Thread: Iraq/Dinar Until June 9th 1PM CST

The discovery of the largest natural gas field in Iraq extends from Mosul to the border with Saudi Arabia

05.06.07
Sawa

A Assem Jihad, spokesman of the Ministry of Oil as the largest natural gas field in Iraq extends from the border of the province of Nineveh to the existing Western and has extensions up to the Iraqi-Saudi border, estimated productivity card accompanying initially estimated at about 100 thousand barrels per day.

The jihad that the European Union is interested in exceptionally realm Okash invader in Iraq, because of its proximity to the European Union and the possibility of linking the strategic gas pipeline project linking Egypt, Jordan and Syria through Turkey to the European Union.

He pointed out that the Jihad of the Ministry of Oil held intensive talks with the European Union delegation in the past few days on the field Okash.

He stressed Assem Jihad, spokesman of the Ministry of Oil that future investments in the field Okash would make Iraq the largest producers of natural gas.

جريدة الأهالي

Attention European buy gas Iraqi

Iraq put 15 privilege of oil and gas after the passage of the law

05.06.07
Life

Expect Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Shahrastani Adoption of the new law of Iraqi oil during the next two months, after that had been expected early next month.

The Oil Ministry is seeking to attract investors to the sector, which faces huge difficulties, but the oil companies wait for the passing of the bill before taking decisions by investing in Iraq. The importance of the law that regulates the distribution of Iraqi oil revenues among the sectarian and ethnic groups in the country.

The Ministry's Director General Hassan Fayadh blessing, announced last week that Iraq would be offered in auction 15% of the land assets of oil and gas immediately after the bill passed.

He said the blessing "of Iraq supplying 15 gas fields and for the first round of the auction after the law of oil and gas ... is preparing bids."

The territory of Iraq, a third of global oil reserves, but production had been affected due to lack of investment and violence.

He called on Iraq to Iranian companies to bid for contracts to build the ranks in various parts of the country, as well as talks to extend the pipeline to export oil through Iranian Abadan and parallel pipeline to import oil derivatives. Analysts ruled that Iran could meet Iraq's needs refining, since it lacks the technology, also suffer shortages in the supply of gasoline.

In Baghdad, An official source at the Oil Ministry said that representatives of the European Union, expressed their desire, after meeting with the minister Shahrastani, to import natural gas from the field Okash in Mosul, indicating that the Iraqi gas will be transported by pipeline to transport gas joint Arab, undergone a number of Arab states and Europe via Turkey in the event of an agreement.

So, attributed spokesman for the Ministry of Oil increasing numbers of cars in regular queues in front of fuel stations for the supply of combustion in Baghdad, which extends to kilometers, to block the arrival of the tanker's fuel tank, by the security services, and exposure to line carrier oil derivatives to sabotage operations in the area of Latifiyah south of Baghdad.

جريدة الأهالي

More than 1 million jobless been registered centers operating in Iraq

05.06.07
Baghdad / on Whitani

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs revealed that the operation centers in Baghdad and other governorates, recorded more than a million people are unemployed and equality.

According to statistics issued by the Directorate of Employment and Vocational Training and got (people), a copy of operating and training centers recorded since 2000 and until the end of last month, and seven million unemployed for whom 911 thousand and 434 males and 95 thousand m 877 females.

She said that the numbers of unemployed who found jobs in companies and institutions, the private sector and for the same period has reached 202 thousand and 731 of whom more than 19 thousand 12 thousand male and female.

جريدة الأهالي

Kurds see pressures mounting on Kirkuk

The New Anatolian / Erbil-Kirkuk
05 June 2007

Kurdish leaders say they are against any delays in the proposed referendum for the future of Kirkuk and are "totally opposed to the moves of some forces in Baghdad to change article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution" that would eventually bring the province under the jurisdiction of the Kurds.

Prime Minister Necirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional Government here told the regional Parliament in a special session on Kirkuk that there are still pressures for an amendment on article 140 and on the oil law that would give the Kurds secure revenues.

He said the formalities and administrative process in Baghdad is going too slow and thus this is creating delays. However, he stressed the referendum on Kirkuk should be held without any delays at the end of the year as article 140 requires. He said any delay will create serious complications.

He also said there are forces in Baghdad that want to amend article 140 but that the Kurds are against this. He said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports the Kurdish view that the referendum should take place.

The New Anatolian has learnt that the Sunni Arabs want substantial changes in article 140 and some Shiite lawmakers are also supporting them. There is also talk that the Americans have also started to se a delay in the referendum may become inevitable because of technical reasons. The issue was reportedly discussed between President George W. Bush and his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani last week. Bush reportedly informed the Iraqi leader of the growing international pressures in Europe and among the Sunni Arab states friendly to Washington for a delay.

Observers say the population census that is required by article 140 may not be held in late June and July because no serious preparations have been made.

Meanwhile, half of the Arab families who were moved into the province by the Saddam regime during the Arabization campaign have reportedly registered with the authorities to go back to their old provinces.

Kurdish State Minister Dr. Muhammad Ihsan told the regional parliament that he had completed work on the Arabization campaign and has determined that 5,677 land deeds which have been taken from Kurds and Turkmens by force and given to Arabs will now return to their rightful owners.

He also said there is work in progress for the demarcation of the provincial borders of Kirkuk which were ruined by Saddam.

Necirvan Barzani told the Parliament that his recent trip to Baghdad showed that there are still problems in the oil law. He said the Kurds want the automatic transfer of the oil revenues to the Kurdish budget and are pushing for legal arrangements.

He said the demands of the Kurds on Kirkuk are for everyone living in the Kurdish region including the Turkmens.

At a press conference later regional Parliament Speaker Adnan Mufti said Turkmens are the second nation in the Kurdistan region after Kurds. The said their contributions to the development and democratization of the region have been valuable.

Barzani also told the press conference that the Kurds see the recent troop movements inside Turkey as an internal matter of Turkey and do not feel threatened. He said there has been no border violation by Turkey.

The New Anatolian

Announcement No.(939)

D.G. of Foreign Exchange Control

The 939 daily currency auction was held in the Central Bank of Iraq day Tuesday 2007/6/5 so the results were as follows :

Details NotesNumber of banks20-----
Auction price selling dinar / US $1260-----
Auction price buying dinar / US $----------
Amount sold at auction price (US $)77.865.000-----
Amount purchased at Auction price (US $) -----
Total offers for buying (US $)77.865.000-----
Total offers for selling (US $)----------

Maliki's calls for dialogue, national reconciliation make headlines in Iraqi press
By Saad Obeid

Baghdad, 05 June 2007 (Voices of Iraq)

Iraqi newspapers on Monday highlighted the statements made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in which he asserted that Iraq is for all Iraqis and called for dialogue and national reconciliation as the only ways to resolve all differences.

The government-funded al-Sabah newspaper quoted al-Maliki during a governors' meeting held on Sunday as saying that differences in belief and opinion should not lead to differences in Iraqis' stances on their political participation. The newspaper said in an attempt to stimulate greater political participation and to increase support for his government, al-Maliki is currently considering a new strategic project that aims to unite Iraqi groups.

Discussing the possibility of opening channels of communication between the Iraqi government and opposition forces, the newspaper said that the prime minister's visit to Iraq's Kurdistan region and his meetings with regional officials had revealed a new strategy seeking to include the opposition in the Iraqi political process.

Moreover, the newspaper quoted Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani, after a recuperative trip to the United States, as stressing the current government's efforts to put an end to armed operations through coordination with armed factions and militia groups.

On its front page the newspaper published the following two headlines: 'Security official: Gulf agenda undermines stability in Basra' and 'Al-Hafiz calls for forming a coalition government under a parliamentary majority system.' According to the newspaper, MP Mahdi al-Hafiz, who quit the Iraqi National Slate, called for forming a coalition government, which he said would lead to a more democratic political process.

Under the headline, 'Religious scholars call for unity and prohibit fighting,' the newspaper covered an expanded conference scheduled to be held today with the participation of representatives from Iraq's Sunni and Shiite communities. "Today, 130 top religious clerics in Iraq will call for prohibiting fighting and rejecting division and sectarian violence," the newspaper wrote.

Al-Taakhi newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by al-Talabani, published the following headlines: 'Joint meeting on Kurdistan and federal Iraq,' and 'U.S. defense minister warns Turkey of repercussions of military interference in Iraq's Kurdistan region.'

Citing a report published by the Washington Post, al-Taakhi newspaper said that four years after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the United Nations is still spending millions of dollars from Iraq's oil exports on its teams hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The main headlines of the independent al-Mada newspaper read: 'An expanded conference today to create an institution of Sunni, Shiite scholars' and 'Petraeus to extend security plan until the end of 2007.' Quoting ABC News, the newspaper said that the U.S. troops are intending to stay in Iraq until 2019 at the earliest.

Al-Bayyina newspaper, issued by Iraq's Hezbollah movement, focused on a statement made by Secretary General of the Human Rights Group in Iraq Walid al-Hilli, in which he dismissed claims that the current Iraqi government was appointed by the U.S. administration. "It is an elected national unity government represented by 94% of the Iraqi parliament," al-Hilli said.

Maliki's calls for dialogue, national reconciliation make headlines in Iraqi press | Iraq Updates

Blocs' refusal to candidates delays voting on reshuffle
By Adel Fakher

Baghdad, 05 June 2007 (Voices of Iraq)

An Iraqi Parliamentarian from the Kurdistan Coalition said on Monday that a number of parliamentarian blocs' objection to the candidates for the vacant portfolios led to a delay in the lawmakers' voting.

"The Sadrist bloc, lawmakers loyal to the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, argued that the candidates are not independent or technocratic enough," Mahmoud Othman told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

Six ministers, from the Sadrist bloc, withdrew from the government in mid April and the Shiite cleric Sadr authorized the Iraqi Prime Minister to select alternatives from the qualified independent characters.

The Sadrist bloc, a main component of the Shiite parliamentary bloc, has 30 seats out of the 275-seat parliament.

"A number of the parliament's members left the session when it was presented for discussion, which led to lack of quorum," Othman also said.

"The last session was attended by 171 members, but they were busy discussing issues on protecting the parliament's building and when the time came to vote for the reshuffle, only 110 members were present and it was not sufficient according to the constitution to vote for a reshuffle which necessitate the presence of no less than 138 members," he explained.

"The vacant ministries are important as most offer services and there should be an understanding between the blocs to settle the whole issue," the lawmaker noted.

He voiced hope over settling the issue in Tuesday's session.

Blocs' refusal to candidates delays voting on reshuffle | Iraq Updates

Tension rises over Kirkuk
By Kareem Zair

05 June 2007 (Azzaman)

Rival minorities are at loggerheads over the fate of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

As Kurdish leaders vow to include Kirkuk within their semi-independent enclave, other minorities in the city say they will oppose the move with all available means.

President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq say they would not accept any constitutional amendment to a paragraph calling for a referendum in the city.

The paragraph, known as article 140, is among the most contentious in the constitution which Iraqi Sunnis would like to see substantially revised to preserve the country’s national unity.

The Kurds want the referendum to take place at the end of the year as stipulated by the constitution because they believe they now have numerical superiority in the city.

Other ethnic minorities accuse the Kurds of attempts to change the city’s demographic structure in the years since the downfall of former leader Saddam Hussein.

“We are determined to apply article 140 of the Iraqi constitution regarding the normalization of conditions in Kirkuk,” said Talabani.

But Iraqi Turkmen and Arabs who live in the city and its suburbs are openly resisting Kurdish attempts to annex Kirkuk.

They say if the government went ahead and let the Kurds to have the city, the move would eventually backfire, fuelling further the current ethnic and sectarian strife.

Arab and Turkmen leaders have asked the government to turn Kirkuk into a special region with an administration in which the three major minorities – Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen – will have equal share.

They also want article 140 revised as part of the amendments demanded by the Iraqi parliament and mainly Sunni opposition leaders.

For the time being they would like at least the implementation of the article postponed for at least five years.

But Barzani in a joint press conference with Talabani said, “We shall not accept any postponement of that paragraph.”

Tension rises over Kirkuk | Iraq Updates

Gates gives gentle prod to Iraqi govt.
By ROBERT BURNS

05 June 2007 (Associated Press)

Defense Secretary Robert Gates gave the Iraqi government a gentle prod Tuesday to move faster toward political reconciliation during the American troop buildup in Baghdad.

"We would certainly be happier if there were faster progress on the political front," Gates told reporters during a joint news conference with Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov. He noted that the Iraqis had missed a May 31 deadline for passing a hydrocarbons law — one of many political obstacles yet to be overcome.

Gates was asked whether it appeared to him that U.S. and Iraqi forces were making slower-than-expected progress in establishing security in Baghdad neighborhoods, as news reports have indicated in recent days. He said he had not seen any early projections by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, of how many neighborhoods were expected to be cleared of insurgents by this point.

"So I'm not in a position to judge whether that is faster or slower than General Petraeus anticipated," he said. "If it's slower it's clearly because al-Qaida and others are trying to make as much difficulty as possible for us and for the Iraqi government."

He noted that Petraeus is due to report to Washington in September on how the U.S. troop buildup is working.

"General Petraeus has been pretty clear from the beginning that this was going to be a difficult process," Gates said, referring to the counterinsurgency campaign, which required the addition of about 30,000 extra U.S. troops. Since the troop buildup began in January, the U.S. casualty rate has increased substantially.

Gates applauded the effort of Iraqi security forces, saying they are suffering casualties at twice the rate of U.S. forces.

"Their willingness to fight and die for their country is not in doubt," he said.

Gates stopped in Bishkek to consult with Kyrgyz officials about the U.S. use of an air base outside the capital, where U.S. cargo and refueling planes are stationed for operations related to the war in Afghanistan. U.S. soldiers also transit through the Manas air base on their way to Afghanistan. Gates was in Afghanistan on Monday.

Gates gives gentle prod to Iraqi govt. | Iraq Updates

Moussa, Hashemi underline long way for Iraq reconciliation

Cairo, 05 June 2007 (Kuwait News Agency (KUNA))

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and visiting Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi were concurrent here Monday evening that there was a long way for national reconciliation in Iraq.

They expressed the views at a joint news briefing following their talks.

"The draft reconciliation presented by the government was a good one and had to be a safety valve for all Iraqis. But, unfortunately, it fell short of expectations. We still have a long way to build a strong Iraqi reconciliation, " the Iraqi vice president said.

Asked why innocent Iraqi prisoners were not freed, al-Hashemi said "There was an agreement on ending this dossier in December 2006, but it did not materialize." "The US administration is reluctant to release those innocents," he said.

He added that a draft amnesty that provided for setting free those innocent detainees was yet to be put in place.

On the other hand, he termed the current situation in Iraq as "very worrisome", predicting that some developments could take place in the foreseeable future.

For his part, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said talks with the Iraqi leader mainly included the latest situation in Iraq.

Asked about Iranian-US dialogue on the situation in Iraq, Moussa said "Dialogue is the active way to calm matters, resolve problems and preclude a military conflict. We hope two-way dialogue will continue in the interest of calmness." He added that the Iraqi standoff was the core concern of all Arab nations and Iraq's neighboring countries, not only that of Iran and the US.

Moussa, Hashemi underline long way for Iraq reconciliation | Iraq Updates