Thread: Iraq/Dinar News to April 19, 2007 10PM CST

Civilian killed, four wounded in oil tanker explosion in Mosul
By Ibrahim Zanoun
Mosul, 18 April 2007 (Voices of Iraq)


One person was killed and four others were wounded when a suicide bomber blew up an oil tanker near an Iraqi army base in the city of Mosul, police sources said on Tuesday.
"A dead body was moved to the forensic medicine department and four wounded persons to the republican hospital," a source from the Ninewa police department told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
"A booby-tapped oil tanker was detonated this afternoon in Tal al-Ruman region, south west of Mosul," an Iraqi army official had said earlier.
"Guards opened fire at a suicide bomber who was driving the tanker towards the base," the official has said, noting that the blast killed the attacker and caused no other casualties.
Mosul is mainly a Sunni city. It is 402 km north of Baghdad. There are different communities in Mosul like Christians, Shiites, Kurds along with the Sunni majority.

Civilian killed, four wounded in oil tanker explosion in Mosul | Iraq Updates

Slight increase in demand for dollar in daily auction
By Dergham Mohammed Ali
Baghdad, 18 April 2007 (Voices of Iraq)


Demand for the dollar slightly increased in the Iraqi Central Bank’s daily auction on Tuesday, reaching $69.065 million compared with $68.679 million on Monday.
In its daily statement the bank said it had covered all bids, which included $10.835 million in cash and $58.230 million in foreign transfers, at an exchange rate of 1,272 dinars per dollar, unchanged from two weeks.
13 banks participated in Tuesday's auction offered to sell two million dollars. The Bank bought them all at an exchange rate of 1270 dinars per dollar.
Ali al-Yasseri, a trader at auction, told VOI "the relatively stable demand for the dollar and the offers to sell dollars at the daily auction were due to the stable exchange rate for two weeks now."
The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.

Slight increase in demand for dollar in daily auction | Iraq Updates

Iraqi government allocates $ 25m to back Iraqi refugees
By Kawther abdul-Amir
Baghdad, 18 April 2007 (Voices of Iraq)


Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Tuesday $25 million was allocated to support Iraqi refugees abroad.
"The cabinet today has decided to allocate $25 million to support Iraqi refugees abroad in the domains of health and education," Maliki told a news conference in Baghdad.
He added, "We back Iraqi refugees regardless of the cause behind their immigration. The countries receiving these refugees also will be financially backed. Iraqi governmental offices will start in countries with high numbers of Iraqi refuges."
An international conference on Iraqi refugees was opened on Tuesday to discuss means to help the almost two million Iraqis in Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
On replacing the Sadrist ministers who quit the government, the prime minister said "the Sadr's bloc authorized the prime minister to select independent ministers to replace those who quit."
"Soon ministers and undersecretaries will be chosen and names will be announced," al-Maliki added.
Asked whether the Sadrists' withdrawal will bring down the government, Maliki replied "the withdrawal does not mean a rift in the government, which is rather coherent now… It is more coherent than any government in the Arab region."
On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki welcomed a decision by Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr to authorize the prime minister to select independent persons to replace six Shiite ministers who were ordered by Sadr to quit the government.
The Sadr Movement’s chief in Iraq's parliament Nassar al-Rubaie on Monday read out a statement by Sadr in which he said "for the sake of public interest and easing burdens from the Iraqi people, we deemed it necessary to inform Sadrist ministers to quit the Iraqi government and steer clear of any sectarian, ethnic, partisan or political calculations."
The Sadrist ministers' withdrawal from the government is expected to double pressures on Prime Minister Maliki as the Sadr Movement is considered a powerful supporter of him since he came to power in mid-2006.
The Sadrist ministers held important portfolios in the Iraqi government: health, agriculture, transport, tourism and antiquities, provinces' affairs and civil society.
Rubaie, during a press conference he held earlier on Monday in Baghdad, said the ministers quit the government due to Maliki's failure to positively respond to the "million-man demonstration," which was staged by Sadrists on April 9 in the holy Shiite province of Najaf, to demand the departure of occupation troops.
The Sadrists occupy 30 seats within the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC), which has the largest number of seats in the Iraqi parliament, 130 out of the total 275 seats.

Iraqi government allocates $ 25m to back Iraqi refugees | Iraq Updates

Trade Ministry enforces ties with world states
Baghdad, 18 April 2007 (Al-Sabaah)


The Ministry of Trade has made negotiations with Byelorussia Republic to get back 6 millions Euros within previous unimplemented contracts signed by the former regime.
The Trade Ministry discussed the effectuation of trade ties with Turkey, Yemen, Nigeria and al-Argentine.
At the same time the Trade Ministry demanded from the Foreign Ministry to approach the Iraqi embassies in Vienna and Rome to activate the trade exchange between the two states.

Trade Ministry enforces ties with world states | Iraq Updates

By Simon Webb

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DUBAI (Reuters) - Iraqi parliamentarians and experts began a meeting in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday to discuss the war-torn country's oil law that will give its regions the right to negotiate with global firms on developing oilfields.


"This is one of a series of technical workshops that we are holding to discuss the oil and gas law," Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told Reuters as he entered the meeting in the emirate of Dubai.


An Iraqi official told reporters in Dubai on Tuesday that at least three ministers, including Shahristani, would be among some 60 Iraqi parliament members and oil experts attending the meeting.


Some of the technical experts lived in third countries and did not wish to travel to Iraq for security reasons.


In February Iraq's cabinet endorsed a draft oil law, which is awaiting parliament's ratification, regulating how wealth from the country's vast oil reserves will be shared by its ethnic and sectarian groups.


The OPEC member has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves and needs billions of dollars to revive its oil sector, which is crucial for rebuilding its shattered economy.


Shahristani said earlier this month that it was "achievable to pass the law within two months since all political parties are in favor."


The long-planned law will also restructure the Iraq National Oil Company as an independent holding firm and establish a Federal Council as a forum for national oil policy.


The world's top oil companies have been manoeuvring for years to win a stake in Iraq's prized oilfields such as Bin Umar, Majnoon, Nassiriyah, West Qurna and Ratawi, all located in the south of the country. (for related story click on


Companies such as energy giant BP is keen on working on a range of oil and gas projects in the country, but is waiting for parliament to pass the oil law and for security to improve before boosting its role.


Iraq has said it was targeting oil production of more than 4 million bpd in 2011. A Reuters survey shows that it produced 1.97 million bpd in March, up from 1.89 million bpd in February.


Shahristani said in December that 2006 production averaged 2.3 million bpd.

Basra violence threatens Iraq's oil
BASRA, Iraq, 18 April 2007 (UPI)


Political and sectarian fighting in Iraq's oil capital, Basra, intensifies, threatening most of Iraq's oil production and all its oil exports.
Basra is majority Shiite and, as the central city of the vast majority of Iraq's oil reserves and the largest port where nearly all its oil exports are sent from, equally as important to Iraq as Baghdad. Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves, and production is struggling at around 2 million barrels per day. Oil sales make up 93 percent of Iraq's budget.
The local government is controlled by the Fadhila Party. Its biggest competitor is the alliance led by Moqtada Sadr. The two sides launched bitter and violent battles against each other over the past weeks.
On Monday a large demonstration was held in Basra demanding Muhammad Masbah al Waili, the Fadhila Party governor of Basra province, resign. Sadr and his Mahdi Army deny involvement in the rally and subsequent campaign for Waili to step down.
Regardless, it "marks a new escalation in intra-Shiite tensions, which will expose government institutions and energy infrastructures in the southern provinces to serious security risks," Rochdi Younsi, analyst for Middle East and Africa for the business risk firm Eurasia Group, wrote in a new report. Sadr says Waili and the Fadhila Party in Basra are corrupt, including involvement in oil smuggling that has cost the Iraqi government billions of dollars in oil revenues and worsened the fuel shortage in the country. Local tribal leaders also back that accusation, Younsi wrote. Fadhila accuses Sadr of planning a violent regional coup, including taking control of the Southern Oil Company.
"Local oil infrastructures could be exposed to a higher security risk as the Shiite community in the south becomes more fragmented," Younsi wrote.

Basra violence threatens Iraq's oil | Iraq Updates

Talabani: sustain work necessary for realizing reconciliation
Baghdad, 18 April 2007 (Al-Sabaah)


The Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani has indicated the necessity of work to realize the national reconciliation, considering it as the best way to improve the security situations.
This came during a meeting with the Secretary-General of the Iraqi Communist Party, Hameed Majeed Mousand a number of party's leaders.
During a meeting attended by Acting President of the Presidency Divan Kamaran Qardaghi, Talabani discussed the up-dated political and security developments in the country, particularly after the terrorist attack against the Iraqi Parliamentarian Council.

Talabani: sustain work necessary for realizing reconciliation | Iraq Updates

Basra's officials intend to follow democratic rules
Baghdad, 18 April 2007 (Al-Sabaah)


Basra province council would hold a meeting to review requests of citizens to firing mayor Mohamed Wa'aeli as the council head Mohamed A'ibadi said.
The meeting holds during sit-in would continue to three days which announced by demonstration panel for the same aim.
A'ibadi added that preparing to the demonstration and review citizens requests and taking measures executed and would execute within democratic bases.
While demonstration panel threatened of escalating steps described as peaceful if its requests wouldn’t fulfill.

Basra's officials intend to follow democratic rules | Iraq Updates

Announcement No.(906)

D.G. of Foreign Exchange Control

The 906 daily currency auction was held in the Central Bank of Iraq day Wednesday 2007/4/ 18 so the results were as follows :

Details Notes
Number of banks 14 -----
Auction price selling dinar / US $ 1272 -----
Auction price buying dinar / US $ 1270 -----
Amount sold at auction price (US $) 86.385.000 -----
Amount purchased at Auction price (US $) 2.000.000
Total offers for buying (US $) 86.385.000 -----
Total offers for selling (US $) 2.000.000 -----

Announcement No.(906)

D.G. of Foreign Exchange Control

The 906 daily currency auction was held in the Central Bank of Iraq day Wednesday 2007/4/ 18 so the results were as follows :

Details Notes
Number of banks14-----
Auction price selling dinar / US $1272-----
Auction price buying dinar / US $1270-----
Amount sold at auction price (US $)86.385.000-----
Amount purchased at Auction price (US $) 2.000.000
Total offers for buying (US $)86.385.000-----
Total offers for selling (US $)2.000.000-----

From Arabic page:

1.Note that :.

• The sale price for remittances dinars (1271) / $.
• The sale price cash dinars (1283) / $.
• The cash purchase price (1281) dinars / $.

2.The quantity sold, the amount of cash (7.595.000) dollars and the amount of remittances (78.790.000) dollars.

3-declare the Iraqi Central Bank made buying and selling rates for the dollar on Wednesday morning of April 18, 2007 until the end of office hours on the morning of April 22, 2007.

What do they mean by end of office hours on the morning?
Bad translation?