Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 01/01/08 - 14/04/08

Only small part of an article because I am not a subscribed to this site......

Iraq ignores UN Oil Barter Embargo

The International Advisory and Monitoring Board, an audit oversight body for the Development Fund for Iraq, has expressed "concern" over Iraq's payments of oil instead of cash...


EPICOS

Lukoil head in Iraq to discuss reviving Oil Deal

The head of Russia's second-largest oil firm, LUKOIL, will meet Iraq's oil minister on Monday to discuss reviving a multi-billion-dollar deal to develop one of Iraq's largest oilfields.

Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov and Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexander Sultanov, are in Baghdad to meet Iraq's political leaders to boost foreign investment in the country. Moscow last month wrote off most of Iraq's $12.9 billion debt to Russia.

"The chief of Lukoil will discuss with the Iraqi oil ministry the former oil contracts which have problems, one of which is the contract for West Qurna (oilfield)," Hoshiyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, told reporters.

"This contract, according to the Iraqi government, is cancelled."

Lukoil hopes to be able to regain its $3.7 billion Saddam Hussein-era West Qurna deal to tap one of Iraq's biggest oil deposits.

But Baghdad is also in discussions with Chevron and Total to develop the same fields.

"We suggested to them they had better to discuss this issue directly with the oil ministry to reach a satisfactory compromise for both sides and not to be the prisoners of the past," Zebari said.

Last month Russia signed a deal with Baghdad that it said would open up Iraq for $4 billion in investment from Russian companies.

Lukoil head in Iraq to discuss reviving oil deal | Reuters&

UPDATE 2 - Putin calls on Iraq to help LUKOIL revive oil deal

BAGHDAD/MOSCOW, March 24 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday called on Iraq to support Russian investments as the head of oil major LUKOIL arrived in Baghdad in a final bid to revive a Saddam Hussein-era oil deal.

Moscow has long fought to revive some of the Iraqi contracts lost after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, including a $3.7 billion deal to develop West Qurna oilfield in southern Iraq.

Putin's appeal to Iraq, in a letter to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, was the highest-level intervention to date.

"Our companies are ready to increase their contribution to rebuilding and modernising Iraq's economic infrastructure, primarily in the oil and gas industries where we have accumulated large experience and have good prospects for the future," the Kremlin quoted Putin as saying in the letter.

"I hope the Russian business community's intent to broaden cooperation will receive appropriate support from the Iraqi leadership," the Kremlin quoted the letter as saying.

The Kremlin said the letter specifically mentioned a project to rebuild a pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk oilfield to Syria's Mediterranean terminal of Banias, in which Russian firms hope to participate, as well as the West Qurna field.

The head of LUKOIL, Russia's second-largest oil firm, Vagit Alekperov, and Russian deputy foreign minister, Alexander Sultanov, are in Baghdad to meet Iraq's political leaders.

"The chief of LUKOIL will discuss with the Iraqi oil ministry the former oil contracts which have problems, one of which is the contract for West Qurna," Hoshiyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, told reporters.

LUKOIL wants to revive the West Qurna deal to tap one of Iraq's biggest oil deposits.

But Maliki's energy adviser, Thamir Ghadhban, told Reuters last week that Baghdad was close to finalizing a technical support contract with Chevron and Total to develop the same fields.

"We suggested to them they had better discuss this issue directly with the oil ministry to reach a satisfactory compromise for both sides and not to be the prisoners of the past," Zebari said.

"This (LUKOIL) contract, according to the Iraqi government, is cancelled."
The Iraqi oil ministry declined to provide any details about the meeting between Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani and LUKOIL's Alekperov.

The Russian delegation will next meet President Jalal Talabani on Tuesday to discuss oil investment in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

LUKOIL's shares closed 4.39 percent up on Russia's main MICEX bourse, outperforming the broader oil and gas index.

Russia last month wrote off most of Iraq's $12.9 billion debt to it and signed a cooperation agreement that Moscow said would open up Iraq for $4 billion in investment from Russian companies.

Putin calls on Iraq to help LUKOIL revive oil deal | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

Iraqi Parliament will encourage cabinet reshuffling – UIC Lawmaker

During the Iraqi Parliament's new legislative term that will start its first sessions on Tuesday March 25, 2008, the Parliament will discuss important legislations, such as the Oil and Gas bill and civil servants' salaries bill, in addition to encouraging the government to accelerate the cabinet reshuffling process, said a lawmaker from the United Iraqi Coalition (UIC – Shiite bloc) on Monday.

Ridha Jawad Taqee, a senior leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), said in a press release issued by the media center of that Shiite political party "In addition to the bills of Oil and Gas, and civil servants' salaries, the parliament will discuss elections bill, and the constitutional amendments."

Iraqi Parliament started a one month winter vacation at the end of February 2008.

He added the "Iraqi Parliament will encourage the government to accelerate the cabinet reshuffling process, or at least to fill empty ministerial posts."

Taqee hoped the "Iraqi Parliament will enact these bills, and solve all those issues as fast as possible, during the coming sessions."

Different political entities withdrew from the current Iraqi cabinet formed by Premier Nouri Al-Maliki on April 2006. Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF – Sunni) – withdrew its five ministers, in addition to the Deputy Prime Minister, Iraqi National Slate withdrew its five ministers, and the Sadr Trend also withdrew its six ministers from the cabinet.

Premier al-Maliki said on more than one occasion that he aims at forming a new cabinet, but not according to sectarian and partisan conditions.

Aswat Aliraq

Curfew clamped on Basra

Iraqi security forces imposed a curfew on Basra and suspended studying until further notice, while Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asserted that the city is facing pressures on its security and stability.

"The National Defense Center decided to impose a curfew as of today until further notice and to impose a vehicle ban throughout the province as well as suspend studying in the Basra schools," a statement released by the National Defense Center and read by Maj. General Abdul Karim Khalaf highlighted.

Meanwhile, Prime Minsiter Nouri al-Maliki said in a statement aired by the state-run al-Iraqia satellite television, "Basra faces many internal and foreign pressures against its security and stability through targeting its religious, scientific, and social figures and this is being accompanied by smuggling oil, weapons, and *****."

"Those outlaws were supported by some people inside and outside the government's institutions, the matter that raises the crime, kidnapping and murder rates and turns Basra into an unsafe place," the statement added.

Al-Maliki's office said in a statement earlier that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held a meeting on Monday in one of the military bases in Basra with the ministers of defense, interior, and national security, as well as a number of senior army officers.

A spokesman for the Iraqi government had revealed on Sunday plans to restructure and intensify security forces' presence in Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. However, he denied any plans to bring British troops back into the city.

"Iraq's security forces would be restructured and intensified in Basra with direct supervision from the prime minister, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, with the aim of confronting groups involved in sabotage in the city," Ali al-Dabagh said on Sunday.

Dabagh declined to give any more details about the number of additional security forces to be deployed in Basra.

A security source in the Basra police told VOI that Undersecretary of the Interior Adnan al-Assadi and the Basra operations Chief Maj. General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf had arrived earlier on Sunday, while eyewitnesses from different areas in the province said military forces in large numbers entered the province on Monday via the northern outlets.

The witnesses said that many U.S. warplanes landed at the city's airport.
Earlier on Monday, British forces in southern Iraq said they had no plans to enter Basra, expressing readiness to back Iraqi forces in the oil-rich port city if they were asked by the Iraqi government.

British soldiers were stationed in one base - Basra International Airport - after handing over the former presidential palaces, which they procured as a military base, to the Iraqi forces.

The British forces maintain 4,100 troops within the MNF in Iraq.
Britain was the United States' prime ally in the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Aswat Aliraq

Iraq oil exports at pre-invasion levels

Iraqi oil shipments rose slightly in February to 1.93 million barrels of oil per day, the oil ministry said on Monday, as output stablized to pre-invasion levels.

February exports, which were 10,000 bpd more than the previous month, translated into $5.04 billion for government coffers, the ministry said.

Oil prices have traded near or above $100 a barrel for more than a month.

Five years after the US-led invasion, Iraq’s oil sector is at last pumping at the level it managed under Saddam Hussein. But analysts and company officials say it could take years to make further progress.

Iraq’s oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani told Reuters late last month that production was around 2.5 million bpd in February. Baghdad hopes to pump an average of 2.6 million to 2.7 million bpd over 2008.

The latest gains have resulted from improved security around Iraq’s Kirkuk oilfield and its northern export pipeline in Turkey.
Persistent sabotage and technical problems had kept the route all but idle since the US-led invasion in 2003, but since last summer Iraq has managed to sustain flows.

Exports from Iraq’s northern oilfields in Kirkuk totalled around 393,000 bpd, while southern oilfields in Basra loaded 1.54 million bpd, the ministry said.

Khaleej Times Online - Iraq oil exports at pre-invasion levels=

Update......

Iraq readies oil, gas, Iran pipeline bids

Iraq announced tenders for international oil companies to test two of its largest oil fields, develop a major natural gas field and build a pipeline to Iran.

The four tenders, revealed on the Oil Ministry Web site, are part of the country's larger effort to increase oil production and exports while meeting domestic demand.

Iraq is producing about 2.4 million bpd of oil and exporting 1.9 million bpd, the highest rate of consistent output since 2003. Iraqis face massive fuel and electricity shortages, however, due to a lack of refining and other infrastructure capacity.

Companies have until April 30 to file applications to conduct 3-D testing of the super giant Rumaila and Kirkuk oil fields. The fields contain proven reserves of 17 billion barrels and 10 billion barrels, respectively.

Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves -- the third largest in the world -- but is underexplored due to Saddam Hussein's mismanagement of the oil sector, U.N. sanctions and post-2003 security conditions.

A meeting will be held by the ministry in June followed by bid selection and work to begin during the last three months of the year.

Both fields are among five under negotiation for Technical Support Agreements between the ministry and Shell, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total. The TSAs would be two-year deals where the companies would be paid to provide equipment, training and studies. Each field would increase production by 100,000 barrels per day, the ministry said.

The ministry is also accepting bids to develop the Akkas gas field, located near the Syrian border. The field has 2.1 trillion cubic feet of gas and is pegged for export to Syria and potentially to Turkey and Europe. It's located in a once more dangerous area of Anbar province and could be the first large hydrocarbons development in an area of Iraq that is majority Sunni Arab.

The fourth tender is for engineering, design, study and procurement of materials for a project to send Iraqi oil to Iran and Iranian-refined products to Iraq. The pipes themselves have already been purchased. The pipelines would run below the Shatt al-Arab waterway in southeast Iraq.

The Akkas and pipeline project applications are due April 24.

The tenders come as Baghdad faces disputes with both the Kurdistan Regional Government, which wants autonomy to develop the resources in its area, and Iraq's oil workers, who want limits on foreign participation in the currently nationalized oil sector.

The KRG has signed deals of its own already, over Baghdad's objections and warnings. The workers have also criticized Iraq's ministries for not investing more of their own funds instead of relying on foreign investment.

Iraq readies oil, gas, Iran pipeline bids - UPI.com

From Yahoo News
Sadr militia battle troops in four Iraqi cities by Ammar Karim
27 minutes ago



Moqtada al-Sadr's militiamen Tuesday battled troops in four Iraqi cities on Tuesday, including the capital, as the hardline Shiite cleric threatened a countrywide campaign of civil revolt.

Heavy clashes broke out between Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters in the southern oil city of Basra, killing at least seven people and wounding 48, and in Kut and Hilla, both south of Baghdad, officials said.

As evening fell, Mahdi Army fighters fought with Iraqi and US forces in their Sadr City bastion in eastern Baghdad for the first time since last October, a security official and witnesses told AFP.

Troops had surrounded the sprawling impoverished neighbourhood of two million people and armed Shiite fighters were roaming the streets, a witness said.

The fighting, which severely strains a ceasefire declared by Sadr in late August and renewed last month, prompted the cleric to issue a stern warning that he would launch protests and a nationwide strike if attacks against his movement and "poor people" are not halted.

"We demand that religious and political leaders intervene to stop the attacks on poor people. We call on all Iraqis to launch protests across all the provinces.

"If the government does not respect these demands, the second step will be general civil disobedience in Baghdad and the Iraqi provinces," Sadr said in a statement read by his representative Hazam al-Aaraji in the holy city of Najaf.

Liqa al-Yassin, an MP from the Sadr bloc, told AFP that the Sadrists would boycott parliamentary proceedings "until the government agrees to our demands."

"We are also starting a signature campaign to express no confidence in (Prime Minister) Nuri al-Maliki's government," he said.

Fighting raged from early morning in areas of Basra controlled by the Mahdi Army as troops and police launched a major crackdown on armed groups in the oil hub, considered the nerve centre of Iraq's national economy.

At least seven people were killed and 48 wounded, among them dozens of members of the Iraqi security forces, according to police and medics.

An AFP correspondent said fighting in Basra died away late afternoon and the streets were empty even of security force vehicles.

Clashes raged sporadically in Kut as militants fought Iraqi and US forces but there were no immediate reports of casualties. At least two people died in the Hilla clashes, security officials said.

In August, Sadr ordered a ceasefire following bloody fighting in the shrine city of Karbala blamed on his fighters, which were involved in two rebellions against US forces in 2004.

While Iraqi and US officials say most members of the militia have heeded the order, a number of what the US military terms "rogue elements" continue to attack American forces with mortars, rockets and roadside bombs.

Despite the ceasefire, Mahdi Army members are being subject to raids by the "occupiers" and Iraqi forces which are "destroying Iraqi houses," Sadr's statement said.

"Iraqis in general and Mahdi members in particular are paying the price."

British military officials said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in Basra to personally oversee the major security force sweep in Iraq's second largest city, but that British troops were not taking part.

An AFP correspondent said fighting involving mortars, machine guns and assault weapons erupted soon after the security forces entered the Al-Tamiyah neighbourhood, a bastion of Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, at around 5:00 am (0200 GMT). The fighting quickly spread to five other Mahdi Army neighbourhoods.

Television pictures showed Iraqi troops running through the streets firing weapons and taking cover as ambulances raced past. Thick palls of smoke were seen rising above the city skyline.

In the wake of the fighting police also imposed curfews in five central-southern Shiite cities -- Kut, Samawa, Nasiriyah, Hilla and Diwaniyah -- as well as in Sadr City.

Basra province was handed over to Iraqi control by British forces in mid-December.

It has since become the theatre of a bitter turf war between the Mahdi Army, the Badr organisation allied to the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) of powerful politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, and the smaller Shiite party, Fadhila, ahead of provincial elections in October.

After touring Basra on Monday, Maliki vowed his government would restore order, saying the city was experiencing a "brutal campaign" by internal and external groups targeting "innocent men and women."

"The federal Iraqi government... will restore security, stability and enforce law in this city."

Interesting to see Sadr play his hand at this time in the life of the Iraqi Government. Bush and Cheney have prodded Mal to get a move on and Sadr I feel wants to let the powers to be that he is still a Very Strong Player in Iraqi Government and Politics. I fear that we have a long wait till we see any good and positive changes in the IQD or the Iraqi Parliment. Corruption at it's finest. Hope that Everyone at RC has a Blessed Weekend. warrior (sorry about the rant)

Originally Posted by 67 warrior

Interesting to see Sadr play his hand at this time in the life of the Iraqi Government. Bush and Cheney have prodded Mal to get a move on and Sadr I feel wants to let the powers to be that he is still a Very Strong Player in Iraqi Government and Politics. I fear that we have a long wait till we see any good and positive changes in the IQD or the Iraqi Parliment. Corruption at it's finest. Hope that Everyone at RC has a Blessed Weekend. warrior (sorry about the rant)

two things i will add warrior....Bush was always taking way too much credit for the ""SO CALLED SECURITY IMPROVEMENT"" with his troop surge...people forgot that Sadr had called off his Militia.....that coupled with the troop surge was why the security was better.....second thing.....while the troop surge and the militia were working hand in hand it took this lazy a** corrupt government way too long to do what they were supposed to do....now things look like they will be getting back to the way they were before the troop surge and the poor people of Iraq will have nothing again....as is par for the course it seems like with this corrupt government...just my thoughts..........Pat