Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 01/01/08 - 14/04/08

Housing Ministry to build 17 compounds only

Since housing crisis is getting worse and its rates are depreciating, Housing Ministry won’t be able to build more than 17 compounds in all the provinces, i.e. about 10 thousand residential units only.

However, members of the economic committee in the parliament called the government to join in private sector in building residential units.

Housing Ministry to build 17 compounds only | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Update.......

Trade organizes the largest Trade Fair in Baghdad

The Ministry of Trade announced on Sunday that it will organize, in coordination with Nour Office group, the largest commercial exhibition on the ground of Baghdad International Fair, with the participation of more than one hundred companies representing both public and private sectors during the period from 14 until 18 of next April.

General Director of the Iraqi Exhibitions Company, Sabti Jumaa, said in a statement to the ministry issued on Sunday, "the exhibition is the first step to re-hold great and specialized exhibitions on the ground of Baghdad International Fair; it is an opportunity to coordinate with companies of the public and private sectors to participate in future fairs in different fields." He explained that "the national trade and industry fair will include the presentation of various national comp****cies in the field of reconstruction and industry in addition to the presentation of artifacts of national work from various private sector companies."

Abu Al-Foz Al-Iraqi, who is in charge of organizing the exhibition, confirmed that Arab and foreign companies had asked to participate in this exhibition which is a major economic event that will bring the Iraqi economy to the forefront. He said in a statement that "the Iraqi private sector will have an outstanding contribution to this exhibition, due to its desire for the success of this demonstration, and a real starting point for the private sector companies to participate in the building and reconstruction operations."

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=5644

Iraqi planning to exploit the Gas Wealth

Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussein Al-Shahrastani, said that the Commissioner of Energy in the European Union, Andrias Bebalgus, assured him in their meeting in Brussels recently that the Union wishes Iraq to play a full role in building the Arab gas pipeline, which goes to Europe, via a linking it to Nabucco pipeline, which will transfer gas through Turkey to Western Europe from the Caspian Sea starting in 2011.

He said during a press conference that the company "Royal Dutch Shell" made a presentation to develop natural gas resources in Iraq, saying that Baghdad had given priority to the development of gas in the south, mainly due to the high demand for gas in the world, and that the region could provide Europe with large amounts of it.

Sources revealed that Iraq is losing about $7 billion annually due to the burning of natural gas since 1927 when oil was discovered in Iraq for the first time. Iraq has about 6.3 trillion cubic meters of certain natural gas, making about %2 of the world reserves and %6 of the Arabian Gulf reserve; the proportion of gas associated to oil is %70 while free gas forms %30.

As Iraq is not a producer and exporter of gas now, the age of its reserve is estimated by 750 years while Saudi reserve is sufficient for 110 years, the Iranian for 350 years, Qatar reserve for 380 years and the Bahrain for 12 years, according to confirmed studies in this regard.

Abduljabar Abboud Al-Halfi, the expert at the University of Basrah, said in a study that the global demand for gas is increasing from 195 billion cubic meters per day in 1995 to 2400 billion cubic meters in 2007, and is expected to reach 3100 billion in 2010. The study pointed out that the producing countries are racing to extend pipelines transporting gas across regions and nations for long-term contracts for the sale of gas, as is now happening in Qatar and other Asian countries and between Iran, China, India and Pakistan, between Algeria and Europe, between Norway and France, the Russia - Europe gas line, as well as the transfer of gas by medium and large tankers.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=5645

Iraq intends to purchase two ships for the transport of grain and goods

Iraq intends to purchase two ships, one for the transport of grain with the capacity of 50 tons and the second accommodate payload of 6 thousand tons of different cargo, in a step described by the Director General of Water Transport in Iraq, Kazim Tahir Hashim, as a beginning to build a new Iraqi commercial fleet.

He added that his company owns two ships operating according to a partnership system with the Jordanian trade and transport company "Alia", carrying leased payloads from abroad and rarely anchor in Iraqi ports because Iraqi ministries fail to transfer the cargo and goods belonging to them in the company's ship, even by %10, to benefit from the income received for the purchase of a ship like neighboring countries.

He explained that the non-availability of goods for shipment, the high fuel prices and costs as well as other obstacles faced by ships in ports do not abide by the transportation systems overloaded the company, pointing out that %40 of imported goods and commodities to Iraq were transported exclusively through the Water Transport Company.

Hashim said that the Company used to own four ships by the fall of the former regime: two in Basrah, one was bombed during the war 2003 and the second is used for the transport of cars but it does not seem to meet the cost of its fuel, the third has dropped anchor in the Libyan ports since 2002 and its fate is unknown so far and have had debt for the benefit of the Company admitted by the Libyan side, and the fourth had moored in the German ports since 1990 and the process of its retrieval and repair cost more than $4 million, and the company could not sell it because of the debt it owed.

http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNews.aspx?id=5646

Iraqi Cabinet OKs Deals With Majors

Summary

The Iraqi Cabinet has given the Oil Ministry the go-ahead to sign Technical Support Contracts to develop five producing fields with five of the world's top oil firms, Iraqi sources told International Oil Daily Tuesday.


http://www.energyintel.com/DocumentD...ment_id=225270

Is Arm Wrestling With Iran Unavoidable?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in Baghdad! This is the biggest diplomatic maneuver since 1979, when Ayatollah Khomenei returned to Iran from exile in Paris. In other words, Iranians and Iraqis who are nearly 30 years old today have never seen an Iranian president set foot in Baghdad. The late dictator Saddam Hussein committed his first crime against humanity in 1980 by attacking Iran. If a neighbor of yours is experiencing a process of revolution within its borders, attacking it in that weakened state would be a big crime. Saddam did this in the thought that he would end the Islamic revolution on behalf of the West and the hope he would capture one of the most important oil fields in the Gulf. Of course, ‘modern’ and ‘contemporary’ forces backing him back then had already given him chemical weapons to be used against Iranian soldiers.

Things didn’t work out as he planned. International balances never gave Hussein any chance of victory. Israel didn’t want any Arab country to emerge stronger, and so millions of Muslims in Iran and Iraq killed each other, and nothing was accomplished. Hussein, unable to find what he expected in Iran and feeling trapped by the West, invaded Kuwait following the 1988 ceasefire and this started the current process. Ahmadinejad is now the leader of a few states which can determine Baghdad’s fate in Iraq. Ahmadinejad is setting his foot in Iraq’s south, where the only accepted currency is the Iranian riyal. Iran has organized groups that are politically close to it in the world’s most strategic enemy region, and also created an economic area attached to it beyond its borders by using its own national currency.

Interestingly, Ahmadinejad’s visit to Baghdad shows open support to Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The number one supporter and protector of the same government is the US, which is Iran’s biggest enemy. Philip Reeker, spokesman for the US Embassy in Baghdad, said that the US sees the Iranian president’s visit to Baghdad as part of normal relations between two neighboring countries. Even these remarks are highly important, as they show Tehran’s importance in Iraq’s future. We should also never forget that the US, which called Iran the leader of an ‘axis of evil,’ has sat at the table with Iranian negotiators in Baghdad and negotiated the stability to be ensured in the country’s south.

Obviously Ahmadinejad is trying to increase his country’s bargaining power, as it is under pressure due to its nuclear program that he seems to be determined to continue. His visit to Iraq actually aims to prove that Iran is really a country which can come to an agreement and make real efforts for stability when necessary. Anyway… but it would be useful to follow one point closely and possible developments in the future very well: Common conclusions reached by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Ahmadinejad. This issue is also very important. Maybe the arm wrestling has just started over Iraq.

Is Arm Wrestling With Iran Unavoidable?

Petrel eager for Iraq West Desert Oil Deal

Ireland's Petrel Resources expects a production-sharing agreement for a deal it signed with Saddam Hussein for a block in Iraq's western desert.

David Horgan, managing director of Petrel Resources, said the exploration and production deal will give the firm "a net production interest in Block 6 of 25 to 35 percent."

"It now looks like the existing hydrocarbon laws will be used with PSA agreements in Southern Iraq," he told the British-based investment news site Proactive Investors. "Any new contracts will include local infrastructure and possibly paying some revenues to local charities."

Petrel predicts 5 billion barrels of oil are to be found in the block.

Iraq's Oil Ministry is relying on a Saddam-era oil law to move forward with its oil sector as a draft hydrocarbons law is stalled in Parliament. The earlier law gives Iraq's Oil Ministry rights to sign deals, though risk contracts like PSAs would likely need Parliamentary approval.

Baghdad is in negotiations with a handful of the world's largest firms to increase production in currently producing fields under new Technical Support Agreements. It is also starting a tendering process for other fields, but so far has said this first round of bids will not include exploration agreements.

Petrel, however, is one of a group of companies that signed its deal with Saddam. Iraq's Oil Ministry said it will renegotiate such contracts under a new legal regime, recognizing their validity. Since Saddam's overthrow, Petrel expanded its Iraq presence.

It received a one-year extension on its agreement to provide training and technology to Iraq's Oil Ministry for the Marjan oil field, is also moving forward on a project to help engineer, procure equipment and supervise construction of the Subba & Luhais fields' expected oil and natural gas production, and has registered for the upcoming bidding round.

The draft oil law remains stuck as Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad differ on how decentralized control over the oil should be.

PSAs themselves are controversial. They are highly favored by international oil companies that are reimbursed for all costs and then get a cut of the oil itself, as well as able to claim the reserves when reporting to Wall Street. Iraq's oil sector is nationalized and Iraq's unions, among others, don't want international oil companies to have the footprint in Iraq PSAs would offer.

Iraq's oil fields have excellent find rates for exploration, and the oil is easy to produce and of high quality.

"We expect to be invited soon to discuss Block 6," Horgan said, adding the block has shown to have easy to reach oil. "If we sign by summer we will deploy a seismic crew over the winter 2008/9, allowing a well the following winter."

Petrel eager for Iraq west desert oil deal - UPI.com

Baghdad fuel drops, above Official Price

The price of black market fuel in Baghdad has dropped in most neighborhoods but still remains up to double the state-set price.

IraqSlogger.com reports in its weekly "Price Check" column prices for other telling products -- cooking fuel, bread and Marlboro cigarettes -- were flat week-on-week. Marlboros and cooking fuel dropped last week.

Iraqis face considerable fuel shortages, with less than half of demand being served. Like many oil-producing nations in the region Iraq has reduced prices of gas for its citizens, though the 400 Iraqi dinars a liter -- 33 U.S. cents -- is an increase from the Saddam Hussein era.

While the Baghdad al-Jadida and Sadr City neighborhoods remained at 700 dinars per liter, seven other neighborhoods polled by IraqSlogger.com correspondents dropped from 900 dinars to a range of between 700 dinars and 850 dinars.

Cooking gas, which along with heating fuel and electricity are vital products Iraqis need but lack, is set at a state price of 4,000 dinars per cylinder. In the nine Baghdad neighborhoods polled, the price ranges from 18,000 dinars to 21,000 dinars per cylinder.

Iraq's infrastructure has been diminished over the decades of war, sanctions, Saddam's mismanagement and post-2003 violence. Smugglers, insurgents, poor U.S.-led reconstruction and the Iraqi government's inability to spend its capital budget and stem corruption are all to blame.

Baghdad fuel drops, above official price - UPI.com

President Jalal Talabani to visit Turkey

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will pay an official visit to Turkey over the next few days, his office said Tuesday.

The visit was announced less than a week after Turkish troops withdrew from northern Iraq on Feb. 29, ending an 8-day incursion against Kurdish PKK rebels using bases in northern Iraq to launch guerrilla attacks in Turkey.

Iraqi authorities have said they do not support the PKK but objected to Turkey's military action. Talabani, himself a Kurd, welcomed the end of the incursion.

"The president will visit Turkey in the next few days for three days in response to an invitation from Turkish President Abdullah Gul," read a presidency office's statement received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

The Turkish army has launched a large-scale military operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighter ensconced in the mountainous area between Iraq and Turkey.

President Jalal Talabani to visit Turkey | Iraq Updates

Update........

Dana Gas project in Iraqi Kurdistan over 70% complete
Company chairman briefs KRG Prime Minister on progress; Total investment of $650 million, highest in Iraqi petroleum sector

Dana Gas, the Middle East's first and largest regional private-sector natural gas company, has announced that its project in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to supply, process, and transport natural gas to fuel urgently needed local electricity generation is progressing at a rapid pace, with over 70% overall project completion to date.

The project, following service agreements signed in April 2007 with the Kurdistan Regional Government and carried out in partnership with Crescent Petroleum, has completed the engineering, procurement, and manufacturing phases, and is now in the construction stage, using Iraqi contractors to maximize local content and economic benefit. The entire project is on track for first gas supply of 150 million cubic feet of gas per day by middle of this year, rising to 300 million cubic feet by early 2009.

The gas will supply new power plants under construction in Erbil and Suleimaniya, to provide 1,250 megawatts of electricity generation, for the benefit of over 4 million Iraqi citizens in the Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq.

The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, received Hamid Jafar, executive chairman of Dana Gas and chairman of the Board of Crescent Petroleum, who briefed the Prime Minister on progress of the project, which involves a total investment of $650 million-the largest single private sector investment in Iraq since 2003. The project implementation includes upstream development and production, processing with state-of-the-art LPG plants, and transportation of natural gas through a new 180-kilometer pipeline, in order to provide urgently needed gas supplies to cost-effectively fuel the new power stations under construction, providing savings to the government budget of over $2 billion annually in fuel costs. The project implementation will also provide employment opportunities for over 2,000 Iraqi nationals of all ethnic groups and provide comprehensive training in oil and gas operations for Iraq's citizens.

The meeting between the KRG Prime Minister and Jafar also covered the progress of the Strategic Alliance Protocol signed by the parties, whereby the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Dana Gas, and its partner Crescent Petroleum have agreed to jointly review the region's natural gas resources in northern Iraq with a view to the optimization, development, and utilization of that important resource for the benefit of the Iraqi people. The Protocol agreement includes the "Kurdistan Gas City"-a major new gas-utilization industrial complex to be built over an area of approximately 35 square kilometers, designed to promote private-sector investment in a variety of gas-related industries to further benefit the country's citizens through training, job creation in the tens of thousands, and the promotion of general economic activity. The initial feasibility study for the "Kurdistan Gas City" project has now been completed, with final site selection underway.

"We are very pleased with the rapid progress of this important project, which will benefit not only the people of the Kurdistan Region but contribute to affordable electricity for the whole of Iraq," PM Barzani said, commenting on the positive progress. "Being from the region, Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum have demonstrated a unique ability to cooperate positively with local communities in a beneficial manner, while implementing this large and complex project in record time. We are confident that this important initiative by the KRG with Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum will set an excellent example to other parts of Iraq for the country's economic development for the benefit of all Iraqis."

"We have been honored to work on this project to provide a complete solution of state-of-the-art gas field development, processing, and transportation that is urgently required on a fast-track basis for electrical power generation for Iraqi citizens," Jafar said. "We are also excited by the Gas City project, to provide added value and economic benefit from natural gas resources, including productive job creation. We are committed to the immediate progress and development of Iraq's oil and gas sector, as we belong to the region and are here for the long-term."

Dana Gas project in Iraqi Kurdistan over 70% complete | Iraq Updates