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

Iran ready to boost Iraq trade ties

Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Davud Danesh-Jafari says expansion of economic ties between Iran and Iraq will benefit the two countries, PressTV reported.

Speaking at a one-day-conference on the study of chances and challenges of Iran-Iraq oil, gas and petrochemical industries in Tehran, Danesh-Jafari expressed Iran's readiness to bolster economic cooperation with Iraq.

?Developing cooperation and discovering the economic advantages of Iran and Iraq would be to the benefit of the government,? said Danesh-Jafari.

The minister said Iran is ready to share its technical knowledge and experiences in oil, gas and petrochemical fields with Iraq.

Iran ready to boost Iraq trade ties | Iraq Updates

Barham Salih: 2008 is Turning Point for Economic Growth in Iraq

The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Salih, asserted that the Iraqi government doesn’t intend to nullify foodstuff coupon as some of the Iraqi officials talked about.

Barham Salih stated that the government has a strategic perspective to rehabilitation and economic development processes which is taken into formulating the 2008 budget.

Participating in a special session of the Iraqi parliament concerning 2008 budget, the Iraqi deputy prime minister stated “The foodstuff coupon keeps as it is, since remaining of the coupon is a moral and political duty and it should be fairly managed.”

“The final account of 2007 budget has not finished yet. It’s figured out that only 60 percent of investment budget has been spent so far which is a great failure.” He added.

In response to the complaints raised by some Iraqi MPs regarding allocating 17 percent of the Iraqi budget to Kurdistan region, Barham Salih said “The allocation of 17 percent of the Iraqi government to Kurdistan region is less than the 13 percent already allocated to Kurdistan region in oil-for-food program.”

PUKmedia :: English - Barham Salih: 2008 is Turning Point for Economic Growth in Iraq

Update.......

Blaze in Beiji oil Refinery killed one Worker and injured 36 others

PUKmedia 2008-01-07 19:25:12
The conflagration which broke out today in Beiji oil refinery resulted in killing a worker and injuring 36 others. As reported by a Reuters’ cameraman who was on the scene.

An engineer from the refinery said that the blaze, which was caused by technical fault, controlled.

PUKmedia :: English - Blaze in Beiji oil Refinery killed one Worker and injured 36 others

Complete failure in Mosul, Kirkuk, Baiji generators

The spokesman for the Electricity Ministry said on Monday that Mosul, Kirkuk, and Baiji generators have completely stopped due to a technical failure in Ugail oil field in Kirkuk three days ago.

"A technical failure hit the oil field three days ago, suspending the gas, which feeds the northern generators," Aziz al-Shemri told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"Fixing the failure in the oil field will take an unspecified amount of time by the Ministry's technicians," he added.

"The failure in the generators contributed in knocking out electricity in Kirkuk, Baiji, and Mosul," al-Shemri explained.

"The Iraqi network lost a total of 500 MW because of the suspense in the Turkish-Iraqi line three days ago due to maintenance works on the Turkish side, which led to the loss of about 200 MW," he also said.

Aswat Aliraq

Pumping Kirkuk oil to Turkey's Ceyhan resumed - sources

Pumping oil from the northern fields in Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan resumed on Monday night after one week of suspension, a source from the North Oil company said.

"The resumption came with a production capacity ranges between 100,000-200,000 barrels per day," the source, requested anonymity, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"The operation came after empting the oil tanks in Turkish port through selling amounts of the Iraqi crude oil," he added.

He did not provide further details. Exporting the Iraqi oil from the northern fields suffers some difficulties because of the attacks on oil pipelines by armed groups, causing tremendous losses, while the Iraqi government exports the biggest amount of the oil from the southern ports in Basra.

Kirkuk is located 250 km northeast of Baghdad.

Aswat Aliraq

Oil production resumes in Baiji refinery-Oil Ministry

Baiji oil refinery resumed with capacity exceeding (200) thousand barrels of petroleum products per day after extinguishing the fire that ignited due to a technical failure on Monday, an Oil Ministry official said.

“Production resumed in the refinery production units by operating the units that were halted for precautionary reasons while the refinery was on fire”, Ahmed al-Shamaa, deputy oil minister told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

He added “the fire did not affect the refinery’s production, one of the biggest refineries in Iraq.”

Al-Shammaa noted “the technical and engineering teams, as well as fire-fighting brigades, quickly brought the fire in the liquefied gas unit under control and eliminated its effects.”

“Production in the higher levels left high reserves in storage, and the refinery was not affected by the accidental fire, and resumed the delivery of oil products to reservoirs and stations,” the oil official pointed out.

Earlier, an oil refinery source said an employee was killed and 15 others were wounded when a huge fire erupted in the liquefied gas unit at Baiji refinery.

Elsewhere, oil ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said the Oil Ministry ordered the oil products distributing company to deliver an extra 100 liters of kerosene for each family in the winter share after distributing 200 liters last two months.

He added that the planned distribution of the 100 liters, according to each individual family’s ration card, began in January.

Aswat Aliraq

Al-Hashimi Arrives Kuwait

Dr. Tariq al-Hashimi, Iraqi Vice President arrived yesterday in Kuwait heading an official delegation in an official visit for two days. The delegation includes: representatives from Iraqi Accord Front and the Unified Iraqi Alliance, Mr. Rafea al-Esawi a former Minister, Mr. Muhammad Khalid head of Aid organizations, Mr. Abdul al-Kareem the director of Sunni Endowment in Basra, Dr. Farah al-Saraj the head of Women Office and a number of Iraqi MPs.

The Delegation was received by Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmed al-Jabir the Heir Apparent, Mr. Jassem al-Khuraffy the head of Parliament and a number of Officials in the Kuwaiti State and Government. It’s expected the Delegation to meet Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah the Prince of Kuwait and other political and official figures to discuss issues concerning Economic affair.

PUKmedia :: English - Al-Hashimi Arrives Kuwait

Demand for the dollar down in daily auction

Demand for the dollar went down in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Tuesday, registering at $124.760 million compared to $142.760 million on Monday.

"The demand hit $12.880 million in cash and $111.880 million in money transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at a stable exchange rate of 1,215 Iraqi dinars per dollar, unchanged for the fourth consecutive session," according to the central bank's daily bulletin which was received by the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

The 16 banks participating in the auction offered to sell $1.500 million, which the bank bought at an exchange rate of 1,213 Iraqi dinars per dollar.

Speaking to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, an Iraqi trader, said that despite the decline in the demand for the dollar for the third session in a row, the overall demand is still above average. "The record demand during Thursday's session made other demands seem comparatively low," al-Yasseri explained.

Demand for the dollar was at a record high in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Thursday, reaching $181.280 million, the highest in its history.

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

Aswat Aliraq

Al-Shahristani cannot Cancel the Oil Contracts: Kurdish Deputy

Bayazed Hassan, the MP from the Kurdistani Alliance Bloc and member in the Oil and Gas Committee said that he thinks that there is a personal problem between the Federal Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani and his counterpart in Kurdistan Region Government Ashti Hawrami.

In an interview with Radio Sawa, Bayazed said “al-Shahristani has no right to cancel the Oil investments contracts signed by KRG and the foreign companies. He has no authority to do this, because the Article 141 of the Iraqi Constitution gave the right to Kurdistan Parliament to sign contracts and consider it legal, unless it is canceled by the MPs.”

In a private statement to PUKmedia website, al-Shahristani said that he is ready to visit Kurdistan Region and explain his Ministry attitude about these contracts.

PUKmedia :: English - Al-Shahristani cannot Cancel the Oil Contracts: Kurdish Deputy

President Talabani: We are Doing Our Best to Implement Article 140

Mr. Jalal Talabani, PUK Secretary General met today, with a number of Kurdistan Region Ministers, MPs and PUK members in the politburo’s meeting hall in Sulaimany.

Mala Bakhtiyar PUK Politburo Spokesman, talked about the meetings of Leadership Committee, PUK and DPK Politburos and Mr. Jalal Talabani’s one with the members of PUK organizational centers.

President Jalal Talabani talked about current political situation in Iraq, the Kurds role in al Maliki Government and both Kurdish Parties relations with other political sides he said “In general, Kurds relations with other Iraqi parties are good “he also described the Triple agreement between PUK, DPK and the Iraqi Islamic Party as “A crucial agreement”.

“Obstacles are many, yet Kurds has signed UN project, implementing this project will be for their own interest, we are spending our best efforts to implement this Article.” President Jalal Talabani said concerning Article 140.

Regarding KRG, President Talabani said “We are satisfied with the performance of Nichervan Barzani Government, we demand it to activate the services especially electricity, water and pavement”. Then the attendees presented their suggestions about these issues, which were answered in detail by President Talabani.

PUKmedia :: English - President Talabani: We are Doing Our Best to Implement Article 140