Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 28/03/10 - 21/06/10

Leadership in the coalition rule of law: Re-counting have clear implications on the formation of next government

Stressed the leadership of the coalition of the rule of law Khalid al-Asadi said "the results of the operations of counting and sorting will have a significant impact on the formation of the next government if the coalition was in favor of the rule of law."

Asadi said in a telephone conversation with That "the dialogues and consultations will take another form as we are of the parliamentary bloc, which was ranked first and therefore form the next government will take another profile on the contrary than it is now."

He added, "we Manzal ongoing dialogues and consultations with the other components, namely the Iraqi National Coalition to form a parliamentary bloc, the biggest in the House of Representatives, noting that we are waiting for the UNHCR to provide guarantees for the return of counting and in accordance with the standards and conditions of an international fair in the presence of international observers and the UN mission in order to achieve justice for all parties."

http://al-iraqnews.net/new/political-news/5985.html

Halted the flow of Iraqi oil to Turkey due to the exposure of the carrier pipe bombing

An official source at the North Oil Company, on Thursday, pumping the oil from the northern Kirkuk oilfields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, the pipeline was stopped because of the m.obile oil to an explosion in the region that passes through eastern Mosul.

The source said in an interview with "Alsumaria News", that "pipeline carrier oil exposure, this morning, to be detonated an improvised explosive device in the junction urban (70 km east of Mosul), resulting in a large fire," he said, noting that "managing the North Oil Company has decided to Following the accident, stopped pumping oil from the Kirkuk oilfields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. "

The source, who asked not to be named "The blast badly damaged in the pipe, which led to the infiltration of large quantities of crude oil," adding that "security forces cordoned off the blast area to prevent exposure to spilled oil to steal," he says.

The source pointed out that "the engineering team of experts from the North Oil Company will begin the process of reform of the oil pipeline after a control of the fire is still raging," noting that "the export of oil will remain suspended during the period of reform of the tube, which may take about seven days," he says.

The source continued that "the work of unloading and shipping in the port of Ceyhan would not be affected by the fact that the stockpiles at the port of up to 3 million barrels, enough to resume the export again after the fix the pipe."

The official security source in Nineveh province, said in an interview, "Alsumaria News", earlier in the day, "The bomb exploded targeting a pipe carrier for the oil fields of Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan in the junction urban (70 km east of Mosul), resulting in for a large fire in the area of the bombing.

http://www.alsumarianews.com/ar/3/57...-details-.html

Iraq oil plan includes drilling 15 oil wells
The initial development plan agreed by Royal Dutch Shell, Malaysian partner Petronas and Iraqi oil officials includes inviting oil service firms to drill 15 new wells, an Iraqi oil official said.

The plan also includes building two new crude processing plants with a capacity of 50,000 barrels per day each and boosting capacity at an existing processor to 120,000 bpd from 100,000 bpd, the official said, asking not to be identified.

The plan was put together at a meeting last Thursday in the southern oil hub of Basra of officials from Iraq's South Oil Co (SOC) and ****utives of Shell and state-run Petronas.

The two companies won the right to develop the 12.6 billion barrel Majnoon oilfield, one of the world's biggest, in the second auction held by Iraq last year of oilfield development contracts, and the contract was signed early this year.

It is one of 10 oilfield development deals that could take Iraq to third place among oil producing nations from 11th now and boost its capacity to Saudi levels of 12 million barrels per day from around 2.5 million bpd currently.

""We discussed preliminary plans to raise the output in the Majnoon oilfield and if everything goes according to the plan an output of 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day could be achieved in 24 months,"" said the SOC oil official, who was not authorized to speak to the media.

The SOC nominated Abdul Sahib Qutub, a former deputy oil minister and current adviser to Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, to head the Majnoon joint management committee, the official said.

For Majnoon, the Shell-led group proposed a per-barrel remuneration fee of $1.39 and pledged to increase output to 1.8 million bpd from a current production level of around 45,000 bpd.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=218041

Iraqi oil contracts durable, officials say

A new Iraqi government faces stiff penalties with international oil companies if it scraps contracts signed under the caretaker administration, officials said.

Iraq had parliamentary elections March 7. None of the leading collations, however, secured enough of the vote to unilaterally form a new government.

Iraq, meanwhile, signed a series of lucrative oil deals with international companies, giving Baghdad the confidence to say it would one day rival Saudi Arabia in terms of oil production.

Analysts worry, however, that any new government that forms following the March vote could endanger the oil contracts.

Sabah Assaidi, the deputy head of legal affairs for the Iraqi Oil Ministry, said the contracts contained penalty measures that bind the Iraqi government, Iraq's s.atellite channel al-Sumaria reports.

The contracts, Assaidi said, include provisions that "impel" the government to compensate oil companies heavily for damages that could occur from contract cancellation.

Baghdad earlier this week formed the state-run Middle Oil Company, which Assaidi said could produce more than 400,000 barrels of oil per day during the next few years.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Reso...7111271858979/

Dark Clouds Gather Over Iraq's Political Stalemate

It's no surprise that the process of forming a government after Iraq's March 7 election has proven frustrating and messy. After all, Iraqi politicians don't exactly play well together. The acrimonious five-month delay in forming a government after the last parliamentary election, in 2005, helped lead to a bloody, sectarian civil war. Still, it is surprising that six weeks since the recent election, not only have serious negotiations to form a new government not begun, but there is no consensus on who won the vote.

An Iraqi judge on Monday ordered a partial recount of votes in Baghdad province at the request of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose State of Law coalition came in second when official results were announced on March 27, with just two parliamentary seats fewer than former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya coalition. Fearful that a partial recount would erase Iraqiya's victory, Allawi responded on Tuesday by calling for a broader recount to include areas in the south where his coalition fared poorly. And with Kurdish parties demanding a recount in the northern provinces of Nineveh and Kirkuk, and almost every other party demanding recounts in areas where they hope to pick up votes, the country's beleaguered electoral commission may have to hand-count all the ballots a second time, despite the fact that that international observers have called the country's election generally fair.

But the results of the recount — whatever its final scope — are unlikely to change the basic reality that Iraq's election was very close, and that no one party or bloc can build a governing coalition on its own. The process of cobbling together a coalition would have been hard even had the election gone smoothly; now, with the thin veneer of national unity expressed by the leading candidates during campaign season giving way to accusations of fraud and threats of violence, the prospects for coalition-building have darkened.

The main parties are bitterly divided over the balance of power between Baghdad and the regions, the distribution of the country's oil wealth, and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities. Both al-Maliki's Shi'ite-dominated State of Law and Allawi's Sunni-backed Iraqiya have seemingly intractable differences with the less-popular parties with which they would have to join forces. The Kurdish parties are unhappy that al-Maliki, their former ally, never delivered disputed territory claimed by Kurds in northern Iraq. But they are also suspicious of Allawi, who won strong backing among the Sunni Arab and Turkoman inhabitants of the disputed territories claimed by the Kurdish region. Likewise, the Iraqi National Alliance — an Islamist Shi'ite bloc that includes the followers of fiery cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc of seats makes him a potential kingmaker — has its own grievances with al-Maliki, especially the Prime Minister's use of government troops against al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Basra in 2008. But Allawi's many Sunni followers are unlikely to stomach an alliance with the Sadrists, whom they accuse of running some of the worst anti-Sunni death squads during the civil war.

Nor does it seem likely that Allawi's Iraqiya and al-Maliki's State of Law coalitions could easily put their differences aside and share power, despite the fact that al-Maliki recently said the next government should contain significant Sunni representation. Iraqiya politicians believe that al-Maliki orchestrated the move by a government de-Baathification committee to ban some 500 parliamentary candidates — most of them Sunni and many of them members of Iraqiya — from running in the election just a few weeks before it took place. And they have long claimed that the Prime Minister has been using a special counterterrorism unit to arrest critics and political opponents. On Monday, Iraqi human-rights officials said they discovered a secret prison run by al-Maliki's military office that contained hundreds of Sunni men who had been routinely tortured and raped by guards. It's beginning to feel like 2005 again in Baghdad.

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...983504,00.html

Iraq's Economy Wakes Up
Investment and products from abroad begin flowing—along with oil

• Boosting private investment won't be easy. Officials were "raised in a statist environment"

Customers heading for a Baghdad branch of Dar Es Salaam Investment Bank know the drill. You walk through the entrance and heavily armed guards stop you. You get body-searched at least twice. And your phone is taken away before you reach a teller. A m.obile phone, of course, can trigger bombs or send a signal to armed accomplices.

Yet Dar Es Salaam (known as DES) is thriving as Iraq begins to show signs of life. Profits have grown from about $600,000 in 2004 to more than $16 million. HSBC, the giant international bank that bought 70% of DES in 2005, feels so confident that it may put its own b.rand on the banks. "We think the timing is right," says James Hogan, HSBC's country manager. "Iraqis are starting to reconnect to the outside world."

Seven years after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has changed. Yes, convoys of SUVs packed with heavily armed security men still roar down Baghdad's busy streets. Armed gangs still prey on truckers. Iraq's political class struggles to form a new government. The few expat managers in the country live like prisoners: Every night, HSBC's Hogan holes up in a walled compound run by a security company.

Ordinary Iraqis, however, are living more normally than they have in years. Shops on Saadoun and Karrada Streets are filled with flat-screen TVs, computers, and clothing from China, Turkey, Iran, and Korea. Pedestrians have to step around the Turkish and Iranian refrigerators and stoves piled outside. At night many Baghdadis relax watching one of the privately owned t.elevision channels that have sprung up, or checking the latest Iraqi Web sites.

Oil money from rising production is powering growth, as is pent-up demand for housing and better infrastructure. Now that the government has awarded oil-field contracts worth billions of dollars to BP, ExxonMobil, China National Petroleum, and others, foreign clients are besieging Hogan for help in financing everything from pipelines to power grids to workers' camps. Suppliers are following in the majors' footsteps: Weatherford for drilling, Centrilift for pumps, Cameron for valves. The International Monetary Fund figures the economy could grow 7.3% in 2010. In 2003 the economy barely had a pulse.

The central bank, buttressed by the IMF, has stabilized the dinar at about 1,170 to the dollar (it was once 1,500) and has lowered inflation to single digits from a peak of 80% in 2006. Foreign reserves stand at about $50 billion. "This definitely gives predictability," says Marcel Cobuz, Iraq general manager of Lafarge, the French building-materials maker.

Lafarge gained its two Iraqi cement plants, both located near Sulaimaniya in Kurdistan, through its acquisition of Egypt's Orascom Cement in 2007. From this relatively safe base—Lafarge has never experienced a security incident—Cobuz is expanding into the trickier center and south of the country. Lafarge now sells almost half its 5-million-ton annual output in Iraq to construction companies in the Baghdad area. Figuring demand for cement can only grow, Cobuz may next buy derelict state-owned plants, refurbish them, and boost production. Construction, he reckons, will be up 15% this year.

One by-product of the regime's fixation on oil is that it has done little to encourage private investment, says Ali Allawi, a former Finance Minister: "[Officials] were raised in a statist environment. They don't see the connection between private-sector investment and reducing unemployment." Entrepreneurs who lack the funds to modernize their businesses struggle against better-financed rivals. Thabet Al-Beldawi, 80, owns an aluminum plant in Baghdad. He's down to 85 employees from 250 since the fall of Saddam Hussein. "There is a growing demand," he says. "But the market is full of cheap imports." Sami Al-Araji, chairman of the National Investment Commission, says the government is now "trying to emphasize the role of the private investor."

The most encouraging thing about Iraq is that outside investors press on. Schlumberger, the oil services company, is quickly moving $100 million into Iraq, in part to build a base camp that will employ 300 workers. Iraq Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, who negotiated with the oil majors last year, thinks the oil fields will eventually generate 100,000 Iraqi jobs. Schlumberger's top brass are primed to hire: They figure the country is a Saudi-size opportunity and that up to 100 drilling rigs will be needed for what could be the biggest oil boom of all. The Iraqi people are ready.

The bottom line: Foreign direct investment is key to Iraq's revival, but the IMF figures less than $1 billion came in last year. That number could multiply fast.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...6017884558.htm

Originally Posted by Seaview

Dark Clouds Gather Over Iraq's Political Stalemate

It's no surprise that the process of forming a government after Iraq's March 7 election has proven frustrating and messy. After all, Iraqi politicians don't exactly play well together. The acrimonious five-month delay in forming a government after the last parliamentary election, in 2005, helped lead to a bloody, sectarian civil war. Still, it is surprising that six weeks since the recent election, not only have serious negotiations to form a new government not begun, but there is no consensus on who won the vote.

An Iraqi judge on Monday ordered a partial recount of votes in Baghdad province at the request of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose State of Law coalition came in second when official results were announced on March 27, with just two parliamentary seats fewer than former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya coalition. Fearful that a partial recount would erase Iraqiya's victory, Allawi responded on Tuesday by calling for a broader recount to include areas in the south where his coalition fared poorly. And with Kurdish parties demanding a recount in the northern provinces of Nineveh and Kirkuk, and almost every other party demanding recounts in areas where they hope to pick up votes, the country's beleaguered electoral commission may have to hand-count all the ballots a second time, despite the fact that that international observers have called the country's election generally fair.

But the results of the recount — whatever its final scope — are unlikely to change the basic reality that Iraq's election was very close, and that no one party or bloc can build a governing coalition on its own. The process of cobbling together a coalition would have been hard even had the election gone smoothly; now, with the thin veneer of national unity expressed by the leading candidates during campaign season giving way to accusations of fraud and threats of violence, the prospects for coalition-building have darkened.

The main parties are bitterly divided over the balance of power between Baghdad and the regions, the distribution of the country's oil wealth, and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities. Both al-Maliki's Shi'ite-dominated State of Law and Allawi's Sunni-backed Iraqiya have seemingly intractable differences with the less-popular parties with which they would have to join forces. The Kurdish parties are unhappy that al-Maliki, their former ally, never delivered disputed territory claimed by Kurds in northern Iraq. But they are also suspicious of Allawi, who won strong backing among the Sunni Arab and Turkoman inhabitants of the disputed territories claimed by the Kurdish region. Likewise, the Iraqi National Alliance — an Islamist Shi'ite bloc that includes the followers of fiery cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc of seats makes him a potential kingmaker — has its own grievances with al-Maliki, especially the Prime Minister's use of government troops against al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Basra in 2008. But Allawi's many Sunni followers are unlikely to stomach an alliance with the Sadrists, whom they accuse of running some of the worst anti-Sunni death squads during the civil war.

Nor does it seem likely that Allawi's Iraqiya and al-Maliki's State of Law coalitions could easily put their differences aside and share power, despite the fact that al-Maliki recently said the next government should contain significant Sunni representation. Iraqiya politicians believe that al-Maliki orchestrated the move by a government de-Baathification committee to ban some 500 parliamentary candidates — most of them Sunni and many of them members of Iraqiya — from running in the election just a few weeks before it took place. And they have long claimed that the Prime Minister has been using a special counterterrorism unit to arrest critics and political opponents. On Monday, Iraqi human-rights officials said they discovered a secret prison run by al-Maliki's military office that contained hundreds of Sunni men who had been routinely tortured and raped by guards. It's beginning to feel like 2005 again in Baghdad.

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...983504,00.html

and still their people suffer....seems like they[the politicians] would have gotten the message loud and clear...Maliki didn't do his job and he lost the majority...but,still they squabble...and with all that oil in the ground to be drilled...but they rather bicker and fight ....what fools....IMHO..Pat

Barzani meets Austrian oil company’s delegation

President of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, received at his residence in Salah al-Din resort a delegation of Austrian omv oil company, according to an official statement.

“The company’s chief e.xecutive held a meeting with Barzani on Thursday evening (April 22) and conveyed a message from Austrian President Heinz Fischer on ways of boosting bilateral relations,” said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The meeting tackled the latest security and political developments in Kurdistan as well as the economic relations between Iraq and Kurdistan region from one side and Austria from the other one,” it added.

“The president expressed happiness over the oil company’s activities and projects in Kurdistan,” it said.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=130639

Sami Alaterci: choose a compromise candidate is the appropriate way to end the crisis as Prime Minister

Confirmed member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union Sami Alaterci "The choice of the political blocs to a compromise candidate is the appropriate way to end the crisis as prime minister."

He Alaterci in contact with the agency, the independent press (Iba) "The introduction of new names not currently on the table for this position is an appropriate solution to the crisis and a clear path to form a new government."

The main political blocs had nominated a number of its members to fill the post of prime minister so far without reaching a consensus on any of the names involved.

He Alaterci to "the delay in forming the next government is not in the favor of any political bloc, especially in light of the political situation prevailing in the country" and called on "masses and political figures to put the national interest and to waive this position."

Attributes some political figures to the failure of the political parties and especially the rule of law coalition and the coalition agreement of the Iraqi National Coalition and integration because of the difference for the post of prime minister.

He Alaterci "to hold the chair, some figures will rule Iraq to the positions of more heated." He said.

The head of the Kurdistan region Massoud Barzani stressed that the President of the Republic Jalal Talabani, Kurds, is a candidate for a second term and considered a coalition of law as well as the current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is the only candidate for this position for another round of new ones.

http://www.ipairaq.com/index.php?nam...itics&id=24202

Leadership in the Iraqi List: Do not be apprehensive of a recount of votes in other provinces on the condition that is under international control

Confirmed Iraqi leadership in the list that the list Damluji Mason refused to fill the post of Prime Minister for two years and then granted for two consecutive years of coalition rule of law.

Damluji said in a statement to the reporter "The Iraqi List is not afraid of a recount of votes in other provinces, provided there was evidence with the decision of the Federal Court and is under international control."

She explained that "the recount must be well-grounded living lies not count the votes for the provinces, without proof, because it would get rejected."

Pointing out that "should be the distribution of posts in a compromise, because the Iraqi List, rejects the post of Prime Minister for two years for it the winning list and as the winning list in the previous election to form a government must be this time also the same situation and the constitution referred to it."

Indicating that the alliance with the rule of law contributes to the formation of the government more quickly, but at the same time creates problems on the distribution of posts.

Confirmed That "Iraq is ready to negotiate and enter discussions with all the lists of the various components."

http://al-iraqnews.net/new/political-news/6044.html