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

PM Welcomes 300 Companies to Kurdistan’s Largest International Trade Fair

Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani today opened the 3rd International Trade Fair in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region. This year’s fair was the largest in Kurdistan since 1991, attracting 300 companies from 22 countries looking for private sector economic cooperation.

Emphasising that the private sector was the engine of sustainable growth, the Prime Minister said, “We place great importance on partnership and cooperation between government and the private sector to encourage economic and social development.”

Mr Barzani said, “Economic and business ties are helpful in building good international relations”. He stressed that the Kurdistan Region desired good relations with all its neighbours, especially Turkey.

Regarding the current tensions, the Prime Minister said, “We believe that there now exists a good opportunity for dialogue and a peaceful solution. This is an open door for negotiation and understanding. We are for peace, and peace is in the interest of all concerned”.

The Erbil International Fair has become a fixture in the economic calendar of the Region. Each year it attracts many international companies interested in taking advantage of the favourable economic climate fostered by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Companies from the construction, communications, banking, electricity and automobile sectors are taking part in this year’s fair.

PUKmedia :: English - PM Welcomes 300 Companies to Kurdistan’s Largest International Trade Fair

Demand for dollar soars in daily auction

Demand for the dollar considerably increased in the Iraqi Central Bank’s auction on Sunday, reaching $103.850 million compared to $40.405 million on Thursday.

In its daily statement, the bank said it had covered all bids, including $7.340 million in cash and $96.510 in foreign transfers, at an exchange rate of 1,232 dinars per dollar, the same for the tenth consecutive day.

None of the 20 banks that participated in Sunday's session offered to sell dollars.

In statements to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that the hike in the demand for dollar is attributed to the increase in governmental remittances during today's session.

The Iraqi Central Bank runs a daily auction from Sunday to Thursday.

Demand for dollar soars in daily auction | Iraq Updates

International expectations of economic growth in Iraq

Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Barham Salih, said that the economic situation continues to improve and international estimates expect high rates of growth in the Iraqi economy, about 6%, and inflation was brought under control by hitting another level of about 33% this year and 16% for this month.

This came during a media symposium held in London recently on the sidelines of his official visit to Britain. Dr. Barham Salih, Head of the economic file said that the Iraqi government decided to allocate about two and a half billion, for the development of provinces distributed among regions according to population.

He added that development in the performance of administrative departments made the government raise the budget allocated to provinces to the double. Dr. Salih admitted that the political reality of Iraq is unstable and there are many problems that prevent agreement to resolve crucial issues, and added that the oil law was suspended because of the political debate which happened about its paragraphs.

International expectations of economic growth in Iraq | Iraq Updates

Asian oil prices continue to soar amid concerns on Mideast

Oil prices reached a new record high Monday in Asian dealings in Singapore amid increased concerns over the Turkish Army attacks on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Light, sweet crude exceeded the USD 92 per barrel (dpb) barrier and reached 92.69 dpb in the New York Mercantile Exchange, rising 83 cent from last Friday's 91.86 dpb.

Contracts were of the value of 92.25 dpb by the end of last Friday's dealings and Brent crude oil went up by 78 cents to a record price of 89.47 dpb, reaching 89.30 dpb by the closing.

Oil prices broke the USD-90-barrel mark in New York on October 19 following the depreciation of the US dollar against the euro and Turkish parliamentary approval of a military raid on Kurdish rebels in Iraq, which holds the third larges oil reserves in the world.

Asian oil prices continue to soar amid concerns on Mideast | Iraq Updates

Iraq sold 4.6 million barrels of Kirkuk crude to buyers in Europe and America

A source at the Iraqi Oil Ministry said on Monday that Iraq has sold about five million barrels of Kirkuk crude to buyers in Europe and the United States and intends to hold another auction this week.

The source said that the companies Total and Exon or M.V. Winy bought 4.6 million barrels.

Iraq will announce in the coming days on a new auction for the sale of another six million barrels of Kirkuk crude.

Iraq sold 4.6 million barrels of Kirkuk crude to buyers in Europe and America | Iraq Updates

Turkey Mulling diverting Iraq-trade to Syria

Turkey seems to be determined to punish Iraqi Kurds whose livelihood relies on commercial exchange with both Ankara and Tehran.

Turkey has already reduced the flow of goods through the Khabur crossing as part of the pressure the country is exerting to force Iraqi Kurds to flush Turkish Kurds rebels from their areas.

Trade with Turkey is vital for the economy of the hitherto relatively peaceful and economically prosperous Kurdish enclave, a semi-independent region comprising three provinces – Dahouk, Arbil and Sulaimaniya.

Turkish investors who poured millions of dollars into the region’s reconstruction and contractors implementing deals on behalf of the regional Kurdish government are said to have left the area.

The rising tension between the countries is due to what Ankara says is the rising influence of Turkish Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and their repeated hit-and-run attacks on its territory.

Customs officials on the border say there has been a plunge in the number of Turkish trucks that used to cross every day into northern Iraq.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said fewer than 1500 of Turkish trucks were crossing the border every day. On average, nearly 2500 trucks entered Iraqi Kurdistan from Turkey before the crisis.

The Kurds charge each truck $100. The drop in the number of trucks would cost the region nearly $3 million a month besides the loss in business opportunities risk of shortages of essential commodities.

Azzaman in English

Reliance Signs Northern Iraq Oil Contract - source

Even as Turkish troops mass on the border of northern Iraq, India's Reliance signed a deal on Monday to explore for oil and gas in Iraq's Kurdish region, a senior company official said.

Reliance signed the production sharing contract for two exploration blocks with the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), the source said.

"To begin with we will be 100 percent stakeholders but later on Iraq can mandate a company to have a stake in the blocks after discovery in line with their new law," the company official, who declined to be named, said.

"They have been given to us on (a) negotiation basis."

A KRG government spokesman was not immediately available to respond to enquiries about the deal.

Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops along the Iraqi border in readiness for a possible large scale incursion to hunt 3,000 guerrillas who use Iraq's Kurdish region as a base.

But the KRG is moving ahead with plans to attract international energy companies to explore for oil and gas in the region. It aims to boost oil output to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in about five years from just a few thousand now.

The KRG said earlier this month it had approved four new oil and gas deals but only gave details of two of them. The four deals were expected to attract around $500 million of investment in exploration.

The semi-autonomous KRG has struck five production sharing agreements (PSAs) this year, de****e objections from Baghdad. Iraq's oil minister said last month that oil deals that the KRG had signed since February were illegal.

The KRG rejects Baghdad's claims that the deals breach the country's laws. The region's government is in talks with a number of international and local companies for further upstream and downstream projects, it said earlier this month.

Under the terms of the PSAs, holders would take 15 percent of the profits, while 85 percent would go to Iraq.

Iraq's cabinet agreed a draft law for dividing the world's third-largest oil reserves in February, but rows with the KRG as well as objections from some Shi'ite and Sunni Arab politicians have slowed its progress.

Frustrated by Baghdad's delays, KRG approved its own oil law in August.
Reliance Industries Ltd, India's top private oil explorer, owns exploration blocks in Yemen, Oman, East Timor, Australia and Columbia thorough its subsidiaries.

Reliance signs northern Iraq oil contract - source | Business | Reuters

StatoilHydro says looking for Iraq opportunities

Norwegian oil and gas group StatoilHydro is watching actively for opportunities in Iraq, the company's chief financial officer said on Monday.

"Yes, Iraq is something we are screening quite actively but there haven't been any specific moves made in that respect," StatoilHydro CFO Eldar Saetre told a conference call on the group's third-quarter results when asked about Iraq.

"It goes without saying that it's a challenging situation in Iraq. There are a lot of interesting prospects in Iraq, and what we do, like most other companies, is look at those opportunities and put that together with how you look at the political situation and security issues."

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/...RAQ-URGENT.XML

Iraq to Increase 2008 Budget

Iraq's finance minister said Monday that his country's budget will increase by 2 percent to $42 billion in the fiscal year 2008, and oil production is expected to remain at the same level of 1.7 million barrels per day.

Bayan Baqir Jabr said oil prices were calculated in next year's budget on the basis of $50 per barrel - lower than the current market rate, which spiked above $93 a barrel to a new trading high on Monday.

"Iraq's budget for the year 2008 is going to be $42 billion. It's a slightly larger budget," Jabr told reporters.

He said Iraqi oil production and prices next year "have not been fixed yet, but in general, the price will be around $50 a barrel and the average daily production will be 1.7 million barrels."

The Iraqi minister did not give an estimate for oil revenues projected in next year's budget but noted that the figure is expected around $30 billion (21 billion euros) this year.

Jabr's remarks followed a closed-door meeting he held in the Jordanian capital with representatives of the International Monetary Fund, which is supervising an Iraqi economic restructuring program.

He said his discussions with the IMF included Iraq's budget in the fiscal 2008, trade and tax restructuring and ways to write-off his country's foreign debt. He declined to elaborate.

Jabr said Iraq's oil minister was also due to visit Jordan on Thursday for talks with the IMF, which are expected to focus on coordinating Iraqi oil policies.

Iraq to Increase 2008 Budget - Forbes.com

We knew this already - but I don't think this is a rehashed article. All good news anyway.

Originally Posted by Seaview

StatoilHydro says looking for Iraq opportunities

Norwegian oil and gas group StatoilHydro is watching actively for opportunities in Iraq, the company's chief financial officer said on Monday.

"Yes, Iraq is something we are screening quite actively but there haven't been any specific moves made in that respect," StatoilHydro CFO Eldar Saetre told a conference call on the group's third-quarter results when asked about Iraq.

"It goes without saying that it's a challenging situation in Iraq. There are a lot of interesting prospects in Iraq, and what we do, like most other companies, is look at those opportunities and put that together with how you look at the political situation and security issues."

http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/...RAQ-URGENT.XML

I just wanted to add that it is a little known fact that Norway is one of the wealthiest Countries on the planet.

Statoil is as an enormously wealthy reputable Company with very solid reserves. It was State run up until a few years ago - now I'm not completely up to speed but it has gone private - however I think the state still has an interest. Either way this is very good news and I have been looking out for sometime to see if and when Statoil would take an interest in Iraq.

This is good news.