Iraq's Talabani predicts "new phase" in Syria ties
Iraq's Talabani predicts "new phase" in Syria ties
BBC Monitoring International Reports
Jan 9 2007
Text of report by Iraqi Al-Sharqiyah TV
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [PUK], stressed, during a PUK plenum held today, the need to enhance relations with neighbouring countries, particularly Syria and Turkey.
Commenting on the first day of the plenum - which will conclude next Monday [8 January] in (Qualajwalan) resort, near Al-Sulaymaniyah - PUK sources cited Talabani as saying that ties with Syria will witness a new phase. As regards ties with neighbouring countries, Talabani noted the need to maintain and sustain ties with Turkey based on the principle of non-interference in internal affairs, particularly concerning the Kirkuk issue.
Presenting his report on the Kurds' relations and unity with other Iraqi forces, Talabani stressed the need to preserve ties with Shi'i Arabs, particularly the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Al-Da'wah Party, and other parties. He added that ties with Sunni Arabs must be developed as well, particularly through the Iraqi Islamic Party.
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Iraqi factions agree on draft oil law
Iraqi factions agree on draft oil law
Turkish Daily News
Jan 9 2007
A meeting in London has revealed that the Iraqi government is preparing to send important arrangements to Parliament on how the country's oil resources are to be carved up.
A meeting was held in London over the weekend, and Iraq was represented by Vice Prime Minister Berham Salih there. His counterparts included representatives of big oil companies, a source close to the meeting told Referans on condition of anonymity.
The fact that Salih, a Kurd who is also the president of the Iraq Oil Committee, is in the process is interpreted as a sign that Iraqi Kurds have been persuaded for a national, not regional, arrangement.
Cengiz Candar, columnist for the Turkish Daily News and Referans, noted that Kurds being part of the effort makes the matter of separate Kurdish independence moot. "In this respect, it should reduce Turkish concerns," he said.
The draft foresees transfer of the exploitation of oil fields nationalized by the Baath government in 1972 to oil companies via 30-year privileged contracts. The Independent on Sunday revealed the text of the draft law in its headline story, "Future of Iraq: The Spoils of War."
According to the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) system to be invoked by the draft, companies will have the right to retain 75 percent of their annual income from Iraqi oilfields, until they match their oil production costs. After then they will be able to pocket 20 percent of the annual income.
Experts point to the fact that this is double normal market rates. The lion's share in the PSAs will go to giants such as BP, Shell and ExxonMobil.
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The big boys already has secured their big piece of the pie! :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
Rebuilding Iraq 'bonanza' for US companies
Rebuilding Iraq 'bonanza' for US companies
Turkish Daily News
Jan 9 2007
Rebuilding Iraq after the 2003 invasion has proven lucrative for U.S. companies.
While funds for reconstruction in the war-ravaged country have slowly diminished and the bulk of the allocated budget been diverted to security operations, many companies have also won contracts to "restore" Iraq's media, its schools and hospitals, its financial services industry and its oil industry, reported The Independent on Sunday.
According to the U.S.-based Center for Public Integrity, more than 150 U.S. companies have won contracts in Iraq worth over $50 billion in total
In May 2003, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense, created the Project Management Office in Baghdad to oversee reconstruction efforts.
In June 2004 the CPA was dissolved and the Iraqi interim government took power. But the United States maintained its grip on allocating contracts to private companies, noted the British newspaper. The management of reconstruction projects was transferred to the Iraq Reconstruction and Management Office, a division of the U.S. Department of State, and the Project and Contracting Office, in the Department of Defense.
The largest beneficiary of reconstruction work in Iraq has been Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), a division of U.S. giant Halliburton. The company has secured contracts in Iraq worth $13 billion to date. Halliburton was the source of media attention as U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was a top manager for the company before he secured his seat at the White House.
Other U.S. companies benefiting from Iraq contracts include Bechtel, BearingPoint and General Electric. BearingPoint is the consultant group that advised on the drawing up of Iraq's new oil legislation
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More and more is coming out!! :eek: :eek:
Russians turn off Europe's oil supply
Iraqi oil could be more important than anyone ever thought. I think the EU will be looking heavily at making some big deals with Iraq.
Russians turn off Europe's oil supply
Tony Halpin in Moscow, Christine Seib and Roger Boyes
Alarm at Moscow's strong-arm tactics
Merkel tells The Times 'we need secure energy'
Europe’s oil supplies from Russia were being held to ransom last night as the Kremlin fell into bitter dispute with a former Soviet satellite state.
Moscow abruptly halted millions of barrels of oil destined for the EU via Belarus in an increasingly hostile wrangle with its neighbour.
The move raised further questions over whether Western Europe can trust Mr Putin for its energy supply. Experts said that Russia had a deeply entrenched habit of manipulating oil and gas supplies as a substitute for diplomatic policy.
Russia’s strong-arm tactics have added resonance in Britain, amid persistent speculation that Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled gas group, will seek to buy Centrica, the British Gas group, which has 16 million gas and electricity customers in the UK. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, told The Times last night that Germany will use its six-month EU presidency to improve energy security on the Continent. In her first interview with a British newspaper she signalled that she would take a harsher line towards Russia than her predecessor, Gerhard Schrِder, who is now on the board of a German-Russian consortium constructing a gas pipeline linking Russian gasfields with Western Europe.
“For us, energy is what coal and steel used to be,” she said, referring to the driving forces behind the European project.
Russia’s “gas war” with Ukraine last January caused supplies to Europe to drop briefly by a third during one of the coldest winters recorded. In this case, Mr Putin’s struggle with President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, branded “Europe’s last dictator” by the US, once again reduced the EU to watching nervously from the sidelines as its energy supplies were hit.
Belarus considered itself Moscow’s closest ally until a week ago, but was on the verge of a trade war last night after the bitter flare-up over oil duties. More than 1.2 million barrels of oil a day flow from Russia through the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline, providing almost a quarter of Germany’s needs and 96 per cent of Poland’s imports, as well as supplies to Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Andrei Sharonov, Russia’s Deputy Trade and Economic Development Minister, accused Belarus of jeopardising contracts with European customers by imposing a tax on oil passing through the pipeline. Relations between the two countries have soured rapidly since New Year’s Eve, when Belarus and Russia’s state-run monopoly Gazprom came within minutes of failing to agree a gas contract for 2007.
The Government in Minsk was forced to accept a doubling of gas prices to prevent supplies from being cut to its ten million citizens.
The oil dispute centres on a tit-for-tat row over taxes. Minsk introduced a penalty on January 1 on Russian oil crossing Belarus to Europe, in retaliation against Moscow’s decision to slap a duty on oil it sold to Belarus. A government delegation from Belarus flew to Moscow last night to try to negotiate a settlement. But Mr Sharonov said that there would be no talks until Minsk cancelled its tax. Europe should expect to see the natural resources giant use the same ploy in the future to extract market prices for oil and gas out of former Soviet states, experts said.
Andris Piebalgs, the EU Energy Commissioner, said that he was seeking an “urgent and detailed explanation” about the cut in oil deliveries.