Thread: Iraq/Dinar News Until 5/3/07 Midnight CST.

Originally Posted by Alphamystic

I don't know about the rest of you but I'm Expecting some news from Iraq

Me, too!

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) clarifies its position on The HCL

27 April 2007

STATEMENT FROM MINISTER OF NATURAL RESOURCES
KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT - IRAQ
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) clarifies its position
regarding the latest developments on the Draft Oil Law

In the light of the recent developments, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) expresses
serious concerns regarding the draft Annexes to the proposed Oil and Gas Law that were
recently circulated, and that were discussed last Wednesday at a conference in Dubai (“the
Dubai Annexes”).
These are concerns that should be shared by all Iraqi citizens. In summary, the Dubai
Annexes are inconsistent with the overriding policy goal of maximizing economic returns to
the Iraqi people, and inconsistent with Iraq’s federal Constitution. The Dubai Annexes are
inconsistent with the proposed Oil and Gas Law that was agreed by the Council of Ministers
on 15 February 2007.
As a member of the Federal Oil and Energy Committee, I urge the Committee to address
these concerns, and consider the merits of the attached KRG-proposed amendments to the
Annexes. Until our concerns are addressed, the KRG cannot support any Oil and Gas Law
package of legislation in the Council of Representatives.
Our concerns with the Dubai Annexes are as follows:

1. Concentration of unaccountable power:

The Dubai Annexes attempt to allocate almost
93 per cent of Iraq’s proven petroleum reserves to a new “Iraq National Oil Company”
(INOC), leaving barely 7 per cent for Regions and other entities to use for inward
investments. Furthermore, the majority of the fields included in the 7 per cent remainder are
marginal or not commercial. Massive power will be concentrated in the hands of INOC
without any clear investment and production targets, and without clear accountability to the
people of Iraq. With this level of concentration, the proposed Oil and Gas Law, and any
regulatory apparatus, will become irrelevant.
The Board of INOC must be entirely separate from the Oil Minister and the Oil Ministry:
INOC must be a regulated, not a regulatory, body. Because it is supposed to be a federal
institution, INOC must be accountable to the Federal Oil and Gas Council, and not to the
Council of Ministers. INOC must not be given almost the entirety of Iraq’s oil and gas
reserves.
The proposed Federal Oil and Gas Council, an intergovernmental institution, will recognise
to the fact that Regional rights over petroleum have paramountcy in the Constitution over
federal rights (Article 115) and the right of Regions to be represented in federal decisionmaking
(Article 105).
2

2. Return to old regime methods:

The concentration of power in the hands of INOC will
represent a return to method of petroleum management of previous Iraqi regimes, where
centralized oil power was a corrupting influence, and used to fund violent campaigns by
elites against neighbouring countries and against our own Iraqi citizens.
Iraq’s petroleum regime must be modern. The KRG is well aware that all successful oil
producing federations have a decentralized petroleum sector, with some level of national cooperation,
and all are open to private investment. Iraq’s Constitution, in Article 112,
mandates just such a petroleum sector, and the Constitution must be honoured.

3. Breach of constitutional rights of Regions:

The allocation of petroleum to INOC as
proposed in the Dubai Annexes is unconstitutional. Specifically:
(a) The Dubai Annexes purport to give to INOC petroleum fields that are undeveloped,
including fields that must be managed by future Regions in Iraq, including a future southern
Region or Regions. These fields must be under the management control of Regions and
Governorates pursuant to Article 112 of the Constitution. Undeveloped fields over which no
Region or Governorate asserts jurisdiction should be allocated, temporarily, to the Oil
Ministry, and open to bidding.
(b) The Dubai Annexes give to INOC currently producing fields, but do not place INOC
under an obligation to manage those fields jointly with Regions and Governorates. Article
112 of the Constitution is clear on this point also, but the INOC law, as drafted, does not
acknowledge the role of Regions and Governorates as joint partners in management
decisions, but rather refers only to a diluted consultation mechanism.
(c) The Dubai Annexes do not clearly recognize KRG authority to contract in the Kurdistan
Region, and indeed propose exploration and development blocks in the Kurdistan Region that
differ from those which are already the subject of KRG contracts with private investors.
Annexes 3 and 4, in particular, must recognize the fact that the Constitution itself, in Article
112, allocates fields other than currently producing fields to the Regions and Governorates,
including the Kurdistan Region. The Annexes must recognize that the KRG has already
allocated exploration and development blocks in the Kurdistan Region under Production
Sharing Agreements pursuant to the Iraq Constitution. The Annexes must clearly
acknowledge that fields and blocks in the Kurdistan Region are under the KRG’s jurisdiction,
that it is for the KRG to define the coordinates of the fields and blocks, and that the KRG will
be contracting authority for those fields and blocks.
The KRG considers that, in the unlikely event the proposed Law with the Dubai Annexes
were presented to the Council of Representatives and approved by the Council, the law would
be immediately void as unconstitutional by virtue of Article 13 of the Constitution.

4. Breach of constitutional revenue sharing rules

: It is also unclear whether the Dubai
Annexes will require INOC’s revenues to be shared throughout Iraq according to population.
Article 112 of the Constitution is very clear on this requirement.
With these Dubai Annexes, Iraq is in great danger of losing its main source of revenue to an
unaccountable entity that will absorb funds for alleged reinvestment and expansion but
without returning funds to the people of Iraq. The KRG has advanced several discussion
3
drafts of a revenue sharing law for Iraq that would pool all petroleum revenue, wherever that
revenue is raised, for sharing throughout Iraq according to the Constitution. We have
received no response.

5. Failure to maximize revenue for Iraq

: The legal obligations of INOC to develop Iraq’s
petroleum are unclear in the Dubai Annexes. Article 112 of the Constitution requires oil
production in Iraq to maximize returns to the peoples of Iraq. The Dubai Annexes provide
Iraq with no assurance that INOC will be any better than the current bureaucracy in
increasing petroleum revenue for Iraq. Many of the fields which are proposed to be allocated
to INOC have been discovered for up to 30 years, without any development. With no
accountability or contractual requirements to produce, why should we expect the
performance of INOC to be any better than that of the Oil Ministry in past years and decades?
INOC must be clearly defined as a contract-holder for each of the particular fields allocated
to it, like any other contractor in Iraq, with contractual obligations to the Iraq federation to
develop fields and generate revenue for Iraq-wide sharing. This was the intent of the 15
February Draft Oil and Gas Law. Each field for which INOC is the contractor must,
depending on the particular nature of the field, have a mandatory program for field
development. If the mandatory program is not met, the field should be put on the market for
open bidding, to obtain maximum timely returns to the Iraqi people. INOC should be given a
mandatory target of increasing Iraq’s petroleum production to 4.5 million barrels per day
within 5 years, and should lose some of its contractual rights if individual field targets are not
met.

http://www.krg.org/pdf/MNR_Statement_20070427.pdf

I know this isn't Iraq but just imagine what is going to happen when ISX goes full steam.

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange “Benefits” from Austrian Economic Theory » The Daily Reckoning Australia

KRG MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES RESPONDS TO STATEMENTS FROM BAGHDAD DETERRING OIL INVESTMENT IN IRAQ Today the KRG Minister of Natural Resources issued a statement responding to the lack of progress by the Iraq Federal Government in finalising the draft Oil and Gas Law for Iraq.

Officials from the Federal Government have recently issued documents, in the form of "Annexes" to the draft Law, attempting to give an unaccountable Iraq national oil company, "INOC", almost 93% of Iraq's proven petroleum reserves. They have said the draft Law and Annexes will be submitted to the Iraq Council of Representatives (Parliament). Those same officials stated at a public conference in Dubai last week that none of the petroleum fields to be given to INOC will be open to inward investment from outside Iraq.

These Annexes are unconstitutional and will not be supported by the KRG in the Federal Parliament. They breach requirements under the Iraq Constitution that the petroleum sector be developed through private investment, with Regional control over new petroleum fields, and joint development between Regions and the Federal Government of currently producing fields. The message the Annexes send is that Iraq is closed for business.

If an unaccountable and inefficient INOC is created with such a stranglehold on Iraq's oil, all the peoples of Iraq will suffer. All Iraqis should oppose this effort by the Baghdad officials to derail the development of their petroleum sector. No law can be passed in the Iraq Parliament without the KRG's support and no law can be passed in the Iraq Parliament which is contrary to the Constitution of Iraq.

Kurdistan will continue to exercise its full authority in the Kurdistan Region under the Constitution, including the negotiation of competitive Production Sharing Agreements with experienced international investors, for the benefit of all Iraqi people.

KRG, Kurdistan Regional Government

Analysis: Fight rages over Iraq oil law
UPI - [28/04/2007]


Discussions turned contentious among the more than 60 Iraqi oil officials reviewing Iraq's draft hydrocarbons bill last week in the United Arab Emirates.
But the dispute highlighted the need for further negotiations on the proposed law that was stalled in talks for nearly eight months, then pushed through Iraq's Cabinet without most key provisions.

Tariq Shafiq, one of three authors of the law, said he attended the Dubai summit "reluctantly," at the request of Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani.

"I thought it would help," Shafiq said, hoping all Iraqi sides in the debate over its oil law would meet and iron out their differences. "Apparently it did not."

Petroleum Intelligence Weekly reports talks in Dubai led to "heated exchanges."

Instead, the voices of those who disagree with the law or, like Shafiq, oppose what it has become since the initial draft and how it was kept from the public, were not given part of the platform.

"Had there been genuine interest in having consensus," Shafiq said, "the two differing parties should have sat -- not publicly in front of the television -- to discuss with an open heart how you can reach a compromise. But this apparently was not their aim."

Most of the law, which is better referred to as a regime, or a set of interworking laws, has yet to be finalized. But the main sticking points have the central government and Kurdistan Regional Government at loggerheads still.

Although the Bush administration, led by former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and now U.N. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, praised passage of the framework law when Iraq's Cabinet approved it late February, it doesn't quite qualify as one of the benchmarks he has set for success in Iraq.

"To give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country's economy, Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis," Bush said in a national address Jan. 10. But neither the KRG nor the central government has agreed on the percentage of oil revenue to be shared. The KRG wants an automatic mechanism to redistribute the funds, while the central government wants it collected to the central bank, to be doled out by the Iraqi finance minister.

Before any more development of the oil sector, struggling to produce 2 million barrels per day, both sides must agree on which of the 116 billion barrels worth of fields will be under the control of the central government -- most likely via the reconstituted Iraq National Oil Co. -- and which fields the regions and governorates will control. The Iraqi constitution, passed in 2005, was written vaguely to garner enough support, but fueled the current disagreement over control of oil reserves, the world's third-largest.

Shahristani told reporters on the sidelines of the Dubai meeting that Parliament would take up the law this week -- which didn't happen -- while Ashti Hawrami, the KRG's oil minister, vowed Kurdish parliamentarians would veto it as written.

Negotiations continue on other aspects, such as the contract models allowed to sign with much-needed investors and the exact roles the federal oil and gas council, Iraq Oil Minister and INOC will play.

All this is supposed to be done by May 31, a deadline set by a Bush administration that needs a progress marker for Iraq, a fragile Iraqi central government that is falling apart and the KRG that is ready to continue development in its semi-autonomous and relatively peaceful northern region.

"I just don't see that. It's just too much," said Frank A. Verrastro, director and senior fellow of the energy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a centrist Washington think tank. The framework is important, he said, but it has no value standing alone.

He said at least in Dubai they realized there are "significant issues" to resolve still.

There are many who oppose the law. Iraq's oil unions have threatened to shutdown production if foreign companies are allowed too much control. Many political and sectarian blocs also feel that way. And Sunnis, a minority group without oil land and the power wielded while Saddam Hussein reigned, fear they'll wind up without if the central government is weak.

"If the law does not state a precise formula for that distribution, then the law is fairly meaningless," said Thomas Mowle, an associate political science professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy who served in the Strategy, Plans, and Assessment Division, Headquarters Multinational Force-Iraq, Baghdad, from August to December 2004.

"If the law includes the distribution of revenue from future oil projects, then the Kurds are likely to reject it as unconstitutional," he said. "If the law does not include such revenue, then it will accomplish little toward national reconciliation."

Shafiq said "the majority of the oil technocrats are against" the law as written. He said the eight months negotiators took after the drafters were finished was too long. And it was kept secret from the public and parliamentarians, which then added to the politicization.

"The weak thing about their procedure is they never published the draft," Shafiq said. "They should have had teams to explain this to unions, to intellectuals, to nongovernmental organizations, to the parliamentarians, and then get the gist of their reactions before they start finalizing a draft."

And then, with the Bush administration needing results, officials leaned on negotiators to pass something. Out came the framework. Khalilzad announced its passage, and the KRG sent out a news release.

"That was a big mistake," Shafiq said.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3689

Voice of Iraq) - 28-04-2007 sent this issue to a friend Saturday, April 28, 2007 a press statement,

the Prime Minister, Mr. Nouri Kamel al-Maliki that Iraq sought to be supportive and shepherd for dialogue and understanding the regional and international arena, and not to influence and sparring. He said in his meeting today with members of the American Congress headed by Democratic Senator Ben Nelson to give the influence of this or that at our expense is a red line for Ancemah him.

He called for a conference to help the International Covenant and the neighboring countries to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh end of this week to create bridges of understanding between all nations gathered especially among States for a united by Syria and Iran on the other. He stressed that the Iraqi government is serious in building armed forces and handed security file in all parts of Iraq as soon as possible. He expressed the hope that the current year crucial in this area. The members of Congress Democrats for their continued support for Iraq, saying that they want to impose arbitrary timetables for withdrawal. But they determine what they described conditions of participation and survival and not the date of withdrawal. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said that there were dangers threatening Iraq and Al Qaeda Sadamien who said they steer indiscriminate killings targeting all Iraqis various sects and affiliations. Pointing out that pave the way for them to climb to power threatens national unity Aihida conditions as some imagine. Unlike those who chose to participate in the political process and not irregular criminality and violence.

Wow!!!

It sounds like the INOC is trying to make off with the oil like a bandit and the KRG is having none of that. So where does this leave us regarding the revaluation of the NID?

I'm sure I don't know, but it would seem to me that all these issues must be resolved so that everything the KRG is putting forth here is adhired to, per the Iraqi constitution or how else will the counrty be able prosper and develope international trade and investments that will certainly bolster the value of the new Iraqi dinar.

Voice of Iraq) - 28-04-2007 sent this issue to a friend of the American army announced the arrest of 17 suspects during raids in Iraq against Al Qaeda elements in Iraq Saturday.

A spokesman for the American army said that American forces had made progress in efforts to dismantle the networks of Al Qaeda in Iraq. This development comes a day after the American army announced the arrest of a senior Al Qaeda officials in Iraq called Abu Hadi Iraqi while attempting to enter the race. Also, American planes bombed a truck loaded with explosives near the town of Fallujah in Anbar province. The American army said that knowledge of the existence of the truck after the arrest of one of the armed men during a military operation there. It was found that the truck loaded with four cylinders which means great unknown in addition to explosive materials.

On the other hand, American forces said it had launched a checkpoint south of Baghdad that targeted a network of smuggling arms into Iraq from Iran in the town of Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad.

A statement by the American army that he had with Iraqi forces launched a raid on one of the buildings in Mahmoudia and arrested eight suspects and seized quantities of weapons with new dates and signs Iranian modern. The statement pointed out that the weapons seized included missile Morter, ammunition and missiles. The United States also accuses Iran of allowing gunmen to enter Iraq via its borders and the smuggling of weapons into Iraq, including high explosive booby traps that have the greatest losses on the American forces. Developments on the ground the Iraqi police said that gunmen killed a police officer and wounded two in an attack on a police station in Ad Duluiyah is located about 70 km north of Baghdad. Targeted bomb was planted on the road a group of day laborers, resulting in the death of one person and wounding eight in the Zafaraniyah neighborhood in southern Baghdad. Gunmen killed five civilians and wounded one when they opened fire on their car in Al Bai'aa neighborhood in southwest Baghdad. Police said they found the body of their hands bound and blindfolded and thrown in the suburbs Mahmoudia located about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad on Friday.

Police announced that a bomb planted on the road resulted in the death of one person and injuring another in Nahrawan, 30 kilometers south of Baghdad on Friday. The Interior Ministry said that it had been found seven bodies in Baghdad during the twenty four hours preceding.

Police said they found the 16 bodies in Mosul, located about 390 kilometers north of Baghdad during the twenty four hours preceding. Police said they found the body shot in the head in Mahaweel is located about 75 km south of Baghdad.

Source: Saudi king refuses al-Maliki
POSTED: 0212 GMT (1012 HKT), April 27, 2007

(CNN) -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has denied Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki entrance into Saudi Arabia, according to a senior Saudi intelligence source.

The king believes al-Maliki, who wanted to go to Saudi Arabia on a state visit, is not doing enough to protect Sunnis from attacks by Shias, the source said.

The Saudi kingdom is a Sunni-dominated state.

There was no immediate reaction from al-Maliki's office.

Source: Saudi king refuses al-Maliki - CNN.com

Central bank claims currency speculation at an end
We need to find someone who has a meed subscription, to find out what this article is saying. Take a look at the article , its the sixth article down, dated 4/26/2007

Central bank claims currency speculation at an end
ECONOMY REGIONAL
26 Apr 2007

MEED - Middle East Business News & Information