Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 16/08/07 - 03/11/07

This is a really long article - but I thought it was worth posting.

Hunt Oil Deal could Help Shape Kurds' Future
Drilling contract with Kurds could lead to regional autonomy – or aggravate sectarian strife

ASSYAN, Iraq – Jebel Semroot is a dusty heap of rocks plowed and grazed by tough farmers and tougher goats. But this hill surrounding the village of Assyan, where Dallas-based Hunt Oil Co. hopes to drill next year, could have hundreds of millions of barrels of oil trapped beneath it.

Chief executive Ray Hunt flew to Iraq in September to sign an exploration agreement covering Jebel Semroot with Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government.

Trouble is, Jebel Semroot isn't in Kurdish territory. If Hunt Oil drills in these rocks, the company will be helping the Kurds absorb lands in Nineveh province that were historically Kurdish but are still claimed by Iraq's Arab Sunnis.

"Those involved in such contracts will pay the price sooner or later," warned the Association of Muslim Scholars.

While reining in their ambitions just short of independence, the Kurds are making a move to expand their territory, take charge of their oil and insulate themselves in a hostile neighborhood. They are looking to Hunt Oil and other investors to help them get free of the violence and political paralysis of Baghdad. And they want to do it now, before U.S. troops begin leaving Iraq.

Lobbying for land
Kurdish leaders are pushing before year's end to add the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other disputed regions like northern Nineveh to the three provinces of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

They lobbied successfully for a U.S. Senate resolution in October that says Iraq's regions should be self-governing, with Baghdad in charge of little more than foreign policy and national security.

They are wooing foreign businesses with tax holidays and other incentives. They have attracted oil companies from France, Norway, Turkey and Canada with exploration deals worth more than $500 million – deals that give the companies' own governments a reason to support Kurdish ambitions.

And they've granted an oil concession to Hunt Oil, a U.S. company close to the White House, in territory that is not officially theirs.

Mr. Hunt said his company does not get involved in the politics of the countries where it operates, but that the Kurdish deal was sound.

We would not have done this kind of deal if we had not been totally confident about the legality and the KRG's sovereignty," he said.

Kurdish leaders say they realize that independence would fracture Iraq and alarm neighboring countries. If they succeed in their current drive for autonomy, however, they say it could point the way to a "soft partition" of Iraq that would give each of the country's three main ethnic groups (Kurds, Arab Sunnis and Shiites) enough self-determination to live together without civil war.

Unease about deal
Baghdad and the Bush administration are not ready to embrace this approach and prefer a stronger central government. State Department officials say the Hunt deal faces legal uncertainties over whether regional or national oil legislation should prevail – even though a national oil law has yet to be enacted.

The officials also say the deal could undermine the Iraqi government and possibly provoke more violence over the loss of oil-rich territories that Arab Sunnis regard as theirs. Another fear among U.S. analysts is that autonomy among Iraq's main ethnic and religious groups would lead to an oil-rich Shiite state in the south that would become a satellite of Iran.

Many, including officials with other oil companies in Iraq, find it hard to believe that President Bush and Ray Hunt did not talk about this deal before it was signed, or that the Kurdistan Regional Government chose to award a concession to the U.S. company without paying much attention to its political connections with the White House.

Mr. Hunt is a longtime supporter of Mr. Bush. He is a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and was instrumental in getting SMU chosen as the site of the George W. Bush presidential library.
Mr. Bush said at a news conference that the Hunt Oil deal in Iraq was a complete surprise. Mr. Hunt said he has not talked about it with Mr. Bush or anyone else in the U.S. government, either before it was signed Sept. 8 or since.

Although Mr. Hunt said he could not discuss the work of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, he said the information used by the company in deciding to explore for oil in Iraq was "100 percent in the public domain."

Ashti Hawrami, Kurdistan's minister of natural resources, said the Hunt company's relationship with the White House was more a liability than an asset because it was sure to attract negative publicity about the deal.

Yet the companies helping the Kurds look for oil will now play an important role in Kurdish foreign policy. They could win the Kurds allies in getting their oil out to world markets. They could also gain protection for the Kurds from neighbors like Turkey angered by Kurdish guerrillas and Kurdish steps toward economic and political independence.

"If people want Iraq to stay united, this is the way to go," said Falah Bashir, director of foreign relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government. "We need an opportunity to open up to the outside world, not to have all the power in Baghdad."

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has called the Hunt Oil contract "illegal" and said any oil found in such deals could not be exported. He has championed a dominant role in the development of Iraq's oil reserves for the national oil company, with foreign companies kept on the periphery.

Dr. Hawrami, minister of natural resources with the Kurdistan Regional Government, says Mr. Shahristani should stay out of Kurdistan's business.
"We are the legal ones. We are operating according to our law," Dr. Hawrami said. "For people who are shouting that this is illegal, our advice to them is, 'Shut up.' "

Iraq has more oil than all but two or three other countries in the world. The three provinces that make up the Kurdistan Regional Government, however, have only about 1 percent of the country's proven reserves. If the Kurds can add the super-giant Kirkuk field and other prospective areas like Jebel Semroot, Kurdistan could start to look like Libya, Nigeria or even Russia.

45 million barrels?
Dr. Hawrami is confident that all three of the ethnic and religious areas of Iraq hold enormous reserves of yet-to-be-discovered oil. In the Kurdish areas of Iraq, he said, "My number is 45 billion" barrels of proven and probable reserves.

Other companies drilling for oil in Kurdish provinces have already found healthy fields. DNO, a Norwegian company, has developed a field called Tawke in far northern Iraq near the borders of Turkey and Syria that Dr. Hawrami estimates could produce 50,000 barrels a day next year.

A larger field called Taq Taq – jointly owned by Genel Enerji of Turkey and Addax Petroleum International of Canada – contains 2 billion barrels of high-quality oil and might produce as much as 330,000 barrels a day by the end of 2008.

The Taq Taq field was initially discovered when Saddam Hussein was in power. As his forces retreated from the region under the U.S. no-fly zone, they seeded the area with "Bouncing Betty" land mines to keep the Kurds from developing it.

The Taq Taq and Tawke fields are both within the three Kurdish provinces that constitute the Kurdish Regional Government.

The 800-square-kilometer Hunt Oil exploration block is another matter.
Mr. Hussein kicked the Kurdish farmers and herders of Assyan off Jebel Semroot in the 1970s and 1980s as part of his Arabization campaign.

When Mr. Hussein's forces retreated to the south, Assyan's former residents moved back. Jebel Semroot was on the Green Line separating Kurdish and Iraqi forces, and parts of the hill are still covered in landmines, Assyan residents say.

'We belong to Mosul'
Faraji Mahmoud Wahil, 38, a bodyguard for a Kurdish religious leader, lives in a pink adobe compound in Assyan with his immediate family and those of his three brothers – 26 people in all.

"We are not yet attached to the KRG area," Mr. Wahil said. "We belong to Mosul," the capital of Nineveh, which supplies Assyan with fuel, electricity and food rations.

"We hear the vote on whether we stay with Mosul or go with Kurdistan will be next year," Mr. Wahil said. "We hope it's tomorrow. ... I can tell you 99 percent will vote to join the KRG."

It's not the first time the Hunt Oil has faced competing sovereignty claims in the Middle East. The company discovered oil in Yemen in 1985 after signing an exploration contract with the government of Yemen. But then Ray Hunt received a letter from Saudi Arabia claiming that the discovery had been made on land controlled by Saudi Arabia. Hunt Oil ultimately prevailed and the discovery was acknowledged to be in Yemen.

Assyan residents haven't seen any oil seeps or natural gas escaping from Jebel Semroot, but they don't doubt the oil is down there.

"If the government searched for it, they'd find oil under all the lands of Iraq," Mr. Wahil said.

In the late 1970s, the Iraqi national oil company found oil in the far west of the Hunt Oil concession area, said Bewar Khanesi, a geologist who advises the Kurdish regional government and wrote his doctoral thesis on oil in Kurdistan.

"They identified 19 well sites on the Hunt structure. One was drilled, and struck oil. Then with the [1980-1988] war with Iran, they did not come back," he said.

Information about the well – its flow rate, the quality of the oil, the depth of the oil play – is locked away at the Oil Ministry in Baghdad, out of reach, so far, to Kurdish officials, Dr. Khanesi said.

Mr. Hunt said he did not know about the well until after he'd signed the exploration contract.

Complex situation
This earlier discovery could further complicate Hunt Oil's legal situation in Iraq. Mr. Shahristani told a conference of oilmen in September that the Iraqi government intends to give the national oil company exclusive rights in 93 percent of existing oil fields.

Dr. Hawrami, who worked for several years as an oil consultant based in Houston, dismissed any exclusivity for the national oil company as a dream of the federal Oil Ministry based on the way Iraq was governed under Mr. Hussein.

Mr. Hunt said his interest in Iraqi oil dates back nearly 20 years. He said he went to Baghdad on two or three occasions during Mr. Hussein's rule to look into exploration deals there. All of Mr. Hunt's visits to Iraq occurred during the time that Iraq was at war with Iran and when U.S. policy tilted toward Iraq to keep Iran from winning. Mr. Hunt said the discussions abruptly stopped when Mr. Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

He said he was impressed with the Iraqi oil people he met on those trips.
In March, Hunt Oil's London representative, Dave McDonald, was urged to look at Kurdistan by a former colleague with ConocoPhillips. Dr. Hawrami came to London to host a conference for oil companies about Kurdish oil soon after, and Mr. McDonald was in the audience.

Company executives in Dallas, meanwhile, were impressed by a CBS News 60 Minutes feature that showed Kurds praising President Bush and trying to rebuild their economy.

In looking at satellite photos of northern Iraq, Mr. McDonald said, Hunt Oil geologists were impressed with Jebel Semroot's potential as a giant oil trap. Things moved quickly after that, and Mr. Hunt says he is now optimistic about the Kurdish region.

"We've been doing business in the Middle East since 1981," he said. "I am convinced the Iraqis will reach the right decisions."

The Kurds have waited years for a new federal oil law. Shiite and Kurdish Iraqi oilmen started negotiations about such legislation back in 2005, with sporadic participation by Arab Sunnis. The negotiators agreed on a draft bill in February but have not been able to come back to that text since then.

Revenue sharing
Dr. Hawrami sees a power play underway by the federal Oil Ministry, which has tried to monopolize Iraq's oil industry for the Iraqi National Oil Company and exclude foreign oil companies from production-sharing agreements.

As drafts of the agreed compromise legislation changed under the Oil Ministry's influence, the Kurds began writing their own oil legislation, which was approved by the Kurdistan National Assembly in August.

Dr. Hawrami said the Kurdish law recognizes the revenue-sharing arrangement between Kurdistan and Baghdad, which gives 17 percent of national oil revenues to Kurdistan and the rest to Baghdad to be divided as other Iraqi politicians see fit.

By the end of next year, Dr. Hawrami wants Kurdish oil production to hit 400,000 barrels a day. Within five years, he is shooting for production of one million barrels a day.

Getting the oil from Kurdistan to world markets won't be easy. Two pipelines connect the giant Kirkuk field with Turkey's large Ceyhan oil terminal on the Mediterranean Sea. The lines have the capacity to export 1.6 million barrels of oil a day, but hundreds of sabotage attacks by Iraqi insurgents have stopped flows for most of the past four years.

If security improves, politics could intrude. The 600-mile Kirkuk-Ceyhan line is controlled by the Iraqi Oil Ministry, which could punish Kurdistan by blocking its oil exports.

Dr. Hawrami sees no justification for such a move.

"It's all Iraqi oil. I don't see what the fuss is about," he said. "It's not like we would be separately exporting oil."

The oil companies starting to operate in Kurdistan, however, are already debating when and how to build their own export pipeline to Turkey.
For the people of Assyan, the more distance Kurdistan can put between itself and Baghdad, the better off the Kurds will be.

"Even before the Americans came, we believed Iraq was going to be divided between the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunnis," said Akram Elias, a white-haired Assyan farmer.

"I agree," said Mr. Wahil. "I believe if we can become three parts, then everyone can live in peace."

PUKmedia :: English - Hunt Oil Deal could Help Shape Kurds' Future

Talabani receives Letters from Siniora, Australia and Japan Support Peaceful Solution of KPP Issue

His Excellency President Jalal Talabani appreciated the stand of the Japanese government and people towards the new Iraq and helping the Iraqis. This came during his reception of the Japanese Ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Kengjiro Monge today, Thursday, at his office in Baghdad. His Excellency welcomed him warmly and pointed out that the Iraqi people will never forget loyal stances of friends who assisted them in difficult times, describing Japan as one among the best types of friends to the new Iraq.

Concerning the tension on the Iraqi-Turkish border President Talabani confirmed that Turkey is an important neighbor of Iraq and that they look forward to build better relations with Turkey to hope they succeed in resolving this issue through dialogue and diplomacy.

For his part, the Japanese ambassador pointed out that his country is going to provide aid for the Iraqi people and support the political process and said: "We are ready to train Iraqi cadres and upgrading their abilities in several areas, and we reiterate our government's support for the efforts being made to solve problems with Turkey through diplomacy and through dialogue.”

President Talabani also met with Lebanese Ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Omar Sharif, who conveyed to His Excellency three letters from Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on strengthening historical ties between the two countries and the need for develop and consolidate them.

In the meeting, President Talabani expressed his full readiness for assisting Lebanon and supporting its legitimate issues. Because as his Excellency confirmed, Lebanon deserves all kinds of support and assistance, hoping peace, stability and all kinds of development for Lebanon.

President Talabani also recommended Lebanese Ambassador to deliver fraternal greetings and gratitude to His Excellency the Prime Minister, Mr. Fuad Siniora about his letters and feelings toward the new Iraq.

Ways to develop economic relations between the two countries in serving the common interests of the two friendly nations were also discussed during the meeting.

President Talabani in the same day at his office met with the Australian Ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Mark Lance Brown, and discussed with him consolidating relations between the two countries.

In the meeting the overall political process, the current political developments and finding satisfactory solutions to the problems afflicting Iraq were discussed.

PUKmedia :: English - Talabani receives Letters from Siniora, Australia and Japan Support Peaceful Solution of KPP Issue

Kirkuk: the arrest of a prominent Terrorist wanted by the Iraqi Defense Ministry

A trustworthy security source told PUKmedia today that a prominent terrorist was captured in Gharnata area in Kirkuk.After collecting intelligence information about the terrorist, police forces in cooperation with Kirkuk security forces could arrest him on Thursday, the source said.

The terrorist is wanted by Directorate of Intelligence of the Iraqi Defense Ministry and was sent to Baghdad, also according to the source.

PUKmedia :: English - Kirkuk: the arrest of a prominent Terrorist wanted by the Iraqi Defense Ministry

Gov't panel recommends gradual reduction of Korean troops in Iraq

A government panel suggested Thursday that the number of South Korean troops in Iraq be reduced gradually, hoping the continued presence of the troops enhances the chances of South Korean companies to do more business in the oil-rich country.

The recommendation was made just days after President Roh Moo-hyun said he will soon present a motion to the National Assembly to extend the deployment of the Zaytun unit until the end of 2008, in an effort to reinforce U.S. support for the ongoing six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions and the alliance between Seoul and Washington.

YONHAP NEWS

Opinion Piece

Let's stop arguing and face inevitable breakup of Iraq

In a surge of realism, the U.S. Senate has voted 75-23 to acknowledge that Iraq has broken up and cannot be put back together. The measure, co-sponsored by Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate, and Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, supports a plan for Iraq to become a loose confederation of three regions — a Kurdish area in the north, a Shiite region in the south and a Sunni enclave in the center — with the national government in Baghdad having few powers other than to manage the equitable distribution of oil revenues.

While the nonbinding measure provoked strong reactions in Iraq and from the Bush administration, it actually called for exactly what Iraq's Constitution already provides — and what is irrevocably becoming the reality on the ground.

The Kurdish-dominated provinces in the north are recognized in the Constitution as an existing federal region, while other parts of Iraq can also opt to form their own regions. Iraq's regions are allowed their own Parliament and president, and may establish their own army. (Kurdistan's army, the peshmerga, is nearly as large as the national army and far more capable.) While the central government has exclusive control over the national army and foreign affairs, regional law is superior to national law on almost everything else. The central government cannot even impose a tax.

Iraq's minimalist Constitution is a reflection of a country without a common identity. The Shiites believe their majority entitles them to rule, and a vast majority of them support religious parties that would define Iraq as a Shiite state. Iraq's Sunni Arabs cannot accept their country being defined by a rival branch of Islam and ruled by parties they see as aligned with Iran. And the Kurdish vision of Iraq is of a country that does not include them.

The absence of a shared identity is a main reason the Bush administration has failed to construct workable national institutions in Iraq. American training can make Iraq's Shiite-dominated security forces more effective, but it cannot make them into neutral guarantors of safety that the Sunnis can trust. The Kurds ban the national army and police from their territory.

In a reflection of Iraq's deep divisions, the country's Shiite prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, and the main Sunni parties denounced the Senate vote as a plot to partition Iraq, while Kurdish leaders, along with a leading Shiite party, embraced the resolution precisely because they hope it will lead to the partition.

Biden, probably the best-informed member of Congress on Iraq, insists that loose federalism, not partition, is his goal. He makes an analogy to Bosnia, where the 1995 Dayton agreement has kept that country together by devolving most functions to ethnically defined entities. He has a point: Iraq's Kurdish leaders are willing to remain part of Iraq for the time being because Kurdistan already has all attributes of a state except international recognition.

But over the long term, the former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union are better analogies to Iraq than Bosnia. Democracy destroyed those states because, as in Iraq, there was never a shared national identity, and a substantial part of the population did not want to be part of the country.

So we should stop arguing over whether we want "partition" or "federalism" and start thinking about how we can mitigate the consequences of Iraq's unavoidable breakup. Referendums will need to be held, as required by Iraq's Constitution, to determine the final borders of the three regions. There has to be a deal on sharing oil money that satisfies Shiites and Kurds but also guarantees the Sunnis a revenue stream, at least until the untapped oil resources of Sunni areas are developed. And of course a formula must be found to share or divide Baghdad.

At the regional level, Iraq's neighbors have to be reconciled to the new political geography. The good news is that partition will have the practical effect of limiting Iran's influence to southern Iraq and parts of Baghdad.

Turkey, understandably angry over terrorist attacks by a Turkish Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers Party, has in recent days threatened to strike at the group's sanctuaries on the Iraqi side of the mountainous border. In general, however, Turkey has adopted a pragmatic attitude toward the emergence of a de facto independent Kurdistan, in part by supporting the Turkish companies that now provide 80 percent of the foreign investment in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Those who still favor a centralized state like to insist that partition would further destabilize the country. But current events suggest otherwise. Iraq's most stable and democratic region is Kurdistan. In Sunni-dominated Anbar Province, the Americans abandoned a military strategy that entailed working with the Shiite-dominated Iraqi Army and instead moved to set up a Sunni militia. The result has been gains against al-Qaida and a substantial improvement in local security.

Let's face it: Partition is a better outcome than a Sunni-Shiite civil war. There is, in any event, little alternative to partition.

Iraq cannot be reconstructed as a unitary state, and the sooner we face up to this reality, the better.

Galbraith, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia and the author of The "End of Iraq," is a principal in a company that does consulting in Iraq and elsewhere. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Let's stop arguing and face inevitable breakup of Iraq | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Iraq using 28% only of its arable land

The right in food» was the logo for the ceremony given by the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture on the occasion of World Food Day, which was devoted to study ways to achieve self-sufficiency for this country whose agricultural and animal production, until recently, exceeded the needs of its population and covered the needs of the inhabitants of other countries which are now the main source for food to Iraq.

Studies presented at the ceremony confirmed that the percentage of arable land in Iraq amounts to 27% of the total area of Iraq, or about 48 million acres, however, the actually exploited part of them do not exceed 16 million acres, equivalent to almost 28% of arable land; the area planted with grain is estimated by 13.8 million acres, or about 86% of cultivated land, the area with agricultural crops estimated by 2.8%, vegetables cultivated area reaching 4.7%, the area of orchards of all types by 1.2% and the area planted with palm is estimated by 3.6%.

In terms of geographical distribution, northern areas has 55.9% of the area planted with winter crops, while the central and southern areas has 44%; as for the summer crops, central and the southern regions has about 72.30% of the cultivated area, while northern region's share declines to 23.7 because it depends mainly on rainwater.

In terms of production decline, we can see it through comparing the current production with its size before 2003; in 2001, Iraq's production of grain reached about 3.2 million tons and filled half of the total requirements of Iraq at the time, in 2002 grain production were up to 3. 84 million tons, filling 58.7% of the actual needs, then production declined in 2003 to 1.885 million tons, while population in Iraq grew to 3.2%, which means that Iraq needs to double production of 2002 by one and a half times to achieve self-sufficiency.

The studies prepared by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning and Science, said that in 2007 the population of rural areas reached 9929248 people, making 33.4% of the total population of Iraq which amounts to 29682081 people. The reason behind the escalating rate is the adverse migration due to the impact of the American occupation and acts of sectarian violence. The contribution of the agricultural sector declined in 2007 to 10% and the amount of land planted to 20% of the area of Iraq, while one third of the Iraqi population are still working in this sector and rely on it. The rates of animal production also decreased to nearly half of what it was previously due to negligence in raising them, smuggling and unregulated consumption.

The United Nations' statistics described Iraq's agricultural output as moving towards the negative annual growth; grain (rice) production for the dunum declining from 2200 kilograms per hectare in 1990 to 900 kilograms in 2000 and the production of a date palm decreased from 32 kilograms to 10 kilogram in the past three decades, while Iraq imports more than 70% of the nutrition from abroad, especially grain, making more than 4 million tons annually.

As for the most important obstacles to increase agricultural production in Iraq, an expert in the ministry explained that agriculture in Iraq suffers from the so-called interrelated crises and treating one would lead to positive effects on others which are related to economic imbalance, finance, investment, technology and scientific research, treatment and crisis management, weak organizational structures and management as well as agricultural planning and policies and finally there is a crisis in coordination and integration.

However, the most important among the obstacles is the low rates of investment in the agricultural sector; the investment allocations for the agricultural sector are about 12% of the total amount of allocations compared to the investments directed to other sectors, while the actual rate of spent does not exceed 68%, followed by problems of land reclamation, strategic project implementation, technology failure and problems of water scarcity.

All these problems were taken into consideration, and during the ceremony of World Food Day, it was concentrated on the importance of achieving self-sufficiency; the undersecretary of the ministry, Dr. Mahdi Dhamad Al-Qaisi, said that the Ministry of Agriculture is serious in developing the agricultural reality in the country through the provision of all necessary requirements for cultivation through using advanced scientific methods, modern mechanization and creating a new generation of engineers who can manage the process of agricultural in a scientific and modern way; the ministry also aims to achieve self-sufficiency and provide food for the people, of both plant and animal.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=4802

UPDATE: Iraq Oct Oil Exports To Exceed 1.8 M B/D - SOMO Chief

Iraq's crude oil exports from southern and northern oil fields are expected to exceed 1.8 million barrels a day, the head of the country's oil marketing company, SOMO, said Thursday.

Falah Alamri said the increase in the country's oil exports was due to the resumption of exports from northern oil fields. In September, Iraq exported around 1.7 million barrels a day from the south and north.

Alamri also said that SOMO was planning to award term contracts to international companies to sell Kirkuk crude by the end of this year instead of the current sales through auctions.

"Later in November, we are planning to write to companies to sign with them term contracts to sell Kirkuk crude," Alamri told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Baghdad.

Alamri said SOMO has assigned October and November as a test period to see if Iraq can manage to continue crude oil exports from Kirkuk oil fields. "So far our plan is going successfully," he said.

He said SOMO could export more crude than it is now sending through Turkey's Ceyhan port, but exports are strained by limited storage facilities at the terminal.

Ceyhan storage facilities can take up to 7.5 million barrels of Kirkuk crude.

Alamri said Iraq is producing some 600,000 barrels a day from Kirkuk oil fields, of which some 480,000 barrels a day are being pumped to Ceyhan. The rest are for domestic use. Sometimes production from the north goes down below that figure because of limited storage at Ceyhan, Alamri said.

A shipping agent at the Turkish terminal said Wednesday that total inventory of Iraqi Kirkuk crude oil available at Ceyhan stood at 5.5 million barrels.

SOMO announced earlier this week a new tender to sell 6 million barrels of Kirkuk crude. Alamri said results of that tender would be announced in six days time.

SOMO has sold around 9.6 million barrels of Kirkuk crude through Ceyhan so far this month, the highest rate since the end of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in spring 2003.

Nasdaq 100 Flash Quotes

Iraq oil flows to Turkey de****e threats, attacks

Oil keeps flowing from Iraq to Turkey through a pipeline skirting Iraq’s Kurdish region de****e threats to infrastructure from Kurdish rebels and insurgent sabotage attacks further south, an oil shipper said on Thursday.

Iraq was pumping around 400,000 barrels per day of Kirkuk crude to Turkey on Thursday for the seventh consecutive day, the shipper said.

“The flow is about 18,000 barrels per hour,” he said. “They are having some success at keeping it going.
Concerns that the flow might be halted due to clashes between Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels helped take oil futures to a record of over $90 a barrel last week.

A pro-rebel news agency quoted one of the leaders of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) last week as saying the guerrillas could strike oil pipelines if Turkish troops attacked them.

“We have no specific policy on pipelines but we are now waging a defensive war... Since pipelines that cross Kurdistan provide the economic resources for the Turkish army’s aggression, it is possible the guerrillas target them,” the Firat news agency quoted PKK commander Murat Karayilan saying.

Turkey has mounted a series of sorties by warplanes and ground troops since Sunday into Iraq territory after rebels killed 12 Turkish soldiers at the weekend.

Turkey has also beefed up security on another oil pipeline through its territory from the Caspian after threats from the rebels.
The northern pipeline from Iraq’s Kirkuk field to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan has repeatedly fallen victim to the wider insurgency further south in Iraq.

Sabotage attacks there have rendered the export route mostly inoperable since the US-led invasion in March 2003. Bombers blew up a section of pipeline carrying crude to Iraq’s Baiji refinery last week, but exports were not affected.

Sporadic flows over the past two months have allowed Baghdad to sell about 17 million barrels of oil through the pipeline to world markets.

Stocks of Kirkuk oil in storage at Ceyhan stood at 4.95 million barrels on Thursday, the shipper said.

Iraq has moved to market about 7.5 million barrels of crude from Ceyhan storage through ships and another pipeline in Turkey so far in October, the shipper said. A vessel was booked to load another million barrels on Oct. 27, he added.
The OPEC member is in the process of selling another 6 million barrels.

The Iraq-Turkey pipeline is Iraq’s secondary export route. The country relies on its main terminal in the south at Basra for exports of about 1.5 million barrels per day.

Khaleej Times Online - Iraq oil flows to Turkey de****e threats, attacks=

Government officials liaise with oil smugglers, customs official says

Government officials in the southern city of Basra assist smugglers to illegally ship crude oil to Iran, the head of the Customs Commission in the city said.

Brigadier Khalaf Badran said the officials issue certificates to oil tanker drivers ostensibly to allow them to transport oil products inside the country. He refused to give names or titles.

“Bu they use these permits to pass through checkpoints and security controls on their way to unload their cargo onto special boats along the shores of the Shat al-Arab Waterway,” Badran said.

He said customs officials and the police forces charged with cracking down on smugglers have no right to seize oil tankers whose drivers carry official permits.

“We do stop these vehicles because we do believe they are on their way to smuggle their cargo but their drivers produce official papers saying otherwise,” Badran said.

He said there must be some coordination with the Iranian side as the boat owners and Iraqi drivers know where and when to meet.

The Waterway divides the southern most of the border between the countries and extends for more than 100 kilometers.

“It is a large area. It stretches from Ras al-Beesha on the head of the Gulf to Mina al-Maaqal close to the city of Basra. It is very difficult to control,” Badran said.

Smuggling of fuel has receded drastically due to the latest hikes in fuel prices in the country which make them comparable to those in neighboring states.

But smuggling of crude oil is a lucrative business and the recent surges in prices on international markets are tempting to smugglers.

The smuggled crude is not taken directly from oil wells or storage tank. Badran said smugglers bore pipelines and load the crude into their tankers using diesel-driven pumps.

It is almost impossible to police the extensive pipeline network in Iraq as some of the pipes pass through difficult and inaccessible terrain.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2007-10-25\kurd.htm

US imposes series of new sanctions on Iran

Washington: The US imposed a series of new sanctions on Iran on Thursday in an effort to limit its nuclear programme and "increase the costs to Iran of its irresponsible behaviour."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. announced the moves, which are aimed at the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the corps' smaller Quds Force unit, and three of the country's largest banks.

The goal is to cut off 20 individuals and Iranian entities from the US financial system and, indirectly, limit their access to other parts of the international economic system.

US officials believe the Revolutionary Guard supports groups including Hezbollah and Hamas, who are classed as terrorist groups. They contend that Quds has been active in Iraq, providing sophisticated bombs that have killed hundreds of US troops.

The moves freeze the assets of these entities in the United States and signal to banks and companies outside the US that they could be penalised if they do business with those targeted.

Gulfnews: US imposes series of new sanctions on Iran