Thread: Iraq/Dinar News until 5PM CST May 10,2007

Originally Posted by ForceReK0n

Well fellow Dinar peeps. Looks like I am probably heading back to Iraq. Things are tight here. They cut my pay and I have an addition to the family on the way. The wife gave me the "GREEN" light.

Anyway, I will let you all know the final word very soon. I still need to negotiate my package to the "exotic" land. If I go I will be "boots on the ground" as much as I can for ROL.



"D"

Congratulations on your growing family......stay safe!

I don't really know you ....But i sure hate to see you go.....Please be safe as you can be......

Hi..

With the phantom no-post of the CBI today or Wednesday, based on your time/date... I looked at the historical data, the button in the middle on the exchange page on the CBI site.. naturally there was no auction, but the recent one is up and where they bought no dollars is blank... historically they always have zeros on the history page or write no auction for the market price when they do not... if anything, it shows that they didn't complete the historical entry date for the previous auction

I doubt this means anything, but it looked irregular to me, and I want the RV real bad.. please move this post if necessary.

Linus

Originally Posted by Seaview

I was reading this article a little while ago and I thought it was good - but although it has todays date on it - I don't think it is new because some of it is a bit outdated - like 'Oil Law going to Parliament next week' - I thought it was already suppose to be there. - I hope -

I saw an article in regards to the cost of extraction as well. It was stated the the cost was between .50 and $1...anthing under 4 per barrel is just ludicrus!!!!!! The money that these companies are going to be making is just astounding. Once the RV happens I am looking into the oil companies that are drilling and extracting there!!!!!

Originally Posted by ForceReK0n

Well fellow Dinar peeps. Looks like I am probably heading back to Iraq. Things are tight here. They cut my pay and I have an addition to the family on the way. The wife gave me the "GREEN" light.

Anyway, I will let you all know the final word very soon. I still need to negotiate my package to the "exotic" land. If I go I will be "boots on the ground" as much as I can for ROL.



"D"

Thanks "D"! Be safe and God bless!

Originally Posted by hero44

I cashed in some dinars yesterday at a chase bank in KY. no problem at all.
lady at the bank said their value was going down. .00072560 for 1 dinar.
didn't sound good to me.

That banker probably saw the rate go from 1270 to 1268 to 1265 to 1264 and thinks that means going down.

Chevron to make record settlement in Iraq oil scandal
Xinhua - [09/05/2007]

Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, is preparing to acknowledge that it should have known kickbacks were being paid to Saddam Hussein on oil it bought from Iraq as part of a defunct United Nations program, New York Times reported Tuesday.

The admission is part of a settlement being negotiated with United States prosecutors and includes fines totaling 25 million to 30 million U.S. dollars, the report quoted the investigators assaying.

The penalty, which is still being negotiated, would be the largest so far in the U.S. in connection with investigations of companies involved in the oil-for-food scandal.

The 64-billion-dollar program was set up in 1996 by the UN Security Council to help ease the effects of UN sanctions on Iraqi civilians after the first gulf war.

Until the American invasion in 2003, the program allowed Saddam's government to export oil to pay for food, medicine and humanitarian goods.

However, the Iraqi government received at least 1.8 billion dollars in kickbacks from companies in the program, according to an investigation completed in 2005 by Paul A. Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3732

Discounting Experts from the Iraqi Oil Law
Dar Al Hayat - [09/05/2007]

The Iraqi oil law was subjected to unprecedented criticism, questioning and objections. The last burst came from a plenary of experts and spe******ts who participated in the Amman oil experts seminar in Jordan on February 17 to discuss the pros and cons of the law.

Due to the extensive debate surrounding the issue, I decided to limit myself here to reviewing observations on the prevailing conditions that accompanied this law and the reasons that lead to these conditions.

The need for any given law normally stems from constitutional articles defining the law in question. Since a large number of these articles have been shrouded in vagueness, marred by contradictions, and even dominated by a rather outlandish logic that sought to discredit the intentions of the central government, the oil law sought to destabilize and undercut the natural role of the central government and, in some instances, contained proposals in favor of a part like Kurdistan over central Iraq in any future disputes between the interests of the two.

The law also sanctions contracts independently signed by Kurdistan with a number of oil companies in 1992 and guarantees the protection of these agreements against any revisions or substantial future amendments.

Three expert and competent teams deeply involved in the Iraqi oil affairs were initially tasked with preparing the first draft of the law. The aim of these experts was to resolve the constitutional conflicts arising from the mentioned articles, the practical operational requirements of the oil industry, and the need to protect Iraq's oil wealth.

This draft, however, was embroiled in the political arena and brought under the mercy of the wrangling and maneuvering of giant partisan entities, and just like what took place on the drafting of the resolution, pressures were applied and sides were taken, leading to considerable changes in key and central aspects of the decision-making process, which strangely enough took place while excluding the three-party team tasked with preparing the draft law, forcing one of these experts to publicly denounce the outcome of the first draft and the subsequent withdrawal of a second.

Since the law was mainly concerned with managing what is widely believed to be the region's second largest oil wealth, it progressed under the continued US interference and pressure represented by its various symbols of authority, the least of which came from the US envoy to Iraq as evident in the scores of public statements.

The progress toward the ratification of the law, particularly during recent weeks, was marred by unrelenting pressures on all sides aimed at accelerating the legislative process, which led to reducing the time allowed to debate the bill in the cabinet prior its approval to a few hours.

It was also remarkable that all this took place behind closed doors, as nothing related to the law was made available to the public, which would have engaged Non Governmental Organizations in these discussions.

What was even more dangerous was the exclusion of a broad cadre of oil experts who were behind the renaissance witnessed by the oil industry since the 1950s, which earned them the admiration and respect of the international oil circles for more than 40 years, preventing them from having any role in enriching the draft project with their observations and proposals.

Therefore, it would be reasonable to ask: why have more than 100 oil experts - each having spent at least 30, and sometimes even 40, years serving the oil industry in Iraq - been eliminated?

Despite these observations, I fully support Iraq's need for a law that adequately regulates the Iraqi energy sector and rescues it from the state of neglect and deterioration that has been ailing the Iraqi oil sector since the 1980s, and which can protect such wealth from technical abuse and economical pillaging.

The achievement of such patriotic goals calls for deliberation, transparency, and the all-inclusive participation of everyone.

Law number 80, passed in 1960, saved Iraq's oil resources from the greed and the exploitation of international oil monopolies, and was among the most important achievements of the July 14 Revolution. Therefore, we must prevent the return of these monopolies from between the nets of the occupation.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3728

Report: Iraq could produce more oil
Business Week - [09/05/2007]

Oil production in Iraq could double to 4 million barrels a day if violence ends and facilities are modernized, a Colorado energy consulting company says in a forthcoming report.

Ron Mobed, president and chief operating officer of IHS Energy, said Tuesday the study is the first detailed overview of Iraq's oil reserves and production potential since the war began.

The report, expected to be released in the next few weeks, used experts in Iraq to develop its field-by-field analysis, Mobed said. IHS is based in suburban Englewood.

IHS found that Iraq has oil reserves of up to 116 billion barrels, validating previous estimates, Mobed said. It also found there could be up to 100 billion barrels more in the country's western region, which is the epicenter of the country's Sunni Arab dominated insurgency.

The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated the country's additional reserves at 45 billion barrels.

The western region currently has little to no oil and gas production, contributing to fears among Anbar residents that they will be left with little more than date groves and sand while the Kurds and Shiite regions of the north and south divide the vast oil wealth.

The IHS estimate on the potential reserves in that region are based on four wells drilled in the area in 2002 and 2003 by Syria's national oil company in conjunction with Iraqis. It also factored in research on the area's geological structures and formations.

Mobed acknowledged it wasn't a firm figure.

"There's going to be a big error bar on this," he said.

Not counting Canada and Venezuela's vast bitumen deposits, Iraq currently has the world's third largest oil reserves.

But years of neglect have resulted in shut-ins in oil fields, significantly reducing their output. That reduction has been magnified by repeated insurgent attacks on the country's vast oil infrastructure, including pipelines and refineries.

If companies felt safe sending workers to Iraq and investing money there, Iraq could again match or exceed production levels it had before the first Gulf war, Mobed said.

Before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the country was producing 2.5 million to 3 million barrels per day, a level that has since tapered off to about 2 million barrels per day.

The report will not deal with the political problems in Iraq or speculate on when the situation may improve, Mobed said.

"When the time comes for people to feel sufficiently comfortable to make investments there, that's when the clock starts on achieving those production numbers," he said.

The IHS report said most of the current production comes from the south because facilities in the north are subject to sabotage attacks.

Discounting such attacks, however, most of the oil exports are generally routed through the south -- where pipeline capacity is much greater -- and loaded on to tankers. The northern route, which links the fields of Kirkuk to Ceyhan, in Turkey, has a significantly smaller capacity.

The map-based report, originally set to be released Wednesday, was delayed so new information could be added. Mobed said that wouldn't change production estimates included in an overview released to the public.

A version of the report that does not include the production estimates will be sold to energy companies.

The report is being completed as the Iraqi government works on legislation that is expected to allow energy companies to sign contracts to explore the country's untapped oil reserves.

Because of the war, major Western firms still expected to wait five years or more before actually beginning large-scale production.

Some analysts think China, hungry for energy to fuel its rapidly growing economy, will be more willing to take security risks to develop Iraq's oil.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=3733

Originally Posted by ForceReK0n

Well fellow Dinar peeps. Looks like I am probably heading back to Iraq. Things are tight here. They cut my pay and I have an addition to the family on the way. The wife gave me the "GREEN" light.

Anyway, I will let you all know the final word very soon. I still need to negotiate my package to the "exotic" land. If I go I will be "boots on the ground" as much as I can for ROL.



"D"

We'll be praying for you and your family. Stay safe and we'll be seeing you in the Caymans!!!!!