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

Southern Iraq Oil Exports Rise

Crude oil exports from Iraq's key southern Basra terminal have increased to 1.44 million barrels a day, nearly double the 768,000 barrels produced over the last two days, a shipping agent said Wednesday.

"The loading rate has increased to 60,000 barrels an hour since Tuesday afternoon," or 1.44 million barrels a day, the agent said by telephone from the terminal, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

Iraq's normal export rate from its southern oil terminals is around 65,000-70,000 barrels an hour, or 1.56 million-1.68 million barrels a day.

Some "technical problems" are still preventing Iraq from exporting its crude oil at normal levels, the agent said.

Meanwhile, a senior official with the South Oil Co. said the slowdown in Iraqi crude oil exports was due to the security situation. "We operate the main pumping station that pumps crude oil to the terminal only during the night and shut them down during the day because of fears of sabotage," he said, also on condition of anonymity.

A bombing last Thursday of the key Zubair-1 crude pipeline _ the largest pipeline to the Basra export terminal _ had cut Iraq's crude oil exports from the south to 1.2 million barrels a day.

Iraqi officials said the pipeline was fixed Friday afternoon and normal exports resumed.

Southern Iraq Oil Exports Rise | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Iraq’s forces not yet up to the task

Iraq’s security forces need to be strengthened and some troops are “not up to the task”, the US said on Wednesday after police and army units failed to crush Shiite militiamen in Basra. “There is still much more work to do in developing and strengthening the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces,” US military spokesman General Kevin Bergner told a news conference in Baghdad. “Overall, the majority of the Iraqi security forces performed their mission. Some were not up to the task and the government of Iraq is taking the necessary action in those cases,” he said. Bergner was asked to assess the performance of Iraq’s security forces during their week-long crackdown on militants in the southern oil city of Basra, mostly from the Mahdi Army of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The offensive, which began March 25, quickly set off a wave of clashes between the militiamen and security forces in Basra and other Shiite areas of Iraq in which at least 461 people were killed and more than 1,100 wounded. The clashes began subsiding on Sunday after Sadr pulled his fighters off the streets following a deal with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who had personally directed the crackdown. Maliki on Tuesday hailed the crackdown as a success which “achieved the aim of imposing law in the city and restoring normalcy”. The deal left the militiamen with their weapons intact with some analysts saying the assaults had strengthened Sadr’s hand and left Maliki politically battered. “It will take some time for the dust to settle and many challenges remain,” Bergner said.

These include improving the security forces’ logistical and transport capabilities, their planning, and their coordination with civil authorities, he said. “There also continue to be sustainment challenges, particularly in expeditionary logistics over the vast distances involved in this operation.” Bergner said however that the very fact the security services carried out the operation at all — with only limited involvement of US and British forces — was in itself a positive development.

Failure

The Iraqi government’s failure to wipe out Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army during a crackdown in Basra last week may leave the group stronger in the long run, a senior US senator said Tuesday.

Joseph Biden, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters on a conference call that despite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s crackdown, Shiite cleric Sadr “lives to fight another day.”

“One of the things that concerns me is that this is a little bit like what happened to Hezbollah in Lebanon (in 2006)... the Israelis used full force that they had in Lebanon and Hezbollah survived and they grew in strength as a consequence,” he said.

“Here, Maliki says he’s going down and he’s going to take out all these malcontents, as well as take out Sadr and his Mahdi Army. And it looks to me like, at least on the surface, Sadr may have come out a winner here.
“You know, he lives to fight another day.”

Biden said “there’s a lot more to learn” about the ceasefire and whether there was “any serious damage done” to the central government or to Sadr.

He said he had not been officially briefed on the situation but believed the US did not play a large part in negotiating the ceasefire.

“There’s some reason to believe that that may very well have occurred in Iran through the Iranians,” he said.

Biden was speaking a week before he presides over a hearing in which US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Iraq, will brief Congress on the situation in the country.

He expressed skepticism about President George W. Bush’s assertion Friday that the upsurge in violence was a “defining moment” for Iraq’s progress and particularly for Maliki’s government.

“Using the phrase ‘defining moment’ makes it sound like this democratic leader in Baghdad decided to put a stop to the thuggery of the extreme elements of the Shia movement and move with his forces of democracy against them,” Biden said.

“Well, that ain’t the way that place plays out.”

Biden said “everybody knows Sadr’s not a good guy” but noted: “There’s a lot of other bad guys in this Shia (governing) coalition. And so, which bad guys are we working with?”

The question was not whether there should have been a ceasefire with Sadr’s forces but what the Iraqi government hoped would come of it, and “who did they have to be in league with who aren’t good guys?” he said.

“I don’t know this administration has a policy,” he concluded.

He added that he would be pressing Crocker and Petraeus on the effect of last year’s “surge” of troops into Iraq and plans for the future, “both in terms of US force levels and US policy for succeeding in Iraq.”

Arab Times :: Iraq’s forces not yet up to the task

Zawahri Says U.N. an Enemy of Islam, Bin Laden in Good Health

PUKmedia 03-04-2008 10:24:50
Zawahri called for attacks on Jews both within and outside Israel and urged Muslims to join fighters in "open jihad fields such as Somalia, Iraq, Algeria and Afghanistan" or to support them with money and information.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was well and reports speculating about his sickness were false, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri said in a recording on Wednesday.

"Sheikh Osama bin Laden is in good health," Zawahri, who is also a doctor, said in response to questions compiled by Islamist Web sites. "The ill-intentioned always try to circulate false reports about him being sick."

Zawahri, who, like Saudi-born bin Laden is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan, also denounced the United Nations and vowed to attack Jews both within and outside Israel.

"The United Nations is an enemy of Islam and Muslims," he said. "It has legalized the creation of the state of Israel and its seizure of Muslims' land ... it has legalized the crusader presence in Afghanistan ... and Iraq," he said in a 104-minute audio recording posted on the Internet.

He defended attacks on U.N. offices in an apparent reference to twin bomb attacks on U.N. buildings in Algiers which killed 41 people in December and the 2003 bombing of a U.N. building in Baghdad which killed 22.

Zawahri also called for attacks on Jews. "We promise our Muslim brothers that we will do our utmost to strike Jews in Israel and abroad with help and guidance from God."

Al Qaeda will turn to fight Israel after "winning" the war in Iraq against U.S.-led and government forces, he said, adding that the United States had begun to collapse.

"The myth of unipolar world is over. The (Sept. 11, 2001) strikes on New York and Washington are identifying marks of this collapse, but empires do not collapse in a minute and could take decades. The collapse of the Soviet Union is the closest example."

The Egyptian militant also reiterated al Qaeda calls to Muslims to topple Western-allied governments and to attack Western and Israeli interests in Muslim countries.

"We call the nation in Egypt and other parts to hit crusader and Jewish interests wherever they are to force the invaders to leave Muslim land, and to stop supporting corrupt regimes."

"Severity of repression might delay change but it cannot stop it... what matters is to prepare for change, being patient, willingness to make sacrifice and seizing opportunities."

Major sin

Zawahri also urged Muslims to join fighters in "open jihad fields such as Somalia, Iraq, Algeria and Afghanistan" or to support them with money and information. "Be careful about... the major sin of not rising for jihad." He defended al Qaeda's violent attacks in Iraq and North Africa in which civilians were killed. "We do not kill the innocent. We fight those who kill the innocent -- the Americans, the Jews, the Russians, the French and their agents."

Many of the questions, compiled since December, were sharply critical of al Qaeda and its practices, while others sought advice for joining jihad. Zawahri said he will answer more of the questions in a second statement and noted that the delay in response was partly due to security reasons.

Answering a question about the reason behind his criticism of Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, the Egyptian militant said that its killing of Israeli children "is not permitted" in rocket attacks on Israeli towns.

Zawahri has often criticized the leaders of Hamas, associated with rivals in the Muslim Brotherhood bloc, for abandoning suicide bombing for political gains after it won a parliamentary election last year.

Turning to another favorite target, the Saudi government, Zawahri said its "link to the international crusade is doomed ... The jihadist movement in the (Arabian) Peninsula will return God willing".

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has been for years been battling militants seeking to destabilize its U.S.-allied government through attacks on Western and energy targets.

PUKmedia :: English - Zawahri Says U.N. an Enemy of Islam, Bin Laden in Good Health

Iraq makes its case for WTO membership

The Iraqi government made its case Wednesday for why Iraq should be put on the fast track for World Trade Organization membership, citing its plentiful oil resources and strategic position in the Middle East as great opportunities for the global expansion of commerce.

Trade Minister Abed Falah al-Sudani told diplomats meeting in Geneva that Iraq is determined, despite «difficult circumstances,» to qualify for the 151-member WTO, which sets the rules for world trade. He said Iraq's accession also was in the interests of its current and potential trading partners.

«Iraq has suffered a lot because of wars and blockades, and is in dire need (of) your support in accelerating its accession to the WTO,» al-Sudani said. «Iraq will be an active and positive member of the world community and its integration in the international community will help in creating stability and faster development in the country.

Members told al-Sudani that they needed more information on Iraqi pricing policy, investment rules, import licenses, customs law, state enterprises, tariff regulations, free zones and telecommunications.

Iraq applied for membership in 2004, at which point it was given observer status in the body. The country is thought to be still years away from accession.

Al-Sudani said Iraq has made progress in its bid since the first discussions at the WTO took place 10 months ago. He said legislative efforts to harmonize Iraqi rules with WTO standards were moving forward, and explained to WTO delegations his country's legal procedures for bringing draft bills into law.

Iraq also has met bilaterally with trading powers such as the United States, European Union and Brazil in the last year. Existing WTO members can seek separate trade commitments with a candidate country before vetting that government's membership bid. Eventually all the bilateral deals are merged into a multilateral package so that the new WTO member state trades with all others on the same basis.

Iraq has yet to conclude any bilateral deals. It will update the WTO on new legislative steps at its next WTO meeting, for which no date was decided.

Al-Sudani said Iraq's membership would «represent a significant addition to the world community's effort toward the expansion of trade and investment.

He cited Iraq's oil and gas reserves, arable lands and water resources from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers as advantages.

The global trading system also will benefit from the inclusion of Iraq with its «strategic geographic position between East and West, and highly educated citizens,» he said.

Iraq makes its case for WTO membership

DNO "quite confident" of Iraq oil exports in 2008

Norwegian independent oil producer DNO is "quite confident" it will get a licence to export oil from Iraq in 2008, enabling it to quadruple production, Chief Executive Helge Eide said on Thursday.

DNO, which gets most of its production from Yemen, is the first western oil company to begin new exploration and production in post-war Iraq under a deal with the Kurdish regional authorities in the north.

"We are not involved directly with that process but there has been quite a number of positive signals which makes us quite confident that it will happen within this year," Eide told Reuters on the sidelines of DNO's capital markets day meeting with investors.

The Kurdish authorities are negotiating the export licence with Baghdad on behalf of DNO.

Eide said that after gaining an export permit, DNO could quickly boost its oil production in Iraq to about 30,000 barrels per day from about 7,000 barrels on average in the first two months of 2008.

"We have 90,000-100,000 in well capacity (per day) and the export facility can take 50,000 barrels. Immediately when we have exports in place, we can ramp up to 50,000 barrels -- and we get 60 percent of that," he said.

The 60 percent is DNO's working interest in the Tawke field in the Kurdish region of north Iraq. It has built a connecting pipeline from Tawke to Iraq's northern pipeline to Turkey.

Magne Normann, managing director for DNO's operations in Iraq, said the company had other export options which were "just as probable as the Turkish option".

Normann said DNO's facilities were only 45 km from an oil pipeline in northern Syria which ends on the Mediterranean coast. Another option would be sending oil south, to Basra and the Gulf. All export routes need a permit from Baghdad, he said.

230 MILLION BARRELS

DNO said its best gross recoverable reserves estimate of Tawke stood at 230 million barrels of oil but had "substantial upside" when improved oil recovery methods were applied.

DNO repeated that its total untested resource potential in Iraq amounted to 1.5-2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Besides Tawke, DNO has licences in the Dohuk and Erbil areas.

Its first well in Erbil, Howler 1, tested at 9,000 barrels per day. Wells in Dohuk, a much larger licence area, have so far been less successful.

Last month DNO revised its production sharing agreement with the Kurdish authorities, effectively cutting its stake. The company said then that the revision was a "step in the direction of exports", lifting its shares.
So far, DNO has sold its Iraqi oil on the local market at local prices.

DNO, which does not include any Iraq exports in its guidance, has forecast production of 6,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) from Iraq in 2008 and 15,000 barrels in total -- just above an average of 14,463 boed last year.

Shares in DNO hit 10-weeks highs earlier this week on growing hopes of an export deal with Iraqi authorities, but are still down some 20 percent over the past year due to a slower-than-expected ramp-up in Iraq and export woes.

The stock initially fell on Thurday, but rebounded to trade up 2.2 percent at 8.97 crowns by 1043 GMT, valuing the company at about $1.58 billion. Oslo's benchmark bourse index was up 0.4 percent.

UPDATE 2-DNO quite confident of Iraq oil exports in 2008 | Industries | Energy | Reuters

Iraq’s Basra oil flows steady

Iraq's southern oil export flow stood at around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) today, steady from yesterday, shipping agents said.

The flow rate at the main southern Basra terminal has recovered after dipping to around 840,000 bpd for about 12 hours yesterday due to a power outage, one agent said.

Iraq ships about three quarters of its exports, or an average of around 1.5 million bpd, from Basra. The pumping rate at the port typically varies between 1.2 and 1.7 million bpd.

A bomb attack on a pipeline branch from the Bazargan oilfield on 27 March forced Iraq to shut in around 100,000 barrels per day of output. Exports were also affected, although Iraq has used oil in storage at both the fields and the terminal to minimise the impact on shipments.

The attack was the first to disrupt southern exports since 2004.
Iraq planned to restore the shut-in output yesterday. Officials were unavailable to comment today on whether the flow had restarted, Reuters reported.

Upstreamonline - Iraq’s Basra oil flows steady

Dana Gas project in Iraqi Kurdistan over 70% complete

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."

PUKmedia :: English - Dana Gas project in Iraqi Kurdistan over 70% complete

Talabani, Barzani, and Adel Abdul Mahdi Hold Press Conference

Today following the trilateral meeting among the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, President of Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani, and the Iraqi Vice President, Adel Abdel Mahdi in Dukan Resort, they spoke to the reporters in a press conference.

The meeting was held by the three Iraqi political parties- Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Iraqi Supreme Council.

President Talabani described the meeting as “positive and fruitful” while Adel Abdul Mahdi reiterated their support to the Iraqi government.

“According to the constitution, we fully support the implementation of article 140,” Adel Abdul Mahdi said regarding article 140. He then affirmed their stance beside Kurdistan Region Alliance to the Iraq’s wealth-sharing and the provincial council law issues.

“We insisted on implementing article 140. Those claiming that it cannot be implemented are the ones who made troubles in writing the Iraqi constitution,” Massoud Barzani said.

PUKmedia :: English - Talabani, Barzani, and Adel Abdul Mahdi Hold Press Conference

Demand for dollar up at daily auction

Demand for the dollar was up in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Thursday, registering at $75.960 million compared to $33.400 million on Wednesday.

"The demand hit $29.830 million in cash and $46.130 million in money transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,205 Iraqi dinars per dollar, unchanged for the second session in a row, " according to the central bank's daily bulletin which was received by Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

The 15 banks that participated in the auction offered to sell 9.500 million dollars, which the bank bought all at a rate of 1203 dinars per dollar.

Speaking to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, said that both bids in cash and remittances were high in today's session raising the overall demand for the dollar.

Aswat Aliraq

PM allocates $ 100 million to support services in Basra

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday announced that the government allocated USD 100 million in urgent aid to support services in Basra.

"We allocated USD 100 million in urgent aid to support services in Basra and offered 25,000 job opportunities for its residents," al-Maliki said at a press conference in Baghdad.

"Basra is the key for supporting Iraq's economy and stability and it deserves more for us, because it suffers more than any Iraqi city from unemployment and lack of services," he added.

The premier blamed armed gangs for the deteriorating conditions in Iraq's oil hub.
He did not give more details on when this amount was allocated or how will be used.

Basra is 590 km south of Baghdad.

Aswat Aliraq