Thread: Iraq/Dinar News Up until April 5th 5PM CTZ.

Iraqi prime minister to visit South Korea next week to discuss economic cooperation


05 April 2007 (AP Worldstream)


Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will visit South Korea next week for talks with President Roh Moo-hyun expected to focus on economic cooperation, Roh's office announced Thursday.

During a three-day trip starting Wednesday, al-Maliki will discuss cooperation in natural resources, electricity and construction, as well as Seoul's support to rebuild the Middle East nation, the presidential office said in a statement.

Al-Maliki will also hold talks with South Korean business leaders and tour local industrial facilities, it said.

Iraqi officials accompanying al-Maliki will include the ministers for oil, electricity and industry, the office said.

South Korea has about 2,300 troops in Iraq on a reconstruction mission.

Iraqi prime minister to visit South Korea next week to discuss economic cooperation | Iraq Updates

Sotaliraq.com - ÕæÊ ÇáÚÑÇÞ

Iraqi Parliament to discuss the oil and gas in Dubai tomorrow
(Voice of Iraq) - 05-04-2007

Baghdad (April 5) and the agency (Lucky) News-Italian parliamentary sources said that the Energy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies held a symposium on the Iraqi bill of oil and gas controversial tomorrow, Friday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, under the slogan "scientific and technical reading in the light of national interests of Iraq." The sources added in a telephone conversation with the agency (Lucky) Italian news "that the seminar will be chaired by first deputy chairman of the House Iraqi Sheikh Khaled al-Attiyah, and the participation of a wide range of important political and economic figures, including Dr. Barham Salih Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, and the ministers of oil Hussein Shahrastani, and Planning and Development Cooperation on Papan, petroleum minister in the Kurdistan region and the former Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban, and the world's oil expert Fadel Chalabi, in addition to a number of members of the Energy Committee in the House of Representatives of Iraq, and a large number of oil experts from inside and outside Iraq. " The sources pointed out that "the purpose of the symposium is to discuss a draft law of oil and gas and the new Iraqi stand on the strategic dimensions and technical this law, which will organize the work of the Iraqi oil sector before submitting it to the Iraqi parliament for discussion and approval during the next meetings." She pointed out that "this symposium held outside Iraq comes to creating an atmosphere suitable for the discussion of the bill away from the political tensions at home and to ensure a more open atmosphere of learning all the detail that could be raised during the symposium, as well as enable a number of dignitaries to attend who could not travel to Iraq due to the security situation." The Presidential Council had referred the Iraqi oil and gas, the controversial, and approved by the government of Maliki to the parliament for discussion and voting. Which created angry reactions by the political blocs which it saw in a waste of national wealth, which will be subject to foreign investments in certain States would deprive companies of some countries to participate because of its political positions. With other political blocs condemned the vote and Minister for Law, which was considered a personal opinion does not reflect the point of view of these blocks. (Sal/Aki)

Originally Posted by Socata 850

6. 7,937,774,501,000 dinars pulled from circulation !!

We should hit 8 trillion on Sunday, Monday at the latest. How much more does Shabibi need?

Thanks Socata!

Originally Posted by Adster

Majority of banks will deal with it and exchange it. There will be no restrictions on it. Residents and non residents will be able to trade with goods, services and assets etc.

It will also help the economy of a country as foreign investment will boost their products and make it more profitable.

All in all it's extremely good, positive news! Coincidence of the timing? No way Jose! We've heard nothing about the Article VIII for so long and now with the ISX and big meetings, well, something big is going to happen.

Article VIII is also needed to become a full WTO member.

Hi, Are we assuming still that the Iraqi Stock Exchange opens to Foreign investers on the 8th April or has it been put back, if it is is everybody ready to buy up Iraq for next to nothing?????.

And Iraq's big oil contracts go to ...
Companies from China, India and other Asian nations are seen getting the first contracts. But don't write off Big Oil just yet.
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer
April 5 2007: 1:42 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Despite claims by some critics that the Bush administration invaded Iraq to take control of its oil, the first contracts with major oil firms from Iraq's new government are likely to go not to U.S. companies, but rather to companies from China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

While Iraqi lawmakers struggle to pass an agreement on exactly who will award the contracts and how the revenue will be shared, experts say a draft version that passed the cabinet earlier this year will likely uphold agreements previously signed by those countries under Saddam Hussein's government.

"The Chinese could announce something within the next few months" if all goes well with the oil law, said James Placke, a senior associate at Cambridge Energy Research Associates who specializes in the Middle East.
Behind high oil and gas prices

The Asian firms are at an advantage for several reasons.

First, less constrained by Western sanctions during the Hussein regime, they've been operating in Iraq and know the country's oilfields, said Falah Aljibury, an energy analyst who has advised several Iraqi oil ministers as well as other OPEC nations.

Aljibury said the first contracts likely awarded will be to the Chinese in the south central part of Iraq, the Vietnamese in the south, the Indians along the Kuwaiti border, and the Indonesians in the western desert.

The contracts under consideration are small.

Aljibury said the Chinese agreement is to produce about 70,000 barrels of oil a day, while the Vietnamese one is for about 60,000.

It's hard to put a dollar amount on what those contracts might be worth, as security costs, drilling conditions and the exact terms to be offered by Baghdad are unknown, said Christopher Ruppel, a senior geopolitical analyst with the consulting firm John S. Herold.

But the barrel amount is tiny even by Iraq's depressed post-war production of around 2 million barrels a day.

And the country is thought to be able to ramp up production to over 3 million barrels a day with fairly little effort, providing the security situation improves. Rosy estimates even have Iraq producing 6 million barrels a day in the long term, which would make it the world's No. 4 producer behind Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

But the Asian firms are also well positioned to grab further contracts.

Having avoided military entanglements in the region, they may curry more favor with the Iraqi people.

"They have no involvement with the secular or ethnic people," said Aljibury. "The conditions favor them."

Given its rapidly growing thirst for oil, combined with its feeling of isolation from world oil markets, China is sometimes viewed as more cavalier than Western oil firms when it comes to putting capital and people at risk. That could lead them to sign contracts in violent Iraq sooner than Western firms.

"The Chinese seem to be willing to go places where other companies can't find workers to go," said Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank.

But none of this suggests Western firms like ExxonMobil (Charts), Chevron (Charts), BP (Charts) and Royal Dutch Shell (Charts) will be completely cut out of the action.

First, their technical prowess is world renowned.

"I have not heard anything from any Iraqi ministers against U.S. oil companies," said Aljibury. "In fact, I have heard the opposite. They are the best in field exploration and development. They want them."

Second, Iraq's oil contract game has just begun.

According to a letter supplied by John S. Herold's Ruppel, memorandums of understanding have been signed with all the oil majors for several years. And Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani has said the country plans to tender for major oil projects in the second half of 2007.

Steve Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International, an industry watchdog group, criticized the draft oil law for allowing long-term oil contracts to be awarded to foreign oil firms, a practice he said was unique in the Middle East.

"Giving out a few crumbs to the Chinese and Indians is one thing," said Kretzmann, who noted the draft law was seen by both the Bush administration and the International Monetary Fund before it was given to Iraq's parliament. "But the real prize are the contracts that award long-term rights. I think the [Western oil companies] are biding their time."

Why Asian oil firms are likely to be first at Iraqi's oil - Apr. 5, 2007

Originally Posted by Hkp

I agree, USDinar dealer that is ripping off honest investors....

on another note (Ali - DinarTrade is Awesome)

Yes he is. Makes me want to buy more. Gotta Go.

yep ali is the best and the biggest for a very good reason he has always been very nice and curtious to me!

UAE Crescent to study oil exploration in south Iraq
(Reuters)

5 April 2007


DUBAI - The UAE’s Crescent Petroleum met with Iraqi officials this week to finalise a joint study on an oil exploration area in southern Iraq, Crescent said in a statement on Thursday.

Iraq’s cabinet endorsed a draft oil law in February that aims to lure billions of dollars of foreign investment to boost the country’s output. The law is still awaiting parliament’s ratification.

Many international companies have undertaken studies of oil and gas fields and training programmes for Iraqi officials as they position themselves to win stakes in the country’s prized oilfields.

“Crescent Petroleum as a company from the region is firmly committed to Iraq and its oil industry for the long term,” Crescent Executive Director Majid Jafar told Reuters on Thursday.

The exploration area to be studied is Khadr Al-Mayy, near the border with Kuwait and the southern city of Basra, Crescent said.

Crescent has conducted studies for other regions in Iraq, and has also drawn up a development plan for the giant southern Ratawi field. Ratawi’s potential output capacity is at least 200,000 barrels per day.

The new 10-month study will look at methods for seismic measurement and preparation of geological studies of the region.

Crescent representatives and Iraqi officials met in Amman, Jordan. The meetings followed on from a technical cooperation agreement that Crescent and the Iraqi Oil Exploration Company signed in September 2005.

Iraq’s oil sector has been hampered by decades of sanctions under Saddam Hussein and years of violence since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Iraq said earlier this week that it had invited 15 Arab, Asian and American firms to drill 100 oil wells in the country’s south as part of efforts to boost production.

The invitations were issued at the end of March and will close at the end of May.

Crescent is a private oil and gas company based in the emirate of Sharjah.

Khaleej Times Online - UAE Crescent to study oil exploration in south Iraq

Iraqi News

Thursday, April 05, 2007 Turkish company constructs electric line in Iraq
(MENAFN) Iraq Directory reported that a Turkish company began the construction of an electricity line connecting the electricity station in Nasiriyah to the one in the Shatrah Province. A spokesperson at the city of Thi Qar stated that the Turkish company has begun constructing a number of high-pressure columns in Al- Gharaf. He also added that on the completion of this project the electricity network in Nasiriyah will have a dramatic improvement through this operation.