Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 06/05/09 - 04/09/09

Missan oil company to increase production

The Missan Oil Company started Friday implementing an ambitious plan to increase the production capacity from the province’s oilfields to more than 600,000 barrels, a senior official said.

“The company started implementing the plan to increase the production capacity to more than 600,000 barrels, including the current production capacity of 105,000 barrels,” Adnan Noushi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=117846

Baghdad Chamber of Commerce calls for payment of financial dues to the merchants of the items of processors ration card

invited the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Commerce to pay the financial dues of the traders to processors through the ration card items for prior periods.

An official source in the room told the independent press (Iba) on Saturday, "The traders processors of food ration cards for non-payment of financial dues incurred by the Ministry of Commerce for a long time."

"This results in difficulty in the payment of the amounts of traders, financial loans for banks with fines Tojerip result of the non-payment of such amounts."

The source explained that "the room demanding that this issue be given due importance to the service of process from the business to ensure that the development of business process and ease the flow of food to the consumer, especially with the Iraqi holy month of Ramadan."

It should be noted that the Chamber appealed to the government to exempt traders who have their shops burned and destroyed from bombings or who closed their shops because of the security situation of taxation.

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Iraq is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council

Said President Federation of Chambers of Commerce Iraq Mahmoud Gaafar Messenger Hamdani That the GCC Gulf Arab After negotiations Continued More Of At the insistence of the Union Council decided Annexation of the Iraqi Federation of Chambers of Commerce in order to return to Of a new actor for his role On the map Economic Arabic ".

He singled out al-Hamadani, told the correspondent "during the Days Next There will be Meeting Of the Council and there will be Share Actors in Iraq It also will be Council resolution to replace the Name Council Cooperation to the chambers of the Arabian Gulf He pointed out that Iraq's return Active member Council GCC Iraq to reconsider the prospects for Investment Trade with all nations."

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al-Hassani, deputy accused of obstructing establishment of Kurdistan Alliance oil & gas law

MP accused Iraqi Alliance bloc, Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani, the Kurdistan Alliance bloc of blocking the adoption of the oil and gas law and that their position is on the agenda serve political interests.

And correspondent on the al-Hassani, saying that "the position of Kurdish politicians and the negative political

Has not changed since the oil and gas law.

Hassani said, "I think that the reluctance of the Kurds on the passing of the bill will not change, though we worked for what we can Activation of this law," noting that the Kurds have their own reasons behind the lack of activation of this law.

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Special meeting of the House of Representatives reveal a lack of coordination between the security for

A special meeting of the House of Representatives yesterday, which was attended by ministers and security chiefs from the lack of coordination between the security forces caused security violations that killed dozens.

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Gulf firms keen to hop on Iraq growth wagon

Regardless of Iraq's political troubles, Gulf companies are eager to make profits in a country that has the oil-driven potential to develop exponentially. Struggling to recover from the war, Iraq is desperately in need of developing its infrastructure.

Launched in May, Iraq's National Investment Commission (NIC) is promoting foreign investment to draw $500 billion (Dh1.83 trillion) of investment for reconstruction and development in the next six years. While part of the development was difficult to finance nationally, now the revenues are starting to trickle in from oil production in the northern region of Kurdistan that can turn the situation around.

Kurdistan saw its first oil exports at the end of May, boosting the country's June exports to 1.9 million barrels per day, according to the US State Department. Meanwhile, in July, the country earned $3.7 billion from exports of over 2 million barrels per day, according to Iraq's Ministry of Oil.

Internationally, a significant investment has come from Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas, the first Middle East investors in the energy sector since the war in Iraq began. Their project, Pearl Petroleum, started off with an initial investment of $650 million to develop gas fields in Kurdistan. The two companies produced 75 million cubic feet of gas a day initially, and plan to reach 300 million cubic feet by early 2010, Majid Jaffar, E.xecutive director of Crescent, told Dow Jones.

Additionally, two of Europe's largest utilities, OMV and MOL, have invested about $350 million to buy a 10 per cent stake in Pearl Petroleum.

Robert Powell, economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for the Middle East and North Africa, said that the country needs huge investments, in the range of $50 billion and $75 billion for the development of infrastructure and twice as much for its oilfields.

"So, put simply, the opportunities are enormous." But what hinders these investments from coming in are various issues, such as poor security and an unstable legal environment, he said.

"Theoretically the 2006 investment law allows 100 per cent foreign ownership of projects.... However, corruption is rife, and the courts are slow," Powell said.

The UAE' s non-oil trade with Iraq last year was Dh11.3 billion, with the bulk of it coming from re-exports. It ranks as the UAE's third-ranking trade partner for re-exports and 19th for total trade. While trade with the UAE has picked up, there are plenty of UAE-based companies waiting for better conditions. Vipen *****, chief E.xecutive of the Landmark Group, a regional retail conglomerate based in the UAE, said that the company would look towards Iraq as a potential market.

"We have plans to expand but nothing is confirmed as yet for Iraq. It's the mid-market, and because of its large population, it's a good place to go to once it stabilises," said *****.

Rakhee Nagpal, founder and chairman of Dynamic Vertical Solutions (DVS), an end-to-end information technology solutions provider that focuses on the retail and hospitality sector, said the Iraq market is an "interesting one for us". She said that the company would expand into the market, except that their principals have limitations.

"We had some interest in the past, with new hotels coming up but we have limits to sell there, even with Microsoft products," said Bill Tomlinson, general manager for the Middle East at DVS.

The World Bank ranked Iraq at 152nd among the 181 countries it surveyed for 2009's Doing Business Report. The low ranking that represents the difficulties in doing business stem from the country's red tape involved in getting permits, trading across borders and enforcing contracts, issues with getting credit as well as security, the report said. Nevertheless, there are companies that consider the opportunities in Iraq greater than the risks involved. A new entrant into the Iraq market is Arabian Auto.m.obiles, the exclusive dealer in Dubai and Northern Emirates for Nissan, Infinity and Renault. The distributor recently signed an agreement with Nissan to sell and service its vehicles in Iraq.

BlackGold, a UAE-based company and a subsidiary of Al Zarouni Enterprises, has also ventured into the energy market in northern Iraq. The company said recently that it would be investing several million dollars to explore and produce energy in northern Iraq. Exploration is scheduled to start in 2010, and production likely to commence in early 2011, it said.

Two regional airlines launched flights to Iraq recently, in obvious signs of change. Gulf Air started a five-times-a-week service from London to Baghdad via its hub in Bahrain last week, and Bahrain Air, the country's private airline, will start daily flights to Iraq this month. Ebrahim Abdullah Al Hamer, Bahrain Air's managing director, said that the plan to introduce the two new destinations of Baghdad and Najaf "represents a dedication to the lucrative Iraqi market, and appreciation of its immense growth and potential."

Economy to rise 6.2% next year

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) forecasts the real gross domestic production growth of Iraq to slow to 5.8 per cent in 2009 but increase to 6.2 per cent in 2010.

The EIU says oil output is expected to stagnate this year as maintaining Iraq's decrepit oil infrastructure is difficult. "However, with a pick-up in development expected in 2010, and exports from two fields in Iraqi Kurdistan commencing in June, production should increase once more next year."

"Although export volumes only returned to their January levels in June, earnings have been pushed higher by the rise in oil prices."

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidGN...Growth%20Wagon

Baker Hughes project to construct oil factories in Basra

US Baker Hughes company presented an investment project to build chemical factories and other blueprints to develop oil infrastructure in Basra.

The offer is one of the best achievement of the Investment Commission in Basra, said a source from the province’s Investment Committee.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Economics...-in-Basra.html

Originally Posted by Seaview

Special meeting of the House of Representatives reveal a lack of coordination between the security for

A special meeting of the House of Representatives yesterday, which was attended by ministers and security chiefs from the lack of coordination between the security forces caused security violations that killed dozens.

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House of Representatives intended to call the prime minister for questioning and a source of parliament demanding the removal of security minister

House of Representatives plans to call Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for questioning as a commander-in-chief of the armed forces, against the backdrop of the explosions, which targeted different areas of Baghdad on Wednesday.

This was announced by Deputy Qasim Dawood, and injury also revealed the presence of demands also sacked the ministers of defense, interior and national security of Baghdad and the leadership for failing to protect citizens and their justifications are not convincing, he said.

He pointed out that the parliament would be an investigation committee to identify the causes of collapse and its security and find out who was responsible for that.

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Zebari, "does not exclude the existence of collusion" between the leaders and the security of Baghdad bombers

The Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Saturday "does not exclude the existence of collusion" between the leaders and security of offenders responsible for bombings Wednesday Which killed about one hundred people and injured more than 600 others.

Zebari said at a press conference at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was badly damaged "does not rule out the existence of collusion by the security services and terrorist elements to pass the car to the sensitive areas," he said.

"The Prime Minister ordered the arrest of leaders of the level of security and the dean and a leading provider of accountability for how to allow for the passage of this truck in this sensitive area, "referring to the truck bomb that targeted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Zebari criticized the weakness of the security role, saying" there must be an official investigation and the name things by their name and to desist statements to be more optimistic and security must be false to say the truth, "he said." There is the deterioration of security and a realistic two months ago, and the next biggest. "He called for decisive action, saying," public address inactivity and laziness and lack of discipline among the security services and this must address the hard security, not statements."

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Central Bank: International Monetary Fund loan will be spent on infrastructure projects with a focus on the electricity sector

Advisor, Central Bank of Iraq, Mohammed Saleh, said that the appearance of the IMF loan, which will get Iraq before the end of this year of 5.5 billion dollars, will be used in economic development and infrastructure projects with a focus on the electricity sector.

He added that the Fund's loans are usually provided for the award of the balance of payments and to address the structural imbalances that simple, for the first time provide the balance and interest rate amounts to 1% paid over 5 years.

He pointed to the benefit of the fund on condition that the money be spent on economic development and national infrastructure projects with a focus on the electricity sector and the large strategic projects, which rests with the State and not to pay salaries and so on.

The Ministry of Finance has announced mid-June \ July, reached a tentative agreement during a tour of talks chaired by Iraqi Minister of Finance with experts of the International Monetary Fund to give Iraq a loan ranging from 5 to 6 billion dollars as well as to continue to negotiate until a final agreement.

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