ONGC, Reliance jointly eye Iraq oil field
By Reuters
Tuesday December 26, 07:10 PM
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and its private competitor Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) are in talks to jointly develop Tuba oil field in southern Iraq, top ONGC officials said on Tuesday.
ONGC, through its overseas investment arm ONGC Videsh Ltd., along with RIL and Algeria's Sonatrach tried in 2000 to secure the field in Iraq for production of crude oil.
A senior company official, who did not wish to be identified, said ONGC had initiated talks with RIL and Sonatrach to revive the consortium and pursue the opportunity jointly.
ONGC chairman and managing director R. S. Sharma confirmed the project was being discussed, telling Reuters: "Yes we are in talks with Reliance on Tuba field."
A Reliance official declined to comment.
The ONGC official who declined to be named said discussions were still at a preliminary stage. He said ONGC and RIL were expected to hold a 30 percent stake each in the project-specific consortium and Sonatrach would hold the remaining 40 percent.
Iraq is expected to enact an oil law that would allow the regions to negotiate oilfield contracts with foreign investors.
Iraq desperately needs foreign investment to revive its shattered economy, which relies heavily on oil export revenues. The country straddles the world's third largest oil reserves.
Analysts say if the consortium works out, it will be the first time that two arch rivals, ONGC and Reliance, work together abroad rather than competing.
"It is a great story. Cutting throats will not help. Cooperation is good for the companies and the country," said Anushree Sinha, senior fellow at National Council of Applied Economic Research.
India imports 70 percent of its crude oil demand.
Shares in ONGC ended 2.64 percent up at 888.10 rupees in a firm Mumbai market, while Reliance shares closed 0.42 percent firmer at 1,276.75 rupees.
ONGC, Reliance jointly eye Iraq oil field
An unusual because of the presence of Barzani's Kurdistan Parliament
An unusual because of the presence of Barzani's Kurdistan Parliament
Jayman favor of
Arbil - (Voices of Iraq)
The Kurdistan Parliament today, Tuesday, the unusual presence in Erbil Mr. Masoud Barzani President of Kurdistan.
He said the essence of Mr. Tariq Media Advisor to the President of the Parliament in a statement to News Agency (Voices of Iraq) Independent today that the "ad hoc meeting, in principle, to discuss and debate the President's visit to Baghdad and the region, which lasted months."
But he added, "and could be addressed Barzani and other issues important during his address before the parliament."
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Iraq's oil revenue may provide every Iraqi with $3500 a year
MENAFN - 26/12/2006
(MENAFN) An American energy analyst that a plan gaining favor in Washington to distribute Iraq's oil revenue directly to its people could put $3,500 a year in the hands of every adult Iraqi citizen, AlArab Online reported.
The analyst said that his estimate was based on an oil price of $60 a barrel, $10 a barrel production costs, and the assumption that 10 million Iraqis would be old enough to qualify for a share of their country's oil wealth.
He said that the best way to administer the program may be to give the money to those who register to vote and maintain a bank account, thus promoting social involvement and stability.
However, opponents say distributing the money would be difficult due to logistical and corruption problems, but the idea has picked up advocates as the United States looks for ways to stop the chaos that has followed the 2003 invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Iraq produces 2.2 million barrels of oil a day and exports 1.5 million barrels, according to the Iraq Study Group Report issued earlier this month.
Estimates for current average annual income in Iraq vary widely, but top out at around $1,500 a year.
MENAFN - Middle East North Africa . Financial Network News: Iraq's oil revenue may provide every Iraqi with $3500 a year
Economic : The Oil Ministry is seeking to build the largest oil refinery in Iraq
Economic : The Oil Ministry is seeking to build the largest oil refinery in Iraq
Baghdad :
Al-Sabah Al-Jadeed An official source at the Oil Ministry said that the ministry was currently negotiating with the company (ABB hit a raw) and the Company (Howe Wacker) and the American (Stiank), in addition to one Iraqi companies to proceed with the implementation of building a refinery Mesopotamia, in the governorate of Karbala bounties south of Baghdad. "
The source pointed out that the ministry asked the companies to make some amendments to the submissions from before, "he said, emphasizing that these amendments technical, commercial and related amounts for the implementation of the project and develop methods and clear of contract.
He added that this project would be subject to approval by the Council of Ministers after the termination of negotiations for ratification.
He added that the project, whose design capacity of 140 thousand barrels of crude oil, will provide all types of derivatives to a number of Central provinces in which it is located.
Stressing that the direct implementation of this project will be in the first quarter of next year, adding that to be implemented Stsgrk three years, and that the cost will exceed $ 2 billion global art techniques for building oil refineries.
The source pointed out that the refineries in Iraq has suffered from benign neglect for many years by not building any refinery in Iraq since the mid-1980s. Pointing out that the ministry had prepared a plan to build a number of refineries various sizes in all governorates.
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Pump, pump, pump! :biggrin: :biggrin:
Former Planning Minister : 95% contribution of oil
Former Planning Minister : 95% contribution of oil
(Voice of Iraq) - 12-26-2006 Former Planning Minister : 95% contribution of oil in the budget ...
Hafiz : Iraqi economy depends on the international oil markets Baghdad-Adel Mahdi life-26 / 12 / 06 / /
Basrah Refinery A member of the House of Representatives and Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation Mahdi Al-Hafiz, former Iraqi, that the oil revenues represent «source basis for the financing of the state budget by 95%, and the source of foreign currency, which provide cash cover of the national currency, as a proportion of 65% of GDP», pointing out that they «event known to all the parties».
However, he explained that the new order is in the «deterioration of economic conditions in the form of serious, particularly the productive sectors, especially industry and agriculture». Pointing out that the proportion of the contribution of industry to GDP «ranging between 1.5% and 2%, while a fall in the past, specifically in the early 1980s between 8 and 10%. Agriculture dropped its contribution to GDP to 3% after the increase of 12% in the same period ».
The keeper This means that «our economy today is the continued fluently and nature dependent on the outside world». Since it was «subject of the world oil market to determine the size of its financial resources at the sharp pendulum hand, as well as the fact that importation is the center of gravity to cover demand in the local market for vital goods, from food and consumer medicines, medical supplies and even services», «He gave this to the inability of industry and agriculture on the performance of this task». He believed that the Iraqi economy is so «recipient of external shocks, whether through export or import».
He called «keeper to take seriously the gravity of this case, especially as it is accompanied by negative phenomena, originating primarily from the subordination of the working space, including the rise in the rates of inflation and high prices». Pointing out that «inflation rate now stands at 60%, after undergone in the past few months in the case of the pendulum, as the rate exceeded 70%».
He believed that the reason for the President «that is total reliance on external market. And make this dependence Iraq now suffers from the phenomenon of imported inflation, bringing the Iraqis do not find in the market only fruits and vegetables the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian perhaps, with no one to industrial goods but what is imported from abroad ». The social case, it is Frey b «worsening living conditions for the largest groups of the population, which had suffered from high unemployment rates of around 50%, as well as the aggravation of the phenomenon of absolute poverty or extreme».
He pointed out that these negative features «still without addressing the real amount to a high level of a sense of national responsibility, in the circumstance is the economic performance of the State phenomena worrying whether on the level of capabilities and performance of the executive branch, or on the level of the spread of the phenomenon of corruption, which poses the past the need for economic reform at the level of policy or structural and economic institutions». The keeper that economic reform required «Covering broad, the most important address of laws, regulations and instructions that cripple the Iraqi economy, and hamper the conversion to a market economy, an active and vital».
He said : «If there is one correct view of the need now to the integration of the Iraqi economy, the global economy, it must remember that correct this trend is directly linked to increasing the competitiveness of various sectors of the national economy, especially productivity, and expand the volume of export and reducing import limits appropriate and deliberate». He said the «diversify the production base is important strategy in the first place, and should be regarded as the foundation of economic reform in the desired».
He believed that «Iraq suffers from a major problem in the policy formulation and implementation, while the difficult security situation remains the most important factor in the region and the priority tasks of national peace, but there is no reason to give greater attention to the mobilization of financial resources and management in the form of sound, according to a balanced provide an opportunity for all parts of the country and areas of benefit in the form of equitable».
Hafiz said : «If Iraq is happening today is about 17 or 18 billion dollars in cash reserves, and if the Iraqi Development Fund maintained at about six to seven billion dollars, the search must then seriously in the distribution and management of resources in the form of Rasheed».
Sotaliraq.com
Iraqi court upholds Saddam’s death sentence
Source: Saddam death sentence upheld - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com
BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi appeals court has upheld the death sentence imposed on Saddam Hussein at his first trial, Iraq’s national security adviser said Tuesday.
“The appeals court approved the verdict to hang Saddam,” Mouwafak al-Rubaie told The Associated Press.
On Nov. 5, an Iraqi court sentenced Saddam to the gallows for the 1982 killings of 148 people from a Shiite Muslim town after an attempt on his life there.
:drinkbudd :woohoo: