Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 24/01/201 - 23/07/2011

Kurdistan: High oil reserves in the field of "Tawke" to 636 million barrels

The company "De. The. Or" the Norwegian working in the field of exploration and extraction of oil in the Kurdistan region, from the increase in oil reserves in the field of "Tawke" to about 636 million barrels, twice the size of reserves field stated in the past, according to the website "Benny broad social mission," the U.S..

The Web site published a news story which said that the Norwegian company had reported that "A new survey of the oil reserves in the field of Tawke Kurdistan between the reserve field is estimated at 636 million barrels, while the previous surveys in 2010 indicating that reserves the field Ikdrbenho 306 million barrels of oil."

The Norwegian company has indicated in a report to the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government to the oil reserves in the fields (Banman and Bstourah and Tawke) three in the region, which lies under the supervision of the company's estimated (3.05) billion barrels of oil. The volume of oil extracted from the field "Tawke" At the moment 70 thousand barrels of oil per day.

The KRG has signed in 2004 with "De. that. or" the Norwegian deal for oil exploration despite the objection of the federal government in Baghdad, while the government gave the region beginning in November of 2007 the Coalition South Korean rights to explore for oil in the Dahuk. and began the Kurdistan region to export oil from its territory for the first time in its history in June of 2009, from fields, "Taq" and "Tawke" rate of 100 thousand barrels per day.

http://www.aknews.com/ar/aknews/2/252191/

Maliki appointed Hamdiya dry Director of Commercial Bank

An economic adviser in the Iraqi government, for the government taking a decision to formally appoint Hamdiya dry, director of the Commercial Bank of Iraq. and Hamdiya dry, she was consultant at the Bank of Rivers State, and commissioned recently, management of the Commercial Bank and the agency after fleeing the former director Hussein Al-Azri to Lebanon after he was accused of wrongdoing was that it asked Iraq a lot of money.

Said Salam al-Quraishi, told the Kurdish news agency (Rn) that "Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a formal order before leaving for China to appoint Hamdiya dry, director of the Commercial Bank."

Commercial bank has a 14 branches in Iraq, and its assets reached $ 15 billion in 2010, up 16 percent from 2009. The Bank figures that its profits rose to $ 361 million last year.

"The prime minister had commissioned dry to assume management of the Bank acting after the escape of the former director to the Beirut more than a month."

He continued that "the government is determined to make broad changes in the work of the Commercial Bank and the reduction of the phenomenon of abuse of administrative and financial, which caused problem of fiscal and monetary many."

The Azri had fled out of the country last month after it said an investigative committee composed of pre-Maliki, made ​​up of the Integrity Commission and the Financial Inspection Office and the Ministry of Finance and experts, the Director has committed irregularities cost Iraq a lot of money, and referred its report to the judicial authorities.

And according to what has been disclosed, there are facilities to deal with Azri in the granting of bank guarantee and the loans without taking into account the provision of adequate safeguards.

http://www.aknews.com/ar/aknews/2/252297/

sorry if already posted

Iraq key oil player 'for next 20 years': Shahristani

Iraq will be the key player in international oil politics over the next two decades, the country's top government official for the energy sector said on Saturday.

"If we continue along the path we are on, Iraq will over the next two decades be the country that sets oil policy in the world in terms of price, supply and demand," Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said at a conference of Iraqi diplomats in Baghdad.

In 2009, Iraq signed 11 contracts with foreign energy companies to exploit its vast oil reserves and dramatically ramp up crude output to as much as 12 million barrels a day (bpd) by 2017, from around 2.7 million bpd currently.

And in October, the country reported a major increase to its crude reserves.

"The world cannot survive without oil and demand will increase by 20 million barrels per day in the next 20 years," Shahristani, a former oil minister, said in his speech at Iraq's foreign ministry.

"Our country has entered the market at the right time because demand will increase, because the world needs more oil and no country can provide this other than Iraq."

Iraq's projections are at odds with those set out by the International Monetary Fund, which expressed doubt in March over the country's ability to meet its long-term targets for oil ouput and said output could rise to more than five million bpd by 2017, rather than the 12 million Baghdad estimates.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...b9874f6487.2f1

No Extension, No Renewal of US Security Agreement - Hashimi

Vice-President Tariq Al-Hashimi declared today that the interests of both Iraq and USA are not to extend or renew the security agreement ending on 31 December,2011, a statement of his office said.

The statement, copy received by Aswat al-Iraq, pointed out that Hashimi met the US ambassador to Iraq James Jeffery and discussed bilateral relations between the two countries.

During the meeting, Hashimi said that "the interests of both countries are not to extend or renew the security agreement", pointing out that "any request for definitive military services should be made by the specialized authority (the general command of the armed forces) and the national conciliation, which cannot be achieved without implementing the nine points of Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani's initiative", the statement added.

On the other hand , the statement added that the US ambassador confirmed that his country will withdraw all its forces, if Iraq wants, or leaving non-combat units for training and other logistic services.


http://en.aswataliraq.info/Default1....&id=143805&l=1

DJ Lukoil, Partners Award Deal To Drill 23 Iraq Wells - Source

OAO Lukoil Holdings and its partners have awarded a deal to a "known" service company to drill some 23 new wells at Iraq's supergiant West Qurna Phase 2, a person familiar with the project said Thursday.

"The central contracts committee at the Iraqi Oil Ministry is studying the contract and we expect them to take a decision shortly," the person told Dow Jones Newswires. The person said that the cost of the drilling contract would be around $160 million.

Along with Norway's Statoil ASA and Iraq's state South Oil Co., Lukoil is expected to award four other major deals in August to help develop the 12.9-billion-barrel field located in Basra governorate in southern Iraq.

The four contracts include a crude processing facility, a 126-megawatt power station, an export pipeline linking the field with a tank farm in Tuba near Iraq's southern export terminals, and six large storage tanks, the person said, adding the largest contract would be the crude processing facility.

The person said that Lukoil has short-listed five oil services companies for this plant--Saipem SpA, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc, Punj Lloyd Ltd, Globalstroy-Engineering and South Korea's Samsung Engineering Co. Ltd.

For the power station the Russian supermajor has received offers from a number of companies such as Petrofac Ltd. and Greece's ENKA, the person said. The contracts are part of an initial development plan to start production from the untapped oil field, set by Lukoil and Statoil and approved by Iraq's Oil Ministry last year. They are expected to help production at the field hit 150,000 barrels of oil a day in 2013, the person said.

Lukoil and Statoil were awarded a 20-year service contract for West Qurna Phase 2 in Iraq's second licensing round held in December 2009. The companies promised to get the southern field pumping at a rate of 1.8 million barrels a day for payment of $1.15 a barrel.

The development project is one of several that Iraq awarded last year with the ambitious objective of expanding its oil production capacity to 12 million barrels a day by 2017. But Iraq's oil minister said last month that Baghdad was considering scaling down this goal and could renegotiate deals.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/e...110716DN000642

Dani: Iraq fighting an economic war with neighboring countries

A member of the Economic Committee in the House that Iraq is under an economic war of the traders and all countries, especially neighboring countries.

She said committee member Nahida Daini at the "news" held by the House of Representatives, on Sunday, this economic war was due to activation of the laws enacting Kaltarafh customs and consumer protection and product protection for Iraq remains always in need to the other, demanding the expulsion policy for the economy and clear that there is overlap in the powers and the launch of quotas the provinces by the ministries to carry out projects services.

and called Dani to amend the investment law in order to create facilities for investment companies to enter Iraq and encourage them first to build Iraq and secondly to eliminate unemployment in addition to the claim by encouraging the private sector and the Ministry of Industry and supplement the amounts necessary for the restructuring.


http://ar.radionawa.com/Detail.aspx?id=10933&LinkID=197

Resurrection Of INOC Appears On Horizon As Parliament Prepares To Debate Oil Sector Reforms

BMI View: We are increasingly bullish on the prospects of oil sector reform in Iraq, as the country's parliament considers several pieces of legislation, one of which could resurrect Iraq's former national oil company. The end-2011 target date, although possible, is a tall order.

Traction appears to be building towards a law that could resurrect the former state-run Iraq National Oil Company (INOC). At a London conference on July 12-13 2011, Iraqi oil officials talked up the prospects of the passage of the so-called INOC law by Iraq's parliament by end-2011.

INOC was founded in 1966 as part of the Iraqi government's efforts to re-take control of the country's oil resources, which were largely being developed by foreign companies. Within six years of its creation, INOC had total control of all of Iraq's upstream activities. However, as the Iran-Iraq War ground to a halt in the late 1980s, INOC was merged with Iraq's oil ministry, while the company's operational units were spun off into separate companies, such as North Oil Company and South Oil Company. These latter firms exist to this day and continue to liaise with foreign contractors active in Iraq.

Momentum increasingly appears to be on the side of those who believe that control of the Iraqi oil sector is too concentrated in the hands of the federal oil ministry. Thamir Ghadban, a top oil advisor to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, has spoken of the need to create a 'professional' national oil company outside of the political realm. Such an organisation would be responsible for all operational upstream matters, while the oil ministry would be relegated to regulatory matters. INOC would report directly to the Iraqi Cabinet, would receive cost compensation from the finance ministry, would be in charge of administering oil and gas export contracts and may also see a Kurdish subsidiary at the discretion of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The resurrection of INOC would significantly weaken the authority of the oil ministry, and so it is not surprising that oil minister Abdel Karim al Luaibi has spoken out against the proposal, saying that it would add 'nothing' to Iraq's oil sector. However, compared to the standard glacial progress on energy legislation, BMI has noted the relatively frenetic burst of activity in recent months in Iraq's parliament, raising the prospects of the passage of oil sector reforms including the re-creation of INOC. Doing so before end-2011 will be challenging, although success would substantially boost transparency and efficiency, improving our overall outlook on Iraq.

Iraq's parliament is currently considering two legislative packages. The first comprises the law to re-create INOC, the much-awaited oil and gas law and a law to re-organise the oil ministry. The second comprises the oil and gas revenue-sharing law, a law to create a commission that would oversee revenue distribution and a law to establish a rainy day fund capitalised with a portion of oil export revenues (much like Kuwait's Fund for Future Generations). Iraq is also considering an overhaul of the oil policy structure, with the creation of a federal oil and gas council which would report directly to the Council of Ministers, bypassing the oil ministry.

http://www.pennenergy.com/index/arti...456894971.html

Maliki: there is an intention to convert the security agreement signed with the U.S. side to the protocols between the ministries and the ministries of America

MP close to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki WIN in the Sami al-Askari National Alliance for the country's need to remain part of the U.S. forces in the country for the purposes of training and arming of the security forces.

Askari said that "there is an intention to convert the security agreement signed with the U.S. side to the protocols between the Ministries of State and the Ministries of America, called the Convention rod strategy," noting that "the government will resort to this step in the absence of agreement of the political blocs on the U.S. withdrawal from the country."

The military told [where] that "the government will demand high in the event of agreement was signed stab strategy on the U.S. side to keep Iraqi troops in camps designated for training."

The security agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington on the end of November of 2008 states that it should withdraw all U.S. forces from all territory and waters and airspace of Iraq not later than 31 December of the year 2011, the U.S. combat forces pulled out under the Convention cities, villages and towns of Iraq on 30 June 2009.

http://khabaar.net/index.php/permalink/4212.html

Hasani: delays caused by the absence of the private sector, government legislation

ills Director of Economic Development Regional Ali Hassani reason for the delay of the private sector in Iraq, there is no government legislation, with the decision makers are still working the minds of a previous comprehensive, calling for the state to be a function control only intervene in cases of collapse.

Hassani said to the correspondent ( Agency news) on Monday: still the Iraqi economy is suffering from a lack of legislation and Laws state that support the private sector with the minds of a decision-making has a universal, best proof of the electricity sector, which has not assigned to one as evident the oil companies a huge global.

He said al-Hasani: received sector Oil attention from the government for being the most important sectors for success with giving contracts to foreign companies that are turning the process of extracting, refining and production, calling for the delivery of all sectors to foreign companies was an Iraqi mother to raise them, surprisingly, state control of electricity, and continued: "There are people who interfere openly in the economic plans for the events of the lack of balance between the economic activities in Iraq.

http://www.ikhnews.com/news_view_16664.html

President Talabani stresses the importance of strengthening relations between Iraq and the United States

President Talabani stressed the importance of strengthening relations between Iraq and the United States and deepen the friendship between the peoples of the two countries in various fields.

This came during a meeting with His Excellency, today Sunday, 17/07/2011, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Jeffrey James and the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. Lloyd Austin, and a number of members of the embassy.

At the outset of the meeting, highlighted by President Talabani light on the situation in Iraq on all aspects, especially the last meeting of the leaders of political parties and blocs in the Peace Palace, which discussed the political leaders of Iraqi frank full Iraqi scene and solutions adequate to the problems and outstanding issues and stressed their full commitment to the agreements the former including the Convention of Arbil as part of the initiative of President Barzani.

The President noted in his speech to that next week will hold an important meeting to agree and resolve difficult issues, and the transition to a new stage and to continue to provide essential services and enhance the provision of security and stability.

And the relations with America, said President of the Republic that the two countries have strong ties in the possible consolidation of these relationships more than through the Convention Strategic agreement signed between the two countries, which include all areas, including economic, trade, science and training of the Iraqi armed forces, and processing equipment and modern technology.

For his part, thanked the Ambassador of the U.S. President Talabani for his clarifications and his views on the situation, praising his continued efforts in order to access the political parties to practical solutions and problem-solving and the end of the current crisis, and wished success and good luck in the pursuit of His Excellency to deliver Iraq and its people to safety, stressing his country's support continued for the political process and democracy and help Iraq people and government, as pointed out to the real desire of the United States in strengthening U.S. relations with Iraq in the areas omnes, stressing that the U.S. is interested in the security and stability of Iraq.

http://www.pukmedia.com/iraq/18562-2011-07-17-16-12-46