Thread: Iraq/Dinar News up until March 18th Midnight ctz

When Rahim al-Daraji looks at the dusty lots just east of Sadr City where scores of bodies have been dumped in the past year, he sees a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, coffee shops and restaurants.

Go to Complete Coverage » "We should have an amusement park," said Mr. Daraji, one of two elected mayors in Sadr City, the sprawling Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad where American and Iraqi troops have been peacefully clearing homes since Sunday. "We want to rehabilitate the area so that families can have fun."

In an interview at his office, Mr. Daraji said the amusement park was one of several projects that community leaders were pushing American officials to finance in negotiations about how to handle the Shiite Mahdi Army, a militia that has controlled the neighborhood for years.

A concentrated makeover of Sadr City, he said, would support the plan’s goals in two important ways: by giving young Mahdi militants jobs as an alternative to lives of violence and by providing residents with proof of the government’s ability to improve their daily lives.

Mr. Daraji’s requests, however, also reflect a broader effort by Iraqi leaders to dart past "clear and hold" to the more lucrative phase of the new security plan known as "build."

Even as bombings and killings here continue, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has labeled the plan a success. His Shiite-led government has allotted $10 billion this year for reconstruction throughout the country, and, with billions more expected from the United States, Iraqi leaders at all levels are scrambling for a say in how the windfall might be spent.

They are also pressing for veto power over contracts, blaming an unwieldy American system of subcontracting that was impossible to police for the loss or theft of billions in reconstruction dollars since the war began.

Iraqi figures, political veterans and up and comers are seeking an advisory role.

Ahmad Chalabi, for example, the political chameleon and advocate for the war, has re-emerged as an intermediary between Baghdad residents and the Iraqi and American security forces.

At a freshly renovated compound in the Green Zone, Mr. Chalabi now regularly meets with leaders from all over Baghdad as they compete for roles in managing the expected infusion of projects and jobs. At a recent gathering, representatives from 15 neighborhoods in eastern Baghdad stood one after another to explain why they should be chosen to lead.

For American officials, Sadr City’s calls for an amusement park, job training programs and other projects raise a particularly thorny question of trust. In 2004, American troops battled Mahdi militants here for days. More recently, United States military officials have accused the militia of using roadside bombs, possibly linked to Iran, that have killed at least 170 American service members.

At the same time, the negotiations over the Mahdi militia, along with the arrest or flight of several commanders, appear to have led to a temporary truce. American soldiers were welcomed into people’s homes this week on streets where they once came under fire.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, at his first news conference as the top commander in Iraq, acknowledged Thursday that the Mahdi militia included a mix of violent extremists and people with more benign motivations.

"The challenge," he said, "has been to determine, how do you incorporate those who want to serve in a positive way — as neighborhood watches, let’s say, but unarmed — in our own communities, but without turning into something much more than that?"

Mr. Daraji emphasized that Sadr City as a whole "wants to open a new page in its story." He said that Mahdi fighters had laid down their weapons to give the government a chance, and that the opportunity should not be missed.

He said the prime minister’s office was already seizing the moment with an expanded job recruitment drive for neighborhood residents. As proof, Mr. Daraji — a chain-smoking tribal sheik partial to tailored suits — opened a door near his office and pointed to a pile of red, green and yellow folders that he said were job applications for every part of the government, from the Oil Ministry to the police.

"We’ve collected more than 2,000 applications," he said. "We’re classifying them according to whether people have college degrees, whether they are men or women."

He and other Baghdad government leaders said that the United States military would be smart to add hundreds of additional jobs in the neighborhood because it contained at least 1.5 million people, or about a third of the city, and had just begun to revive after decades of neglect. They said the neighborhood deserved to become a model of government effectiveness.

"The plan is not only about security," said Naeem al-Kabbi, Baghdad’s deputy mayor in charge of municipal services. "It’s about security, services and reconstruction."

Mr. Daraji said he had asked American officials for money to build small playgrounds, with tennis and volleyball courts, every few blocks — not unlike what can be found in planned communities like Levittown.

He said he had pressed the Americans for money to rehabilitate a handful of lakes on the western edge of the neighborhood and for more control over the contracts so they could be assigned faster with less waste.

"We need to engage people as soon as possible, get them working, make them busy," he said. "These are quick projects. After these we will move on to medium and larger plans."

"The security process," he added, "accelerates the economic possibilities."


Khalid al-Ansary and Abdul Razzaq al-Saiedi contributed reporting.

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Karbala, March 13, (VOI)- Iraqi oil ministry agreed to build a large oil refinery in Karbala, 110 km southwest of Baghdad, head of Karbala provincial council said on Tuesday.
"Oil minister informed the provincial council during his visit to Karbala two days ago that the ministry agreed to build a large refinery in the province," Abdul-Al al-Yasseri told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
The official who did not set a date for commencing construction works in the project said "the oil ministry announced the project tender and is waiting for bids by international companies."
He added "the refinery designed capacity is 140,000 bpd."
The new refinery will be set up on the highway linking Karbala to Najaf, 20 km south of Karbala while construction works are expected to continue for four years, al-Yasseri added.
He said "the cost of building the refining facility is estimated at one billion U.S. dollars."

Originally Posted by mclay549

Sorry, didn't see your post before I posted, Elbert.

It's okay..... I'm happy to know I'm on the same page with Intelligence
reporting!!!!

ÌÑíÏÉ ÇáÕÈÇÍ - Oil Gas law paves way to improve economy
Oil Gas law paves way to improve economy

Baghdad, Mar.14 p.14
Number of oil, economy and politic experts have agreed on that the new law of oil and gas has met many targets that aims to improve Iraq economical state


as others see that law must be studied by as many as specialists in oil and economical field.They stressed during conference held by Iraqi center of economical development, that it has considered many aspects which encourage modern technology through polarizing high ranking companies, and through fair distribution of oil revenue between regions, in addition to enlarging country resources and provide finance for activists in the field of oil exploration.Al-Sabah attended the conference and met minister of oil who referred that the law is an achievement for all Iraqis as it has positive impact on the fabric of national unity. He added that the law has put Iraq interests on the top of the list and that all its items have relayed on general national considerations

Three cheers for Iraq's new hydrocarbon law.

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14 March 2007 (Slate)

The recent hydrocarbon law, approved after much wrangling by Iraq's council of ministers, deserves a great deal more praise than it has been receiving. For one thing, it abolishes the economic rationale for dictatorship in Iraq. For another, it was arrived at by a process of parley and bargain that, while still in its infancy, demonstrates the possibility of a cooperative future. For still another, it shames the oil policy of Iraq's neighbors and reinforces the idea that a democracy in Baghdad could still teach a few regional lessons.

To illustrate my point by contrast: Can you easily imagine the Saudi government allocating oil revenues so as to give a fair share to the ground-down and despised Shiite workers who toil, for the most part, in the oil fields of the western region of the country? Or picture the Shiite dictatorship in Iran giving a fair shake to the Arab-speaking area of Khuzestan, let alone to the 10 percent of Iranians who are both Sunni and Kurdish? To ask these questions is to answer them. Control over the production and distribution of oil is the decisive factor in defining who rules whom in the Middle East.

The Saddam Hussein dictatorship, with its record of mass murder against Shiites and Kurds, can be explained partly by a Baathist ideology that subordinated everything to the leader and to the state. But—without wishing to be overly Marxist on the point—I would argue that it was also determined by an economic imperative. The Sunni minority, and especially the Tikriti minority of that minority, lived in areas of Iraq where oil was relatively scarce. In order for it to exert control over the country's chief national resource, it had by definition to act as an almost colonial power in the Kurdish and Shiite provinces, with results that are well-known. (It also had to invade and annex Kuwait to make up the huge self-inflicted deficit created by its invasion of Iranian Khuzestan.)

But there is, in fact, enough and more than enough oil for everybody in Iraq. And important new fields are being prospected all the time, most notably and recently in the Anbar province, where al-Qaida forces have been making their strongest challenge. Here, as across much of the rest of the country, the visitor stands amazed at the sheer abject poverty and misery of people who are living in what is potentially one of the richest countries on earth. Iraq has the third-largest oil reserves of any nation, and that's if you take the lowest estimate of its reserves. Its oil is of purer quality, and nearer to the surface, than that of many of its rivals. A dusty and hopeless city like today's Basra could be, as one minister told me excitedly last December in Baghdad, "as rich as Kuwait in five years." The new law proposes a federalized control over oil and gas, with a distribution of revenue that would be in proportion to the population of each province. To put it another way: The very element that greased the weaponry of dictatorship and aggression could, with a certain amount of nurturing, become the economic basis of a federal democracy. I must say that it sounds worth trying.

On the left and in the anti-war camp, the very mention of the word "oil" is usually considered profane: a Brechtian clue to the secret designs of neoconservatives. So, I was interested to see Christian Parenti, a staunch foe of the Bush policy in Iraq, saying in the March 19 Nation that "on key questions of foreign investment and regional decentralization versus centralized control, the law is vague but not all bad." What have Iraqis got to lose here? It's not as if a withdrawal of foreign investment would leave the oil as a trusteeship for the people. Remember that Iraq under Saddam had already seen the most extreme form of "privatization," with the whole industry a private fiefdom of a parasitic elite. Remember that no real investment was made in the oil fields for almost 20 years, so that when experts visited the refineries after 2003, they could not (in the words of one I spoke to) "find anywhere even to put a Band-Aid." Remember that the Baathists used the "oil for food" program to sow corruption throughout the United Nations. Remember that Saddam Hussein set fire to the Kuwaiti fields and also ordered the taps opened so that crude oil would flow straight into the seawater of the Gulf, destroying the marine habitat. After all that, even Halliburton must come as a blessed relief.

Of course, all this is still heavily overshadowed by the daily menace of vicious jihadist sabotage, of corruption in a sectarian oil ministry, and of the generally parlous state of the infrastructure. And the deal has yet to be approved by the Iraqi parliament—a body that has some difficulty in meeting. Nonetheless, a principle is being established that does great credit to the Iraqis who signed it and to the coalition forces that made it possible. If it were not for the general American feeling that oil is a substance too dirty even to be mentioned in polite society, this consideration might even influence the current debate about an "exit strategy." One would like to know, of those who advocate leaving Iraq, whether they are happy to abandon the control of its fabulous wealth to be parceled out between the highest or most ruthless bidders—say, al-Qaida in Anbar, the Turks in the north, and the fans of Ahmadinejad in the south? Or might it be better to have even an imperfect federal democracy that could be based not just on ideals but on an actual material footing? A country that might, over time, undercut the power currently exerted by Saudi Arabia and Iran? I only ask. And it's no good chanting "no blood for oil" at me, because oil is the lifeblood here, and everybody knows it and always has.

Mandating the private sector to import oil derivatives and distribute them

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14 March 2007 (Iraq Directory)

The Iraqi Oil Ministry determined special mechanisms for the import of oil derivatives by the private sector.

Minister of Oil, Hussein Shahrastani, said in a symposium held by the ministry with the owners of private companies: “The economic policy of the State tends to stimulate the private sector in order to be able to import oil derivatives and distribute them to citizens”.

On his part, Undersecretary of the Oil Ministry, Mutasim Mohammed said: “The mechanisms established by the ministry stipulates that the private sector companies, Iraqi or foreign, and with the consent of the Oil Ministry, import derivatives according to scientific specifications set by the Ministry, then store, transfer and sale them for local consumption directly or through authorized agents”.

He added: “These derivatives include car petrol with 91% octane, oil, gas, motor oil, liquid gas, kerosene and tar”.

He continued: “The Oil Ministry will issue attached schedules to comply with the scientific specifications of the oil products, and will also punish companies that violate these procedures with a fine of not less than one hundred million and not more than three hundred million dinars, as well as confiscating the oil derivatives”.

He explained: “The law of importing oil derivatives, exempted derivatives from customs duties and the tax of reconstructing Iraq for a period of two years from the date of its implementation. This law allows the importing companies to construct their own service stations and storage depots for oil derivatives, according to regulations set by the ministry”.

He continued: “Companies must abide by the conditions of preserving the environment and the quality control; the Oil Ministry and the Central Agency for quality control in addition to all concerned ministries must observe the companies commitment to the conditions and specifications set forth in this law”.

He said: “The Oil Ministry will punished anyone smuggling oil derivatives, imported or locally produced, with a fine; the minister of oil has the authority to issue instructions to facilitate the implementation of the provisions of this law”.

On his part, Yousef Adil Al-Maliki, an investor in the private sector said: “this law will not succeed if the importers of oil derivatives in the private sector are not supported and activated”.

He added: “if the ministry wants the private sector to develop in Iraq,it should include in the law some exemptions, because the current situation in which the country is living is not in favor of the private sector”.

He called for forming a committee of the private sector and the Oil Ministry to develop solutions and enable the private sector to exercise the import process.

Large oil refinery to be built in Karbala
By Ali al-Nashi

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Karbala, 14 March 2007 (Voices of Iraq)

Iraqi oil ministry agreed to build a large oil refinery in Karbala, 110 km southwest of Baghdad, head of Karbala provincial council said on Tuesday.

"Oil minister informed the provincial council during his visit to Karbala two days ago that the ministry agreed to build a large refinery in the province," Abdul-Al al-Yasseri told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

The official who did not set a date for commencing construction works in the project said "the oil ministry announced the project tender and is waiting for bids by international companies."
He added "the refinery designed capacity is 140,000 bpd."

The new refinery will be set up on the highway linking Karbala to Najaf, 20 km south of Karbala while construction works are expected to continue for four years, al-Yasseri added.


He said "the cost of building the refining facility is estimated at one billion U.S. dollars."

Honorary mention: Iraq National Oil Company
By Carola Hoyos

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13 March 2007 (Financial Times)

The Iraqi cabinet’s long-awaited approval in February of the country’s new hydrocarbon law takes it one large step closer to resurrecting the Iraq National Oil Company.



The law, which parliament hopes to have passed by May, is still vague. Inoc is likely to control existing projects, but its share in lucrative exploration and new production ventures is still unclear.

Nonetheless, Inoc wins our honorary mention for two reasons – one from the past and one from the future.

Iraq’s average oil engineers represent some of the most ingenius in the world. For more than two decades they have struggled under unimaginable challenges and managed to keep their industry going with “string and bubblegum”. During the Iran/Iraq war, full oil tankers continued to leave Iraq’s shores and during the years of United Nations sanctions its refineries continued to hum and sputter.

But it is the future that makes Inoc so influential. Iraq’s likely opening to international oil companies will be gradual because of ongoing security problems. Even so, with only 10 per cent of the country explored so far, it represents the biggest chance international oil companies have to overcome their inability to grow.

Iraq too, would gain. It’s production in 2005 fell to 1.8m barrels a day, down 240,000 b/d from the year before and substantially less than the 3.7m b/d peak it reached in December 1979 before war, sanctions and insurgency.

Iraq’s oil is also starting to show the scars caused by years of struggle, with Iraq’s ministry having to pay buyers adjustment fees because of its deteriorating quality.

To turn around the industry and begin to tap its true potential, Inoc will need more than $40bn of investment. The next 12 months will prove critical for laying those foundations. Not only the future of Iraq and the globe’s biggest international oil companies, but also the energy-hungry economies of the world depend on Iraq and Inoc’s success.

Originally Posted by MOM2TWO

WOW!!!!!

I am feeling so honored to be apart of such an enthusiastic bunch of "news hounds", and brilliant minds at work!!! I want to personally thank everyone that posts here. I have never been soooo excited about this investment, and feel we are sooooooo close!!! Sorry, no great news from me, but want to extend my gratitude to y'all!! I have always been a bit skeptical, until recently....yowza....thank you guys...at rol sgs...can I get a wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooooooooooooooot
????

Happy Shopping,
Melissa

I concur, RC has the best hound dogs (no offense) than any other forum. Havent seen one of the best (hound doggets) for awhile. SGS where are you and your insights to all this maddness??
Leann

Shahrastani is expected to endorse a law oil in two months
(Voice of Iraq) - 15-03-2007

Kurds warn of the repeal of article 140 of the Constitution ...
Sulaymaniyah, the Vienna-Mohammed al-Tamimi life

Expected Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Shahrastani parliament to approve a new oil law within two months, asked <Kurdistan Alliance> oil investment law to postpone until the completion of the ratification of the new oil.

Shahrastani said that <the Council of Ministers, which approved the bill unanimously oil, the project will be sent to parliament soon, and we expect that the parliament will take about two months> in the study. He added that Baghdad has not yet decided on the model to be followed in contracting with the international oil companies interested in working in the country.

He pointed out that Shahrastani <law does not specify the form of a contract or agreement. The Council will have the federal oil and gas development of a model contract, the oil companies would know what to be prepared contracts>.

He expected the model contracts and the development plans ready for the parliament's approval on the new law, which is scheduled to be completed before May 31 next (May). He went on to say that Iraq may put a round of energy projects in the second half of this year.

On the other hand, called <Kurdistan Alliance> to the postponement of the oil investment until the completion of the ratification of the new oil. The member of the Legal Committee in the Iraqi Parliament Khalid Chuani that <called the Kurdistan Alliance, in agreement with other parliamentary blocs, to postpone discussion of a draft law on oil investment, which permits to foreign companies and the private sector to establish refineries until the completion of the new oil>.

On the other hand, emphasized <Patriotic Union of Kurdistan> led by President Jalal Talabani would not oppose the establishment of the Kurds in Turkey to resolve the Iraqi crisis. The leadership in the <National Union> Saadi Ahmed beer on the need <a positive outcome of the conference held to resolve the Iraqi crisis and said :> U are not set up conferences to support the Iraqi government, whether in Istanbul or Mecca or Syria, and what we want is action, not words>.

He attributed the causes of the crisis Turkish-Kurdish recent <statements of some Turkish officials aimed at winning the votes of nationalists and extremists in the forthcoming elections> warning <serious repercussions on the relationship Turkish Kurdish If rectify the Turkish leadership is>. He called not to exploit the Istanbul conference to be held in April next (April) <for special purposes, or which seek to cancel or suspend any of the articles of the Constitution as a direct intervention in Iraqi affairs, which is categorically reject>.

The government condemned the statements made by Kurdish officials in the Turkish government on the postponement or cancellation of Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution at a time when Ankara accused the Kurds of threatening national security and supporting fighters <PKK> in the north of the country.

Article 140 for the holding of a referendum on the fate of Kirkuk, and whether it would Kurdistan Province.

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