Thread: Iraq/Dinar News until April 26, 2007 Midnight cst.

Originally Posted by rvalreadydang

THEY CAN'T SUPPORT A HIGH REVALUE!

dang-you are funny!!!

Wankers. Just looking at that gives me a headache!!!

Originally Posted by texaslonghorns

That second option may be a great incentive to revalue. If you revalue at 1:1 that 15 billion dollars would only cost them $11,811,000 after revalue . I like it!

Then looky looky, that would be 5,905,500 Anything in between just go figure.

Originally Posted by neno

Then looky looky, that would be 5,905,500 Anything in between just go figure.

I like where your heads at Neno!

Iraqi refugees stories

As a major international conference on Iraqi refugees gets under way in Geneva, three Iraqis explain how they are coping with life in exile. A fourth explains why he moved his family to Iraq after spending 30 years in the US - only to leave several months later.

MUSTAFA AL-RADHI, 57, AMMAN, JORDAN

Mustafa al-Radhi is hoping to gain refugee status in Britain


In September 2004 I was working for an American company in the Green Zone when I received a threat; so I left immediately for Jordan.
Once you get a threat you leave, otherwise you get killed.
Last September we returned to Baghdad. We were thinking things might be better.
Then, in December, my house was stormed by about 30 National Guard. Out of all the houses in my street, only my house was targeted.
I was tied up and put on the ground with weapons held to my head. My wife was told to put her hands up and sit on a chair facing the wall. As if we were criminals.
They were asking about someone who was a neighbour who had left a year before.
Eventually they left; but I realised I couldn't stay. I'm sure if I went back right now I'd be killed.
I'm a Sunni Muslim. Everything works to disadvantage: I'm Sunni, I used to work for the UN, then I worked in the Green Zone. Everyone knows you.
We've nearly run out of money; there is no work for us here at all. I just don't know what to do.
Next week I have an appointment with the UNHCR, to put my name on the list to become a refugee. That's all I have. I've been waiting four months for this meeting.
I know a lot of people who have been interviewed but nothing has happened.
I feel very welcome here in Jordan; but only the very rich can stay and pursue businesses.
Most of the Iraqis want to leave. I could go to Sweden if I wanted; if you have money they can smuggle you there. But I don't like Sweden and I prefer to do things the official way.
I would like to go to Britain.

SUAD MOHAMED, 59, AMMAN, JORDAN

I'm a gynaecologist, my husband's a surgeon. We left in July 2006, after my husband was threatened and forced to close his clinic.
He is Sunni and had been working in a Shia town. He'd been serving that town for 25 years.
We were given a year's residency here in Amman. After that, we'll see.
The UN are hopeless; they make lists of people and do nothing with them



We are not allowed to work here. We can practice medicine if we are covered by a Jordanian doctor, but whatever fee we get from the patients, the Jordanian doctor takes half.
So, we are unemployed. We have our pensions from the state and we have our life savings. We have started to sell our belongings.
In Iraq we used to have a big villa with a big garden; now we rent an apartment. But at least we feel safe.
We have been treated extremely well by the Jordanians, but you never know what's going to happen. We hear rumours now and then that they are going to deport us; that we are a burden.
If you exceed your residency, you are charged a dinar and a half per person per day. They check your passport at the border when you leave and make you pay.
If we find another place outside the Arab world, we would go. For the time being it is better to stay than try to leave.
We tried the American embassy, but they said go to the UN. I went to the UN; they are hopeless. They make lists of people and then do nothing with them.

AMMAR ABDULLA, 28, DAMASCUS

I used to run a translating bureau in Baghdad. I left in November last year after I received a threatening letter with a bullet in it saying don't ever open the office again.
I closed up, and a few days later a car bomb went off outside and completely demolished the office.
I am here in Damascus with my two sisters. One is a doctor; she was working at a health centre in Iraq when a cleaner said to her: "Put a veil over your head or you know what will happen to you." A cleaner threatened my sister.
WHERE IRAQIS HAVE FLED TO

Syria: 1,200,000
Jordan: 750,000
Gulf states: 200,000
Egypt: 100,000
Iran: 54,000
Lebanon: 40,000
Turkey: 10,000

Source: UNHCR

My parents are still in Baghdad; that's why I can't send you a 'photo of myself, it may get them in trouble.
I moved first to Amman, but left after three months. It was too expensive and they can't stand all the Iraqis - the Palestinian Jordanians were not friendly.
It's very difficult to find work here; I am living on savings. My money will last for another four or five months.
If I finish my money I will have to return to Baghdad.
I am trying to get an appointment with the UNHCR here in Damascus. We need to apply for immigration; Australia, Canada, the UK.
There are millions of us Iraqis in Syria and Jordan, not thousands. This is why I am not hopeful.

RIZGAR KHOSHNAW, 44, WASHINGTON DC

I moved back to Iraq from the US with my wife and three children in February 2006.
I am Kurdish and spent the first 14 years of my life in Iraq.
I was travelling to Irbil for the UN on a monthly basis and was spending so much time going back and forth, I really wanted to try living there; to make a difference.
My son was in a hospital room with five other kids; two died right before our eyes within a few minutes



So, I knew what I was going to. By then I was working in a private capacity, helping rebuild Iraq.
But we left nine months later. The main reason was that my six year old son became extremely ill.
I took him to the local "hospital" for treatment and what I saw was frightening. My son almost died there.
He was in a room with five other kids. Two of the five died right before our eyes within a few minutes. I just about lost it. I stood in front of my son so he could not see the dead bodies.
There isn't the technology or the resources to build good hospitals.
From sanctions to wars, it's devastated the Kurdish people and they are suffering a great deal.
I couldn't bear to see my children suffer when I had other alternatives; so, we're now based in Washington.
My wife and kids never left the house when we were in Irbil. There are no malls to go to and there are only two seasons: too hot or too cold. And the air itself is so polluted you can damage your kids' health. Things didn't work out because the environment isn't healthy and people don't have access to the medical care they deserve.

[QUOTE=Adster;192760]

Originally Posted by Countrygirl70

There are two ways of looking at this. Firstly, Kuwait are still pissed off with Iraq for the war in the 90s and Saddam's memory still lives on seeing as a fair part of the government are made up of Sunnis.

Or if you're feeling optimistic you can take it to mean they are so close to a reval that they will just be paid off via say a 1 to 1 reval. Not as if they need oil like all the other debt forgiving countries........

Who likes the second option?!

Ohhhhhhhh, I just don't know, what shall I do. Iwill gladly take the second option today, and a RV on Saturday, if you don't mind.

Originally Posted by Onenomad

Thats why im buying up shares in this company

TOMCO ENERGY PLC

a good hedge

if theres so much unexploited oil in the world, that means that peakoil is not a problem yet, which means price per barrel should be stable for many years. the only point to digging up our shale oil is if the price per barrel extracted would be competitive with imports. if not, then this is not a good investment, even as a hedge. youre better off in utilities and green energy utilities.

Originally Posted by crave681

if theres so much unexploited oil in the world, that means that peakoil is not a problem yet, which means price per barrel should be stable for many years. the only point to digging up our shale oil is if the price per barrel extracted would be competitive with imports. if not, then this is not a good investment, even as a hedge. youre better off in utilities and green energy utilities.

Interesting,

What we are seeing is fear driven, both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are already beyond peak, but few outside of the country, and industry know the truth, so it did not surprise me that they have been holding out on forgiving debt, never mind refusing. There futures are not bright, and they know it. Just look at what the Saudi's are doing, building islands, hundreds of skyscrapers, even an indoor sky resort, so the truth be known, they have to go in different direction as their oil parade is almost over.

Peak oil is the point when global oil production peaks, leading to a steep and irreversible decline which both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are dealing with. The moment when peak oil occurred, occurs or will occur is still under debate given both no longer utilize outside consulting companies. But the effects are already being felt.

The signs are all around us, you just need to put the pieces together.
Nine out of ten of the largest oil fields in the world have entered into decline. One in particular--Mexico's Cantarell oilfield--has dropped by 20% in production so far.

Oil prices have tripled since 2000, and we're never going to see oil below $50 a barrel, ever again. We haven't even hit the summer yet, when oil prices are at their highest, yet oil is threatening last year's high of $78 a barrel.

Oil companies are fighting like hell not just to boost their production and reserves, but also to hide the fact that anything is wrong. But numbers don't lie. In 2006, Shell produced twice as much oil as it discovered. Not to mention that the oil boys are also grasping at unconventional sources like oil sands to increase reserves.

Now let's factor in the fact that three quarters of the world's oil reserves are controlled by OPEC. OPEC countries like Saudi Arabia refuse to disclose statistics on their oil fields, further complicating the calculation of peak oil's actual date.

Yet even if you believe peak oil won't happen for another few years, one thing has become apparent: the world hasn't collapsed from higher oil prices.
If people cringe at $3 for a gallon of gasoline, they'll look back fondly on that when gas hits $5. But where will that end? Sure, $5 gas is better than $10 gas.

This is what it comes down to: What is the breaking point for oil prices when people wake up and realize we're living in a world of peak oil? $100 a barrel? $200 a barrel? If you had asked someone that question ten years ago, they might've said $70 a barrel.

And amid the struggle to increase production, the shadow of our rising demand looms more ominously every year. By 2015, we will need to produce 13 million more barrels of oil every day compared to today's production! By 2030 we'll need an extra 33 million barrels per day. These numbers, taken from the Energy Information Agency's International Energy Outlook 2006, may even be too low, as some experts predict.

So where does that leave us?

Money for the Taking

Once you accept the reality of high oil prices, you can take one of two paths.

The first is to sit idle like my friend at the gas pump, sacrificing your hard-earned cash to your SUV's $80 thirst for unleaded every week.
Not the most attractive option, is it?

The other choice you have is to play your money off this surging commodity. Any investor--any smart investor, that is--will look to the future and jump on it in the present.

When was the last time you saw somebody making money by sitting on his thumbs?

It's no secret that the U.S. is growing tired of Middle Eastern antics, with the oil sheikhs driving prices up and never boosting production to meet the swelling demand. What did OPEC say? They are "comfortable" with the present oil market and see no need to boost production.
Very comforting, indeed.

This leads us to the alternatives. Granted, renewable sources are vital to meeting long-term energy needs. But our thirst for oil isn't going away anytime soon.

So where will we get our oil in the future?

The door is wide open for Canadian oil sands, but bringing this oil to market will take many years as the extraction technology is not quite here yet. The U.S. is trying to increase their Canadian oil imports to over five million barrels per day. The potential profits in these companies are staggering, so yes, there are some great investment opportunities as these new reserves are tapped cost effectively, and with the price of oil to soon hit $100. per barrel, it is going to happen.

What Iraq should do is plant itself on the borders of Kuwait and pump the region dry knowing Kuwait was already cross drilling into Iraq which prompted Saddam's attack. Amazing how ungrateful Kuwait is after U.S. saved their greedy a$$es. Short memories goes along with their short oil reserves. lol

Good luck and health to all, Mike

Oil DealsIraqs oil ministry said on Thursday foreign firms should sign oil contracts only with the central government until a new oil law is passed.
Published: April 26, 2007 18:29h

But, adding that deals outside its jurisdiction would be considered illegal.

An oil industry source told Reuters the warning, made in an ministry statement after Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani met the Russian envoy to Baghdad, referred to contracts signed "recently" without the approval of the central government.

"The minister clarified that Iraq will not adhere to any contract signed outside the legal framework of the active laws, which confines negotiations and the signing of contracts in oil and gas fields to the oil ministry until the new hydrocarbon law is enforced," the statement said.

The new oil law, which Washington sees as a key step toward reconciling Iraq's warring communities, is vital to attracting investment from foreign firms to boost the Arab nation's oil output and rebuild its shattered economy.

"Foreign companies should only sign contracts through the central government and the oil ministry. The ministry warns companies who violate Iraqi law of the consequences of their actions and any contract that is signed outside the jurisdiction of the central Iraqi government is considered illegal," the statement added.

Iraq's Kurdistan regional government has signed several agreements with foreign companies, including a service contract last week with United Arab Emirate's Dana Gas.

Iraq's central government and Kurdish officials are currently trying to resolve disputes over the landmark draft oil law, which would determine control of the world's third-largest oil reserves.

Shares of Norway's DNO, an independent producer about to start drilling for oil at its Tawke field in the Kurdish-controlled north, fell as much as 4.5 percent after the oil ministry comments appeared to cast doubt on the company's production agreement with the Kurdish region.

An oil industry source told Reuters in Baghdad that the Iraqi government had no problem with a "Norwegian firm" that had signed a deal with the Kurds, without specifying DNO by name.

In Olso, DNO said it was confident about the validity of its oil production deal with Iraq's regional Kurdish authorities.

"We have always been confident in our agreement and we can't see that anything has changed," Chief Executive Helge Eide said.

By 1413 GMT the shares had pared their losses and were down 1.3 percent at 11.83 crowns.

DRAFT LAW

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, an architect of the draft oil law, told Reuters after the cabinet passed it in February that it would allow the Kurdish regional government to review existing contracts it has signed with foreign firms to ensure consistency with the terms of the new law.

Salih said a commission of independent experts would ratify consistency in case of contention and that regional authorities in Iraq would also be able to negotiate oil contracts with foreign companies based on the main criteria of "maximising revenues for Iraqi people."

Shahristani said last week the law would be ready for submission this week to parliament. But Kurdish energy officials have said annexes that would wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state-oil company are unconstitutional, raising the prospect of more delays.

The world's top oil companies have been manoeuvring for years to win a stake in Iraq's prized oilfields such as Bin Umar, Majnoon, Nassiriyah, West Qurna and Ratawi - all located in the south of the country.

Officials from Iraq's central government and the Kurdistan region said they would meet this week in Baghdad to iron out disputes over the draft law.

A fair distribution of Iraq's oil wealth is vital for national reconciliation because Sunni Arabs, who live in central and western Iraq, fear a bad deal would cut them off from any windfall should security improve enough to substantially boost production. Sunni Arabs are the backbone of the insurgency.

Javno - Economy

Originally Posted by bob1940

efollowing the threads ,and Speculations on the RV have aged me more than i ever wanted to be aged! I ams so positive ---Just a gut feeling---That this will happen before May 3, What Year, and how much ,I do not know , But all will be happy to get off this ride I think once this roller coaster ride ends I will Vommit for a week straight. (and not from the alcohol consumption, rather from the disgust of this trip.) JMHO!

I don’t know who posted this. I don’t think these are bob’s words, he was only quoting. I don’t know how you can say “from the disgust of this trip”. Of course you are entitled to your opinion but personally I have had an absolute ball. I met, through R/C, so many lovely people and not so lovely, the latter being few and far in between. I have also learnt a lot. Since July 2005 I have spent perhaps 2 hours a day on this forum and read a lot about Iraq and other ME countries. I ventured to buy a few dinar by the end of September 2005 and continued on from there but in a small way. If it never r/v I have no regrets whatsoever. Of course that is easy to say knowing full well that an r/v is just around the corner. I wonder how many of you think the same about this ride as the above quoted poster? He/she quotes that ALL will be happy to get off this ride. Is that true? I will be happy when the dinar r/v but hope that this will not be the end of the dinar section in R/C! Here’s to the 28th!!!!!!