this area. He urged the members of the Committee to do their best in searching for the right means that contribute in creating highly efficient managements. After that, he deployed the members of the Committee into four groups; each specialized at one of the four pivots of the work: the first pivot included putting principles and rules of transforming companies in Iraq into governmental ones, using as guidance the principles of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and of other countries.

The second pivot included reviewing the economic activity and prepare proposals for amendment, if necessary, to deepen the principles of the transformation; while the third pivot included opening communication channels with regional and international organizations and other countries to benefit from the expertise and request their technical assistance, as well as following up conferences and symposia concerning this topic.

Finally, the fourth pivot included making the public aware of the concept of transforming into governmental and preparing training programs for administrative leaderships in all sectors. During the meeting, it was decided to hold monthly meetings for the entire members of the Committee to follow up on what was done by each group, as well as composing a data center containing the available published studies and researches on the subject; also, members of the Committee should contribute in providing the center with whatever available documents they have.

Principles and rules to transform companies into governmental | Iraq Updates

Originally Posted by Loki

Scramble for Iraq's oil begins as troops start to pull out
By Saeed Shah
Published: 23 February 2007

We are about to find out if the invasion of Iraq really was a war for oil. The country is on the verge of passing a petroleum law, which will set down rules for investing in its oil industry. That will set off a race among the foreign oil giants, scrambling for their slice of Iraq's vast oil riches. Britain's two world-leading oil companies, BP and Shell, both say they want to enter Iraq. Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Total, Russia's Lukoil and the Chinese will also form part of the rush.

Even while the security situation in Iraq remains dire, it seems the prize will be just too great for the oil majors to resist. The country has proven reserves of 115 billion barrels of oil, around the same as Iran, but it is thought that its actual reserves could be anywhere up to 300 billion barrels - which would make it bigger than Saudi Arabia. Much of the west of Iraq remains unexplored.

John Teeling, chairman of Petrel Resources, the explorer listed on London's AIM market which has had interests in Iraq since 1997, says: "Iraq has 70 discovered, undeveloped fields. You'd die for any one of them. Even the small ones have a billion barrels. If this isn't the holy grail, it's right next door to it."

It is hard to exaggerate the scale of the opportunity in Iraq, especially given the fact that foreign companies are, essentially, shut out of the rest of the Middle East and Russia is increasingly hostile to international players.

"It costs $1 a barrel to get oil out in Iraq. If you're getting $60 for it, that's good economics. You don't have to go to Harvard to figure that out," Mr Teeling says.

War-torn Iraq is currently producing less than 2 million barrels a day, well down on the 2.8 million barrels before the 2003 invasion by the US and Britain.

Tariq Shafiq, a former executive in the Iraq National Oil company and one of the experts called in to draft the country's petroleum law, says Iraq could "very easily" get to 3.5 million barrels a day. He says it is "physically" capable of producing 10 million barrels a day - around the current output levels of Saudi Arabia, the pre-eminent producer today.

Mr Shafiq, who now works for the consultants Petrolog & Associates, says that foreign involvement in Iraq's oil industry is needed for its technical knowledge, not capital - given the high price of oil, investment is pretty much self-financing. "Iraq has been left behind," he says.

The former president Saddam Hussein cut Iraq off from foreign oil technology, first by pursuing the war with Iran in the 1980s, then the international sanctions of the 1990s. Advanced oil recovery techniques, such as water injection, passed the country by.

The petroleum law, which is now in its third draft and is expected to go before the Iraqi parliament soon, allows wide-ranging and deep involvement in the sector. It envisages three type of international contract - buy-backs, production-sharing agreements (PSAs) and service contracts.

The PSAs are the deals most favoured by big oil, as they allow the foreign company to book the reserves. Buy-back contracts typically require upfront investment from the international company, with a guaranteed rate of return to repay the money.

Mr Shafiq says that the draft law does not specify a figure for the permitted rate of return, it talks of a "fair" return. This he interprets as being no more than 20 per cent.

The law awards much power to the regions for negotiating contracts, with the central government given an oversight role, a feature that did not exist in the Mr Shafiq's original draft and one that he believes will play into the fracturing of Iraq. However, the oil revenues will be shared between the provinces, according to their populations, not their oil resources - that gives the oil-poor Sunni areas a big stake in the success of the industry.

While the oil industry's majors and super-majors are not currently in Iraq, the minnows such as Petrel and the Norwegian group DNO, which is actually producing oil in the relatively safe Kurdish north, have shown that it is possible to operate in the country.

The lack of a law setting out the rules for the oil industry and the extreme security problems have kept the big operators formally away. But they have been active behind the scenes and, once the petroleum law is enacted, it is expected that all of them will rush to the Iraq oil ministry's negotiating table.

Shell and BP, for instance, have obtained precious knowledge of two of Iraq's biggest oilfields by providing free assistance. These projects do not involve having company personnel on the ground in Iraq. BP has studied the reservoir data from the Rumaila field in the south, to advise on how to maximise future production.

BP says: "Once the security situation permits, and the Iraqis seek assistance, we would consider opportunities there, as we would elsewhere in the world."

Shell is currently undertaking a reservoir study of the Kirkuk field, in the north, "in order to assist the Ministry of Oil to enhance production from this field".

Shell is more forthright. It says: "Shell has a very long history of working in Iraq. We would welcome the opportunity to help Iraq re-build its energy industry, but we will only enter the country once security, living and working conditions are improved. We have had discussions with Iraqi officials from the Ministry of Oil from outside the country, in order to better understand the complex situation in Iraq. We have experience with the technical and operational challenges that Iraq will face in future. This is based on our experience with similar situations in the Middle East. We aspire to establish a long-term presence in Iraq and a long-term relationship with the Iraqis, including the newly elected Government."

The Western oil majors will almost certainly have to wait until the security situation in Iraq improves before they are prepared to put their people on the ground. However, they are likely to tie up the Ministry of Oil in negotiations over projects until that happens - assuming that Iraq does not simply dissolve into all-out civil war. And, as the south and the north of the country, where most of the oil lies, are relatively less violent, it may be possible to operate in the country even while the central region around Baghdad continues to be a bloodbath.

The Russians and Chinese are almost certain to send their people in, no matter what the risks. Here the US group ConocoPhillips has pulled off a clever arrangement. Lukoil negotiated with the regime of Saddam Hussein for rights to the giant undeveloped West Qurna field. ConocoPhillips has taken a 20 per cent equity stake in Lukoil - a deal approved by the Kremlin - and it has apparently negotiated a 50 per cent share in Lukoil's West Qurna interest. So the Russian personnel would take the risks but Americans would still benefit.

Iraq's oil wealth is just too great for the majors to miss. The question is not if they will go in, but when.

Independent Online Edition > Business Analysis & Features

Cha Ching.

Do ya hear that.

Bout time the rest of the world wakes up.