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

DNO Drilling in Iraq On-Track

DNO International reported that the Tawke # 12 well was previously drilled to the top of the Cretaceous reservoir section using one of the larger drilling rigs, and thereafter temporarily abandoned. The well was re-entered by the new carrier rig and the Cretaceous reservoir section has been now been penetrated. A total of 131 meters of cores were taken in the Cretaceous and the observations while drilling and coring confirm oil in the reservoir as expected.

The well has now been deepened into the top of the Jurassic section and oil shows have been observed while drilling. The Jurassic section represents another reservoir target which will be further evaluated within the Tawke area as well as in the other areas of the PSA's.

The forward plan is now to test and complete the Tawke # 12 well as a Cretaceous producer. Thereafter the carrier rig will move to Tawke # 5 to undertake a re-completion of the well.

As previously reported the two larger rigs under operations by DNO were released from the Tawke field in November 2007 after drilling Tawke # 11 and # 12 down to the top of the Cretaceous reservoir horizon. Both rigs are now drilling exploration wells in other areas of DNO's PSA's.

Drilling of the Hawler # 1 well commenced on 14 November 2007 as the first well in Erbil PSA area. As previously reported influx of oil was observed while drilling through the top of the Cretaceous reservoir horizon. Oil shows were also observed in several additional intervals in the Cretaceous as well as in the Jurassic while drilling. A 7" liner has now been installed but retrieval of certain equipment being used to install the 7" liner has caused some delays in the operations. An open hole test in the Jurassic just below the 7" liner shoe is currently in preparation and will be undertaken before further deepening the well to evaluate additional potential reservoir horizons. An extensive test program will thereafter be undertaken in the well. An appraisal well will be drilled immediately after completion of Hawler # 1 subject to the testing confirms commercial flow rates of oil.

Drilling of the Summail Extension # 1 well commenced on 19 November 2007. The well is currently drilling at 2,710 meters. Oil shows have been observed in several levels while drilling trough the Cretaceous interval. Following a drilling break with substantial mud losses within one particular section of the Cretaceous interval a short open hole test was conducted. No hydrocarbons were produced during this short flow period. The well will now be drilled to also evaluate the Jurassic interval and the total depth of the well is expected to be approximately 4,000 meters. Once at total depth a full evaluation will be undertaken to investigate the significance of oil shows encountered in the well.The Summail Extension prospect is located in the south-western area of the Dihok PSA.

Seismic acquisition is still ongoing in the Dihok PSA, with seismic interpretation being undertaken simultaneously. This will form the basis for several exploration targets to be drilled in 2008.

DNO Drilling in Iraq On-Track | Iraq Updates

Total says plans to register interest in Iraq

French oil major Total plans to register its interest in helping to rebuild Iraq's shattered oil industry, although it has said it is too dangerous for now to operate there.

Foreign oil companies have until Monday to register to bid for contracts. Negotiations between Iraq's central government and oil companies should get under way between July and September. "We will say that we are interested but I don't know whether we have sent the letter yet," a spokeswoman for Total said.

"It's about taking part and discussing ... and things will not actually happen before six months. So it's better to be on the lists to see who they will chose and then you don't have to take part in everything."

On Wednesday during Total's annual results conference, the company's Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie said Iraq was too dangerous for now and relevant legislation was not yet in place there.

"The energy law has not come into effect and the security in the country is not good enough for us to operate there," de Margerie said.

But he added the company was taking part in discussions so it would be ready to take part when the time was right.

Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Total conducted studies on the Majnoon and Bin Umar oilfields in the south of Iraq, which are two of the country's most prized fields.

Total says plans to register interest in Iraq | Iraq Updates

Kurdistan puts out welcome mat for Westerners

Iraqi Kurdistan isn't a place that's drawing a lot of visitors these days.
But someday, maybe sooner than many people might expect, the semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq could be a promising tourist destination.

"If you have an interest in the Middle East, it's a great place to visit," said Ken Dillman of Columbus, who recently returned from a working visit to Kurdistan.

"For the adventurer, they have a great history there. It's a very culturally rich area with some very, very scenic places as well."

The group of visitors was awed by the citadel of Erbil, which was founded about 2,300 B.C. and is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in the world, Dillman said.

And gazing up at the beautiful, rugged mountains above the town of Dahok, visitors can easily forget about the scars the region carries, he said.

But those who do get the chance to visit shouldn't go in summer, when temperatures often reach 120 degrees, he said.

Dillman, the pastor at Ekklesia, a nondenominational church on Buttles Avenue, toured the region in November (when temperatures were in the 70s and the weather was good) with a small group of Columbus and California pastors to learn more about the region and to help a small, indigenous Christian ministry there.

Although the Kurds, who are mostly Muslim, frown on proselytizing, Christians seem to be welcome, Dillman said.

And compared with the rest of Iraq, Kurdistan is calm, Dillman said.
"In fact there is a huge economic boom in Kurdistan now," he said. "There's probably more new housing, businesses and malls being built there now than in the Columbus area. That's a side of Iraq that we don't usually get to see. All we hear about is what is going on in Baghdad."

The Kurds that Dillman met - both officials and ordinary people - seemed to be pro-Western and eager to attract visitors and investors from Europe and the United States, he said.

"The Kurdish people are very open, very friendly. Kurdistan is heavily Islam, but it's more of a secular Islam. The women even dress in a very Western style. You don't see any burqas in Kurdistan.

"The Kurds are very peaceful people," he said. "They don't seem to have the tribal angst that you find in other regions of the Middle East."

Iraq's Kurdish population was brutally repressed under Saddam Hussein, Dillman noted. So most Kurds, understandably, don't even want to be identified with Iraq, he said.

That could spell sectarian trouble down the road, of course. Troubling, too, are the problems that Kurds potentially have with Turkey, which is fighting Kurdish rebels of its own. Turkey has claimed that some of the rebels are based in Iraqi Kurdistan.

"A month or so after we left was when Turkey started shelling across the border in the region we were actually in," Dillman said.

But Dillman, who might return to Kurdistan this year, holds out hope that the region will be spared another wave of great suffering.

"We heard some amazing stories meeting with people who were able to survive the atrocities" under Saddam, he said. "But one of the beautiful things about the Kurds is that they didn't seek out revenge. They're saying, 'Let us live in peace and govern ourselves.' It was very encouraging."

Kurdistan puts out welcome mat for Westerners | Iraq Updates

It depends on what is being measured

The state of affairs in Iraq should be measured by what the country has been able to achieve, when it comes to handling its own affairs. Analysing the ground reality merely by the numbers would only bring about ill-founded conclusions. According to the latest official Iraqi numbers, attacks carried out in Baghdad by insurgents and rival sectarian militants have fallen by 80 per cent. This has largely been attributed to the year-long "Operation Imposing Law".

"In a time when you could hear nothing but explosions, gunfire and the screams of mothers and fathers and sons, and see bodies that were burned and dismembered, the people of Baghdad were awaiting Operation Imposing Law," said Lieutenant General Abboud Qanbar.
But it is very deceiving to assess the situation in Iraq through the calculation of numbers only. Security is undoubtedly critical to achieving any progress in the country but there are many other factors that are involved and these should also be taken into consideration.

For one thing, meeting the basic needs of the people is of utmost importance. This includes providing appropriate healthcare, education, transportation and employment, to name a few. What is essential is ensuring that adequate services are indeed being provided for all the people across the country. Furthermore, the issue of Iraqi refugees has to be seriously addressed. According to the United Nations, there are more than four million Iraqi refugees, of which two million are displaced within the country, and another two million who have fled the country. Hence, any progress in the country would be short until and unless this group is included. But the real question today is what has Iraq achieved in terms of its freedom, independence, development and unity as a nation.

It depends on what is being measured | Iraq Updates

British parliamentarians calls for closer ties with KRG
British parliamentary group calls for closer ties with Kurdistan Regional Government.

A group of British parliamentarians who visited Kurdistan Region this week will write a report for the UK parliament and the wider public to encourage greater understanding, friendship and British investment into the Region.

The group represented the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Kurdistan Region, whose remit is to promote friendship and understanding between the people of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and Britain, and to encourage the development of democratic institutions in the Kurdistan Region as part of the democratic and federal process in the wider Iraq.

Ms Sarah McCarthy-Fry, MP for Portsmouth North, who chairs the parliamentary group, said, "It is impossible to visit the Kurdistan Region without soon understanding its tragic history. It's also impossible to miss its huge economic and social potential."

The delegation met Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani, Deputy Prime Minister Omer Fattah, the Speaker of Parliament Adnan Mufti and other ministers and MPs. They visited universities, schools, villages, and residents of the Anfal-genocide collective town of Banislawa. They met members of the media, trade unions, political parties as well as the international and local business community. They also paid their respects to the 1988 Anfal victims that were discovered in mass graves and recently laid to rest in Dokan.

Ms McCarthy-Fry was accompanied by Mr Dave Anderson, MP for Blaydon, Mr Eric Joyce, MP for Falkirk, and Mr Gary Kent, Director of Labour Friends of Iraq. While the MPs are members of the Labour Party, during their visit they represented all three main British political parties in the parliamentary group.

Mr Anderson, who visited the Region with Mr Kent two years ago, said, "Having returned to the Kurdistan Region, I'm delighted to see that it has made some progress in its infrastructure but it's clear that a lot still remains to be done. I believe that it is the duty of democrats everywhere to give their support to the Kurdish people and to their desire to see the development of a democratic, federal and pluralistic Iraq in which the Kurdistan Region can act as a beacon."

Ms Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the KRG's High Representative to the UK, said, "The delegation saw all aspects of Kurdsitan during this visit and heard both about our dark history and our hopes and aims for the future, in particular our commitment to democracy and economic growth. They have shown themselves to be true friends of Kurdistan - offering support and advice, as well as constructive criticism. We look forward to their report and their next visit."

British parliamentarians calls for closer ties with KRG | Iraq Updates

European commissioner discusses energy partnership with Iraq

The European Commission energy advisor has held several meetings with Iraqi officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, oil and planning to discuss the possibility of establishing a EU-Iraq strategic partnership.

"Arriving in Baghdad on Saturday, the commission's energy advisor Faouzi Bensarsa is currently holding meetings with Iraqi officials to examine the possibility of setting up a strategic partnership in energy between Iraq and the European Union," read a statement released by the commission's delegation in Baghdad and received by Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq, (VOI).

The energy advisor met with representatives from the Iraqi ministries of foreign affairs, electricity, oil and planning as part of cooperation between the EU and Iraq.

"Energy is a fundamental element for the development of the Iraqi economy. The EU's energy market, the largest unified market in the world, provides opportunities for the development of Iraqi power supplies, particularly in the natural gas sector," according to the statement.
"Iraq has a huge potential for renewable energy, particularly the solar energy, and it will certainly benefit from the EU's technology in this aspect," the statement pointed out.

The partnership has been set as part of the EU's external energy policy for the period 2007-2009, the statement indicated, highlighting significant progress achieved on the Arab Gas Pipeline and envisioning a full partnership with Iraq in the near future.

Aswat Aliraq

IECI Demands Accelerating Passing Electoral Draft Law

Today the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission(IECI ) raised a petition to the Iraqi Council of Representatives emphasizing the need for accelerating passing and issuing the Iraqi Electoral Draft Law.

“The Iraqi Council of Representatives should put the Iraqi Electoral Draft Law into its agenda after its vacation ends”, head of the Council of Commissioners, Faraj al-Haidari told reporters emphasizing that the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission should have an open budget to buy needed equipments which are necessary during election processes.

PUKmedia :: English - IECI Demands Accelerating Passing Electoral Draft Law

KRG will have 21 Ministries

Today during the meeting of both PUK and KDP politburos in Erbil, in addition to discussing several various issues, the issue of minimizing the KRG ministries has been discussed and both sides have agreed upon a joint project on the new KRG government.

According to the project several KRG ministries will be integrated. The new KRG Cabinet will be reduced to 21 ministries and all those political parties that are now participating in the current cabinet, will take ministries or mister posts, the Formal Spokesman of PUK Politburo, Mala Bakhtiyar has told PUKmedia.

It is worth mentioning, that it is expected the next Wednesday both PUK and KDP politburos to meet again.

PUKmedia :: English - KRG will have 21 Ministries

U.S. official: Attacks against joint forces down by 60%

Armed attacks on the Iraqi army and police and the U.S. forces declined by 60% one year after the launching of Operation Fardh al-Qanoon, or law imposing, in Baghdad and its environs, the official in charge of communications in the U.S. army said on Sunday.

"Last year has seen an average of 200 attacks per day against Iraqi security forces and rose to 210 by June 2007 but now they are only 82 all over Iraq, and 28 in Baghdad on a daily basis," Admiral Gregory Smith said during a press conference in the Iraqi capital on Sunday.

"Iraqi and U.S. forces managed during the past six months to find 800 weapons caches. Only last week 212 caches belonging to the Iran-financed Special Groups were found. The caches contained mortar shells, improvised explosive devices and anti-aircraft missiles," said Smith.

"Another arms cache containing 120 mortar shells, IEDs, 40 tons of TNT and 60 tons of highly explosive material was found, in addition to the killing of eight members of al-Qaeda network and the capture of 16 others in northeastern Baghdad areas," he added.

In a related context, Smith said "there was more than 24,000 detainees in U.S. forces' custody. Eight-thousands of them were released and last week 300 more were released."

Asked on the U.S.-Iranian negotiations on Iraq, Smith replied that Iran has "asked for postponing the talks but this time we're going to clearly, frankly and accurately raise the issue of Iran's backing for the Special Groups, which carried out the bombing attacks in Sadr City a few days ago."

"There are Iraqis belonging to the Special Groups who receive training in Iran and return home to provide training for other Iraqis. The Special Groups make the most serious threat to security in Iraq and provide a key reason for fanning violence in Baghdad," he said.

"The al-Qaeda Organization is conducting suicide attacks by means of explosive belts while the Special Groups use IEDs and explosively formed penetrators (EFPs)," he added.

The term "Special Groups" is given by the U.S. army to refer to armed defectors from Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militias. The Americans say they target these Special Groups because they failed to honor Sadr's decision to freeze his Mahdi Army's activities.

On the outcome of investigations with the director of a mental asylum clinic in Baghdad, Smith replied that they were still going on.

"Apparently, the director of the clinic is involved in providing backing for al-Qaeda Organization through mentally-retarded women to carry out suicide attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces," Smith explained, not giving further information about the director's arrest.

Aswat Aliraq

Oil Law will End KRG Oil Contracts Crisis

Iraqi Ministry of Oil official spokesman Asim Jihad said that issuing the Oil Law is going to end the crisis of oil contracts between the Federal government and KRG.

In an interview with Radio Sawa Broadcasting, he added that the disagreement is not between the Oil Ministry and KRG, but it’s in the difference in explanations. He hoped that the Parliament will issue this law as soon as possible.

About KRG contracts with the foreign companies, Asim said “the Parliament has to solve this problem, not the Ministry of Oil. The ministry is a part of the government, and cannot do any movement without the government’s agreement.”

PUKmedia :: English - Oil Law will End KRG Oil Contracts Crisis