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

ISX decreases by %0.695

Iraq's Stock Exchange (ISX) index decreased by 0.694 percent to settle at 37.200 points at the closing of Thursday's session.

Shares of 41 companies were traded during today's session, where 342 million shares were transacted at a value of over 449 million dinars (1 U.S. $ equals 1,221 Iraqi dinars) achieved through the implementation of 197 contracts.

The banking sector achieved the highest circulation in terms of the number of shares traded, as well as in terms of trading volume.

Non-Iraqi investors participated in today's session through the implementation of 14 contracts in the banking, investment ,service and manufacture sectors. The traded shares reached more than 58 million, valued at over71 million dinars, and the number of companies traded was 13.

The statement concluded that 41 companies were traded in Thursday's session out of 94 companies registered in Iraq's stock exchange, of which 5 indexes went up, 14 dropped, and 22 maintained their previous price.

Aswat Aliraq

Sadrist MP threatens to wage ‘crucial battle’ against PM

Sadrist lawmaker Bahaa al-Aaraji on Thursday threatened the Iraqi government under Nouri al-Maliki of waging a battle described as crucial in case it did not abide by the decisions of the quintet committee formed to implement Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s initiative to end all armed conflicts.

The legislator accused al-Maliki of aiming at escalating the situation, underlining that the Sadrist bloc wants to calm down it.

During the last week, Basra province, 590 km south of Baghdad, witnessed six days of bloody armed confrontations between governmental forces and Mahdi Army militia.

Clashes ended when the Shiite leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, ordered his followers to abort "all armed scenes," and to cooperate with governmental forces to impose security and law.

The clashes left 210 gunmen killed and 600 others wounded as well as arresting 155 during Operation Saulat al-Foursan (Knights’ Assault) aimed at eliminating all armed groups in the southern Iraqi city.

The lawmaker urged all political blocs to interfere to force the premier to favor his country’s’ interests and not to submit to the international pressures nor the partial recommendations.

Aswat Aliraq

Basra operation targets gangs not political blocs – PM

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Thursday that the security operation waged by the government in Basra last week targeted ‘gangs not political blocs.’

“Speaking at a press conference held in Baghdad, the premier said “Basra operation was a battle against gangs which used to launch murdering and looting operations, not against political blocs in the city."

He hailed efforts made by Iraqi tribes, asserting they play a strong role in support Iraq.

“This battle, which started in Basra, will expand to include all Iraqi cities,” al-Maliki highlighted.

During the last week, Basra province, 590 km south of Baghdad, witnessed six days of bloody armed confrontations between governmental forces and Mahdi Army militia.

Clashes ended when the Shiite leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, ordered his followers to abort "all armed scenes," and to cooperate with governmental forces to impose security and law.

The clashes left 210 gunmen killed and 600 others wounded as well as arresting 155 during Operation Saulat al-Foursan (Knights’ Assault) aimed at eliminating all armed groups in the southern Iraqi city.

Aswat Aliraq

Iraqi authorities cast Flyers calling Basra residents to support security forces

Iraqi planes on Thursday cast fliers calling people for supprting security forces and threatening armed groups with punishment.

"Iraqi troops has launched a campaign to take out the cancer of outlaws militias violtaing security and destabilizing order", said a copy of the flyers obtained by Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq(VOI).

The flyer also pointed out "the outlaw militia that violated the codes of respect and honour would be punished for all their crimes".

It added "many militiamen put down their weapons and disavowed criminal acts".

Iraqi has lauched a major crackdown in Basra areas seaching for wanted suspects.

During the last week, Basra province, 590 km south of Baghdad, witnessed six days of bloody armed confrontations between governmental forces and Mahdi Army militia.

Clashes ended when the Shiite leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, ordered his followers to abort "all armed scenes," and to cooperate with governmental forces to impose security and law.

The clashes left 210 gunmen killed and 600 others wounded as well as arresting 155 during Operation Saulat al-Foursan (Knights’ Assault) aimed at eliminating all armed groups in the southern Iraqi city

Aswat Aliraq

2000 Iranian Soldiers Deployed at Iran-Kurdistan Region Border

A well-informed source told PUKmedia that Iran has recently deployed more than 2000 soldiers in Khane (Piranshahr) city and its surroundings.

Iran has deployed forces in order to tighten its borders with the Kurdistan region while the Iranian artilleries sporadically bombarded the Kurdistan region border areas- Kordo and Kalkash areas in Haji Omaran sub district, as the source said.

PUKmedia :: English - 2000 Iranian Soldiers Deployed at Iran-Kurdistan Region Border

British Royal Navy helps Iraq to protect southern oil installations

Light US crude oil price decreased in early exchange sessions Tuesday, carrying on the sharp decrease it started a day before because of expected refresh in Iraq oil exports and in selling operations providing gain. However, US crude oil price reached $100.54.

On the other hand, naval sources said that south Iraq exports reached about 1.4 million oil barrels per day on Tuesday, maintaining the level it reached Monday. To that, British Royal Navy is helping Iraq Forces to protect oil installations in the south of the country.

British Royal Navy helps Iraq to protect southern oil installations | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Reparations ongoing to rehabilitate southern Iraq pipeline

An oil sector official said that Iraq aims at carrying on reparations in the oil pipeline that was harmed in a sabotage attack south of the country and that in order to resume pumping the 100 000 barrels per day that it stopped producing because of the attack.

He added that Iraq used quantities of oil reserves in tanks in order to compensate the oil pumping halt.

Reparations ongoing to rehabilitate southern Iraq pipeline | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Fadlallah Issues Edict Banning Attacks on Iraqi Infrastructure

Lebanon's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah has issued a religious edict banning attacks on Iraq's oil industry and other public infrastructure.

Fadlallah also urged Iraqis on Monday to solve their problems through dialogue. Two oil pipelines have been attacked in the southern Iraqi oil city of Basra over the past week.

Iraqi-born Fadlallah, who enjoys some influence among Iraq's Shiites, said "it is prohibited to attack properties and public wealth, whether it is oil wealth or other types of wealth, and attacks on people, their lives, security, stability, property or honor."

The edict comes after week-long clashes between Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Jaish al-Mahdi and Iraqi security forces that killed at least 461 people.

Al-Sadr on Sunday reined in his men after a peace deal with Iraqi government forces.

In ordering his militia to stop fighting, al-Sadr also demanded concessions from the Iraqi government, including an end to the "illegal raids and arrests" of his followers and the release of all detainees who have not been convicted of any offenses.

Sadrists in Basra complained police were still conducting raids in the area Monday night and that their followers might start carrying weapons again for self-defense.

Naharnet Newsdesk - Fadlallah Issues Edict Banning Attacks on Iraqi Infrastructure

Oil prices edge up toward $106 a barrel on weakness in the US dollar

Oil prices edged higher as fresh weakness in the U.S. dollar offset the impact of news that an oil pipeline in Iraq had been repaired.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery gained 28 cents to $105.90 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by the afternoon in Europe.

Earlier in the session, the Nymex contract had fallen as low as $104.34, while Brent bottomed out at $102.86 before recovering. On Friday, the Nymex contract fell $1.96 to settle at $105.62 a barrel.

In London, Brent crude futures rose 15 cents to $103.92 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The euro gained slightly on the dollar Monday, with the European currency trading at $1.5816 - up from $1.5760 on Friday. The dollar also lost ground to the yen, falling to 99.38 Japanese yen from 100.00 yen on Friday.

As the dollar weakens, it makes oil and other commodities more appealing as a hedge against inflation. A weaker dollar also makes oil cheaper for overseas investors.

An official from Iraq's South Oil Co. said Saturday that "everything returned to normal as of 10 p.m. Thursday" after the bombing of a key oil export pipeline in Basra earlier in the day.

Word of Thursday's attack had raised concerns that Iraqi exports would fall sharply and sent oil prices surging higher. Basra has faced fierce clashes since fighting broke out Tuesday between government security forces and Shiite militia fighters.

"The Oil price has been pulling back because the disruption in the oil pipeline supply in Iraq has been resolved," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.

Thursday's attack was the second pipeline bombing since the security crackdown was kicked off in Basra, which is about 340 miles southeast of Baghdad and accounts for most of Iraq's oil exports and output.

Concerns about the U.S. economy also weighed on futures. The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday consumer spending edged up by just 0.1 percent last month, the poorest showing since September 2006. Energy investors worry that a cooling economy will use less fuel.

"In the coming weeks, barring any new supply side concerns, the weaker fundamentals in the U.S. market will likely pull back prices," Shum said. "The latest oil product demand data out of the U.S. show a soft market."

Analysts are split on oil's direction. Many think prices will rise to new records in coming months as the dollar resumes its decline. The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates several more times this year, and lower interest rates tend to weaken the dollar. Many analysts say the weaker dollar has been largely responsible for oil's run to a record near $112 a barrel earlier this month.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures were up 0.78 cent to $3.1128 a gallon while gasoline prices fell 0.45 cent to $2.7125 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 13.8 cents to $9.938 per 1,000 cubic feet.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8757140

Analysis: Iraq moves on Oil, Graft Laws

Negotiators are hammering out a new draft Iraq oil law after previous versions stalled, and as Parliament is moving forward on two new laws, one reconstituting the state oil company and another cracking down on oil and fuel smuggling.

"Shortly, we'll see a new draft which there is more common ground," said Abdul-Hadi al-Hasani, deputy chair of the Iraqi Parliament's Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee, which has already seen four versions of a draft oil law. The latest draft is based on "good dialogue" between the central and Kurdistan region governments, he said, and the Council of Ministers will soon approve it and send it to his committee.

A new oil law has officially been in the works for two years, and sources United Press International spoke to both echoed Hasani's optimism as well as said a divide over the law remains too large.

The law is one piece in a four-part package of legislation aimed at modernizing Iraq's oil sector.

Another is a law re-establishing the Iraqi National Oil Co., the state company dissolved as Saddam Hussein consolidated power over Iraq's oil via the Oil Ministry. Hasani told UPI in a telephone interview from Baghdad that the INOC law has been passed from the Council to his committee.

"We are going to discuss it next week," he said, calling it "one step in the right direction."

Hasani said INOC would incorporate all state companies operating in the oil and gas sector.

The remaining legislation -- a law reorganizing the role of the Ministry of Oil and a revenue-sharing law, which decides how oil sales are captured and redistributed -- both remain with the Council of Ministers.

"We've been asking for it and we're waiting on it," Hasani said. "These two laws if they come in will really prepare good ground to be able to pass the hydrocarbons law, which everybody is waiting for."

Iraq has the third-largest oil reserves in the world but was the world's 15th largest producer in 2006, according to the U.S. Energy Department's data arm, the Energy Information Administration. Production has increased from nearly 2 million barrels per day to around 2.4 billion bpd. It has sizeable natural gas reserves, which are underdeveloped.

The reserves have been controlled by the central government since the 1960s in a nationalized oil sector popular with most Iraqis. Saddam used the oil to line his regime's pockets and mismanaged the fields. That damage was compounded by U.N. sanctions preventing modern equipment and training, as well as wars in the country in each of the last three decades.

To fix and move forward Iraq's 80-year-old oil industry, tens of billions of dollars of investment is needed. The oil law debate is stuck on two main issues: whether to open up the oil sector to private and foreign investment (and if so, to what extent) and whether the strategy for exploring and developing the sector should be managed by the central government or the producing provinces and regions.

Hasani said a new law targeting smugglers has already received a first reading. It comes after last week's Iraqi Security Forces siege on Basra and still ongoing but smaller targeting of smuggling operations in the country's oil capital, as well as black-market clouds that hang over Iraq's largest oil refinery, Baiji, in the north.

Hasani said the law would set penalties for smugglers and tighten the borders. It would also create a certification for how oil and fuel can be transported -- be it on land or water -- and set container mandates.

The totality of Iraq's smuggling problem isn't known, but it rears its head in various ways: fuel and oil tankers diverted; refineries and loading terminals over- or under-filling; and simply boring holes in pipelines.

The total cost to Iraq's federal budget is no more than $3 billion a year, said Yahia Said, Middle East and North Africa director for the Revenue Watch Institute. That's decreasing as fuel subsidies are decreasing and meters are being installed throughout the sector. He said there's still work to be done to cut illegal activity in Baiji. The refinery is considered a funnel for insurgency funds.

"There's a disconnect between output and sales," he said. "The rest is politics."

Hasani said smuggling is more of a problem in the north of Iraq than in the south.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, however, is targeting Basra. The New Sabah newspaper reports Iraqi Security Forces are "to sink all the boats that are used for smuggling and empty the public buildings and lands occupied by smugglers in no more than one month."

The Addustour newspaper reports the Iraqi army has taken control over security and control of the Khor al-Zubair and Umm Qasr ports.

Analysis: Iraq moves on oil, graft laws - UPI.com