Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. before Febuary 2nd 2006

Originally Posted by billknows

Originally Posted by DayDream View Post
I didn't want to start a new thread for this so I thought I would stick it here.

Found this...

New Message from Bill! I had asked Bill where his Iraqi workers heard about the Reval and this is his reply to me today:

FROM BILL:

"well not really, i have been trying to get the media source that these guys are getting thier information from and the just say the news and telivision? but the are telling me that it is all over the tv about once an hour they are showing a clip of the minister? "no name" and on each side of him there is a table one has a plie of USD the other has a pile of dinar and he is basicaly saying peacfull people of iraq please be patient the day is close at hand that these stacks of curency will be the same value and we will all share the wealth that our great country has to offer. now i don't know about you but that gets me very excited and confused at the same time. one part of me wan't to jump for joy and quit my job and all that good stuff and the other side says but wait, who, when, how? you know it is all just so crazy. anyway i will keep in touch and try to keep you posted. bill
oh hey i fanally got moved up to investor status so now i can go all over the forum and post and all that great stuff!"

Cheers!
DayDream


Get Hot! Sounds like news to me!

Interesting,

Sounds encouraging, but not knowing which minister is speaking is a bit of a stretch. We all know how some of the illiterate parliment and cabinet members have had their foots in their mouths before, so lets wait for this to shake out before getting carried away again. Too vaugue of a report at this point in my opinion, but good to hear, regardless of who is saying it.

Good luck to all, Mike

Western firms eye huge oil reserves in Iraq




By Syed Rashid Husain

RIYADH Jan 20: While Hugo Chavez and Ahmedinejad were busy attempting an energy rich, ‘anti-imperialist’ bloc, very much in the US backyard, another interesting piece of energy jigsaw was getting into place finally. Iraq's massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a “controversial law” to be shortly introduced before the Iraqi parliament.

The US also appears to be making moves on the global energy chessboard and with the move it would be still difficult to deny the accusation that the US invaded Iraq because it wanted a foothold in this energy rich region--who knows!

When the US Vice-president Dick Cheney as the head of the oil service company Halliburton, said in 1999, "So where the additional) oil is going to come from? The Middle East, with two-thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies," he definitely had a point. Iraq is definitely a prize worth seeking, in this era when energy security is on global agenda.

This major shift in Iraqi energy policy is taking place while Baghdad is under occupation. The British newspaper Independent says the US government has been involved in drawing up the law and indeed it cannot be without the US tacitly pushing the Maliki government -- one has to concede.

Critics of the plan say that Iraq is being forced to surrender an unacceptable degree of sovereignty, as the new law envisages a “production sharing agreement” – highly unpopular and indeed unusual in the Middle East where oil industry is mostly state-controlled. This is also happening at a time when nationalisation of the energy assets is very much in, all around, especially in the US backyard.

The battle for oil is raging, some claim and indeed with some rationale. As per reports, the new law would give oil majors 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and allow the first large scale operation of foreign oil interests in the country since the industry was nationalised in 1972.

The new law, once adopted, would permit Western companies to receive up to three-quarters of profits in the early years. Those behind the plan envisage this as the only way to get Iraq's oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise.

Saudi Arabia is currently locked in a multi-billion-dollar programme to expand its output capacity to 12.5 million bpd by 2009. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi emphasised in the New Delhi during the week that Saudi Arabia is to pump some $80 billion in its energy infrastructure. That is huge by any means and interestingly, all that is without the involvement of the oil majors.

The country's earlier known plans called for maintaining its spare production capacity – one of prime metrics that drives crude price levels - at around 2 million barrels a day. After visiting the country, Guy Caruso, head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, said last month he believes Saudi Arabia is about six months ahead of schedule and its spare capacity could hit 3 million barrels a day by 2011.

The first phase, increasing production to 12.5 million barrels a day from current capacity of 11.3 million barrels a day, has now been placed on an accelerated timeline. The second phase — to grow capacity as high as 13.5 million barrels a day by 2011 — is in the planning stage.

The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have also spoken of plans to boost capacity to four million bpd each, while Iran also intends to raise capacity despite existing financial and technological constraints.

A study "Gulf oil after the war on Iraq -- Strategies and Policies," compiled by the Abu Dhabi based Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research was released late last week. It says Gulf oil producers would be required to pump $523 billion over the next 25 years to lift their production capacity to meet the growth in global demand.

But the book cautioned that such investments could be hampered by ambiguity about world oil consumption, uncertainty in war-ravaged Iraq and socio-political turmoil in Saudi Arabia and other regional oil heavyweights. .

"Annual spending in this sector has to rise from an estimated $12 billion at present to $23 billion annually in the last decade of the mentioned period," the report emphasised.

The 375-page compilation noted that oil investments in the Middle East remain a fraction of the required global oil capital of more than $2.2 trillion, attributing this to the fact that the region has the lowest production costs in the world.

The European Commission unveiled sweeping plans last week to diversify its energy sources, slash carbon emissions by 20 per cent and enforce rules for fuel competition. Asean countries also joined the chorus.

The global energy balance is in a flux. Too many variables indeed and all these could go a long way in denting the investment enthusiasm. Energy diplomats have a major task in hand. Viable investments in energy sector, so as to ensure sufficient supplies in the longer run, do not appear an easy task in the prevailing circumstances.

Western firms eye huge oil reserves in Iraq -DAWN - Business; January 21, 2007

U.S. increases pressure on Maliki to quell violence
By David E. Sanger and Helene Cooper

Sunday, January 21, 2007
WASHINGTON
President George W. Bush and his top advisers, after nine days of unrelenting criticism from Congress, are warning the Iraqi government that continuing funding for a U.S. troop increase and other elements of Bush's new Iraq strategy will be contingent on Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's delivery on promises to quell violence, senior administration officials have said in recent interviews.

"It's going to be a little bit pay-as- you-go, and it's going to depend a lot on Iraqis' performing," Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said Friday.

"As Mr. Maliki's government follows through on its promises," Hadley said, the administration will "be in a much better position to resist any efforts to fence the funds" when the Iraq budget request goes before Congress.

The warning is coming despite Bush's declaration in an interview last weekend that he had the sole authority to carry out the strategy, including an increase of about 18,000 troops to secure Baghdad. Now, administration officials, who have carefully avoided declaring outright that the U.S. commitment in Iraq would be cut back if Maliki fails, are using the open hostility of most Democrats and the skepticism of many Republicans as a way to underscore to the prime minister that the White House plan represents a last chance for him.

In recent days, however, as Bush's plan has come under attack in both houses of Congress, White House officials are trying to head off both a vote condemning Bush's approach and a longer-term effort to restrict money or limit the number of troops that can be sent.

The White House has dismissed some of that criticism as partisan and "poisonous," the word it used in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's charge on Friday that Bush knows that "because the troops are in harm's way, that we won't cut off the resources." She went on to charge, "that's why he's moving so quickly to put them in harm's way."

But even the ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John Warner of Virginia, has declared deep concern about the wisdom of sending more troops, and one of the nation's most senior retired marines, General Joseph Hoar, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "the addition of 20,000 troops is too little too late."

The result is that some members of the administration are already discussing what one called "Plan C," even as the administration publicly expresses support for Maliki. Some senior officials, insisting on anonymity, are discussing alternative leadership for the Iraqi government, including throwing U.S. support behind another Shiite leader, Adel Abdul Mahdi. Mahdi is the deputy to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Iranian-backed Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Mahdi has long been a favorite of the White House to take the top job; he lost out last spring when the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, whose family has long feuded with Hakim's, threw his support behind Maliki in a vote within the Shiite coalition.

Administration officials maintain that there is no U.S. plan afoot to encourage a removal of Maliki from power, and several senior officials said that if he does not follow through on his promise to deploy Iraqi Army and police brigades in Baghdad to quell sectarian violence, the Iraqis themselves will move to replace him as prime minister.

Some in the administration complain that backing a member of Hakim's party would quickly give Iran enormous influence over the Iraqi government; when U.S. military forces picked up Iranian operatives in Baghdad late last month, the raid took place within Hakim's compound. Those operatives were later released after Iran and Iraq claimed they had diplomatic immunity; the Pentagon said one of the men was the chief of operations for an elite Iranian military unit.

The conflicting signals here reflect doubt within the administration that Maliki will actually prove either willing or able to crack down on Shiite militia groups, which make up a large percentage of his support base.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent trip through the region to sell America's Sunni Arab allies on Bush's Iraq strategy underscored just how much hostility there is among Sunni Arabs toward Maliki, administration officials said.

"What she heard was that Maliki has failed completely, both politically and personally, and they don't trust him to crack down on the Shiites," one senior administration official said.

Hadley expressed concern about Maliki in a memorandum to Bush in November, which was later leaked. But his comments appeared to be the first time that any senior administration official had suggested that should those doubts grow, Congress could imperil Bush's new approach.

Administration officials, in interviews, said they were not conceding that Congress was heading toward making a troop increase contingent on Iraqi action. But by warning the Iraqis of the possibility, they are clearly both using Congress's dissatisfaction to gain leverage and preparing for the possibility that the Democratic majority may impose conditions that Bush has resisted.

There is a growing realization in the administration that domestic pressure to place a "cap" on troop levels or begin withdrawal could become overwhelming. So, in an effort to turn a potential constraint into a negotiating tool, Bush's aides have begun to tell Iraqi politicians that Congress's patience with the pace of the war is just about exhausted.

"If they do perform in the next two months, we've probably bought ourselves another four months," said one senior administration official, referring to the Iraqi government.

Sadr's bloc lifts boycott

Sadr's bloc announced Sunday that it was lifting its political boycott, some seven weeks after it began to protest the Iraqi prime minister's summit with President George W. Bush, The Associated Press reported from Baghdad.

The decision came as the movement faces increased pressure to clamp down on militia violence with a series of U.S.- Iraqi raids aimed at its leaders.

"We announce our return to Parliament, we will attend today's session, and the ministers will resume their work to serve the people," said Bahaa al-Araji, one of 30 lawmakers loyal to Sadr.

He spoke during a news conference attended by the Sunni Parliament speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.

Sadr also has six loyalist ministers in the 38-member cabinet.

U.S. increases pressure on Maliki to quell violence - International Herald Tribune

Law could help modernize Iraq oil sector By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer
14 minutes ago



A new draft hydrocarbons law will pave the way for "transparent and fair" competition in bids to develop Iraq's oil wealth, the oil minister said Sunday as he sought to restore the confidence of foreign investors.

The new law, if approved, is expected to encourage foreign oil companies with their investment clout and technology to modernize Iraq's oil sector and meet the country's goal of doubling the current crude production of 2.5 million barrels per day by 2010.

Iraq's proven oil reserves stand at about 115 billion barrels, the world's third largest after Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, said new oil fields will be added as bids are submitted by foreign companies.

"The competition will be transparent and fair and companies will be chosen according to their modern technological capabilities to guarantee the highest benefits for Iraqis," al-Shahristani said at a news conference. "We will not consider their nationalities and we will ignore any contract doesn't achieve the highest benefits."

Al-Shahristani refused to give a timeline for parliamentary action and did not say how the ministry would negotiate with foreign companies.

He also cautioned that attacks against oil installations and employees were increasing, with 289 people killed over the past year and 179 wounded.

"The ministry is always suffering from these terrorist attacks. I call upon all honest people to cooperate with the oil ministry in order to find those who are attacking the employees of this sector and provide us with any related information," he said.

Insurgents have frequently targeted oil facilities, pipelines and employees, disrupting exports and efforts to modernize the industry.

The oil minister stressed that all Iraqis will share in the profits amid concern by many Sunnis that they will lose out to the Shiites and Kurds who dominate the country's two chief oil regions in southern and northern Iraq. Those groups want regional control over oil production and revenues.

Iraq's Sunnis and much of the Baghdad government want to maintain national control over Iraq's petroleum resources as was the case during former leader Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.

"The constitution states that oil and gas are for all Iraqis in all provinces and regions, and according to this conception we drafted this oil law to help promote Iraq's unity and prosperity of its people," he said.

Last Thursday, the ministry's spokesman Assem Jihad told The Associated Press the law would require that all oil revenues go to a central fund, then be distributed to Iraqis in every region and province according to population.

Jihad said the law also would stipulate that oil contracts signed by Saddam's regime or by the semiautonomous northern government of Kurdistan be reviewed and amended if needed.

On a technical matter, al-Shahristani said that a new metering system to track oil and gas flows from Iraq's southern export ports had been fixed.

Iraq's economy has been severely weakened by oil smuggling to neighboring countries, a problem that could be checked in part by the metering system. The smuggling has created a fuel crisis that leads to occasional shortages even though Iraq is one of the world's leading producers of oil.

Some experts believe that oil smuggling may be funding Iraq's insurgency.

Law could help modernize Iraq oil sector - Yahoo! News

I have asked my Kurdish contact to see if this balance between dollars and dinar thing on TV is true.

I will post his response when I get it.

(Voice of Iraq) - 21-01-2007 shall Sotaliraq.com

The Republic of Iraq
Council of Ministers-the governmental communications
Media Relations
Press Release Press release /
Sunday 1-21-2007

Finance Minister during his meeting with the director generals and advisers at his ministry on the need to expedite the payment of premiums advances granted to employees

, The Minister of Finance Mr. Bagher Jabr Al-Zubaydi during chaired by the extensive meeting with Messrs. director generals of the ministry and advisers them that most ministries and departments that have been lending its staff personal advances not deducted so far premiums to be paid to the banks that have Credit stressed Mr. Zeralmalih that banks would stop lending to the ministries and departments that have not paid premiums implications of the staff since the credit will be within a specific timeframe on the amount of recoveries and installments due responsibility for levy on the accounts staff specialists and officials to follow up the staff advances.
He called on the Minister of Finance ministries and departments to expedite payment, according to the timetables and formulas reported to the audit committees in their constituencies.
On the other hand, the Minister's attention to the importance of banks in terms of the organization and showed a demonstrated history of this bank, which is characterized by the distinctive reputation in Iraq and the countries of the world. In addition to the attention Baltathith and create all the service requirements.
He also stressed the Minister to take the role of taxes in the follow-up tax collection as being an important source of the budget and be acquainted with the Iraqi citizen and the importance of corporate tax because they eventually return to them in the form of services and projects that contribute to the rehabilitation of Iraq's infrastructure in place after extensive discussions aimed at improving financial and banking work in Iraq on the basis of sound scientific.

Sotaliraq.com

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Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that the whole security plan will be free from political interference and strong against the outlaws and those who want to be silent for a military strike by delivery and submission to state law. And, Mr. Prime Minister, during his meeting yesterday with the representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq, Mr. Ashraf Qazi

Iraq welcomes the cooperation of regional countries and to build good relations with the condition of non-interference in internal affairs and within the rules and international norms, whether in the face of terrorism, or through common interests, refusing Maikal adopts some Arab countries for the year Awalshian All that is likely to inflame sectarian. And Mr. Prime Minister, that the American strategy, announced by President George Bush came in the context of Matvker by the Iraqi government and that the issue of increasing the number of troops up to the estimates of field commanders and added we have full confidence and we Mltefalon successfully security plan and any alternative plan put future, as long as the people embrace the government and supported, and we will continue our part of the building of our armed forces to be able to withdraw the multinational forces from the cities or withdraw 50 thousand troops from Iraq. And through Mr. Prime Minister expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the United Nations in Iraq and called for activating the role of Ha and support the efforts of reconciliation and constitutional institutions For his part, Mr. Ashraf Qazi, we want to be part of your success, and expressed the readiness of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in support of the Iraqi government in all areas, also met al-Maliki in his office official yesterday Alsveralalmani in Baghdad Martin ago and the delegation of the European Union accompanying him, and took place during the meeting discussed the development of relations between Iraq and the European Union in the political and economic. He called Maliki Germany during its presidency of the Office of the European Union to provide support to the march of democracy in Iraq and the efforts of the Iraqi government in the rule of law and an explanation of the new security aspects of the economic and service in support of military action. He also called for implementation of the Joint Economic Commission between Iraq and the European Union and to cooperate in the implementation of the International Covenant, especially regarding the issue of debt forgiveness on Iraq from the dictatorial regime. For his part, the delegation members through the desire of the European Union to meet the needs of Iraq in all areas and work with the Iraqi government to enhance the security situation and to achieve economic prosperity and stability for the Iraqi people. The German ambassador to Mr. Prime Minister invitation to visit Germany and promised to perform sovereignty at the earliest possible time, all of Iraq - Iyad Aboudi

D.G. of Investments

Daily price Bulletin buying and selling Sunday 2007/1/21

Currency
Currency Code
Selling Price In IQD
Buying Price In IQD

US Dollar
USD
1300.000
1298.000

European Euro
EUR
1685.840
1684.997

British Pound
GBP
2568.670
2567.386

Canadian Dollar
CAD
1109.026
1108.471

Swiss Franc
CHF
1041.750
1041.229

Swedish Krona
SEK
185.103
185.011

Norwegian Kroner
NOK
201.719
201.618

Danish Krone
DKK
226.150
226.037

Japanese Yen
JPY
10.724
10.719


The above price represent reference rate and does not from any commitment on the Central Bank of Iraq.



Note: The prices of the bulletin issued on Sunday will adopted for Monday also due to the weekend in New York .

Does the highlighted statement above mean that there will not be a change in tomorrow's auction again or is this something stated on every Sunday auction?

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The Supreme Committee for the implementation of Article 140 of the Permanent Constitution before noon yesterday, Tuesday, a meeting at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers in Baghdad. The friend Mr. Kirkuk, the head of the Office of the Committee for the Implementation of Article 140 has been saying during the meeting discussed the two-tier

The first arrivals of the Arabs in Kirkuk to their areas of origin, and everyone agreed on a specific mechanism has not settled with the amount of financial compensation to be awarded to them. He added. The second axis was the return of the displaced to maintain, and the meeting agreed that gives each migrant family back to Kirkuk governorate residential plot of land with 10 million dinars, which have not benefited from the government
All Iraq - Azza Mahmoud

Coinciding with the announcement that the start of the new security plan early this plan seem reassuring and optimistic that the security situation proceed as planned until now Iraqi citizen runs in the life apart from the crowded streets, where new cars lost to the street-Baghdadi quite some time

While governing rights to anything requires express an opinion, the reality is the master of the evidence does not require witnesses or require one helped. True there were security plans announced at different times by the competent security authorities or the general command of the armed forces, but did not gain the confidence of those plans Iraqi citizen hand did not demonstrate that they are a product of concrete plans by the concerned themselves on the other. Since the escalation of terrorist operations, did not leave room for doubt that the effectiveness of the countermeasures, not only in terms of confrontation nor in terms of the ability to reduce and eliminate the perpetrators, or at least curtail their criminal acts continued has been a lot of Messrs. officials looking through the various media explain and justify the reasons (failure) and the inability to contain security crises and their justifications seem acceptable or semi-convincing the attendant repercussions experienced homeland in all her. At the beginning of this new year, to coincide with the announcement that the start of the new security agenda appear early this plan reassuring and optimistic that the security situation proceed as planned until now Iraqi citizen runs in the dismembered new life as crowded street cars lost street Albaghdadi period for quite some time by the surprise attacks and repeated by terrorist elements, especially in the city center (section east and the door of the glorious), and other areas different to the extent that it seemed was life here has been disrupted only by some pedestrians or cars or military vehicles. Preparations big and good referred to by the official spokesman of the Ministry of Defense, Brigadier General (Mohamed military) confirm that they are highly efficient and will be effective in terms of combat capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces, in all its different forms and in terms of equipment, weapons and various sophisticated mechanisms. Anything added to all the above is the new sense of security which relies minute intelligence information that would accomplish the tasks hostilities successful and certainly without significant losses may be affected by the raid or the attacking forces because it had previously identified objectives, which chose the time and place suitable for the implementation of its objectives. Another case confirms that the security aspect is progressing advanced during these days is Alazdhamat in public markets and the transition between areas that had been considered hot and can not be overcome in light of the difficult circumstances and lack of security situation there. We hope that it takes the security dimensions of security and achieve all that he wishes the people of Iraq of stability and peace building and reconstruction

Jassim Mohammed Kadhim

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