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

4,100 projects financed under Basra loan program

Basra municipal council has agreed to finance 4,100 economic projects under its provincial loan program of $25 million, an informed source said on Tuesday.

"The projects will receive the loans under the soft loan program that includes agricultural, industrial, and trade activities," a member of the council's economic development committee, Kareema Hassan Hussein, told Aswat al-Iraq, Voices of Iraq, (VOI).

Basra province has allocated $25 million for the establishment of 5,000 projects, Kareema explained, adding that most of those who will benefit from the loans are unemployed holders of bachelor's degrees.

The deadline for the loan application is February 22, 2008, she added.

The Shiite province of Basra lies 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Aswat Aliraq

Presidential Council Approves 3 Laws

The Presidential Council on Tuesday ratified three laws on suing security forces, seizing smuggled money, and disengaging the Iraqi Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control from the cabinet.

"The Presidential Council ratified the law organizing the punishment courts for the security forces," the council said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

The law concerns police and security forces, and organizing suing them.
"The council also ratified a law on seizing smuggled money," the council said in another statement.

"It also approved a law to disengage the Iraqi Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control (COSQC - the national standards body) from the cabinet to join the Ministry of Planning and Developmental Cooperation and to continue undertaking its duties," the statement added.

The Iraqi Constitution stipulates that all laws approved by the Iraqi parliament have to be ratified by the Presidential Council, which consists of President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies, Tareq al-Hashemi and Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Aswat Aliraq

President Talabani stresses holding political, governmental reforms

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Tuesday stressed the importance of holding political and governmental reforms.

This came during his meeting with the leader of the Iraqi National List (INL) Iyad Allawi.

"The president asserted that holding political and governmental reforms is something inevitable to allow Iraqis to reap the fruits of the security and economic improvements," Talabani's office said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).

"The talks were held during a luncheon banquet hosted by the president in honor of Allawi," it added.

The INL holds 21 seats out of the 275-seat parliament.

Aswat Aliraq

Iraqi Ministry sets aside IQD 60 billion for iron and steel industry

The Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals has set aside IQD 60 billion to rehabilitate the iron and steel plants which were severely damaged in 2003.

Hanan Jasim, spokesperson for the ministry's media office, has indicated that the General Iron and Steel Company has undertaken new expansions in the spiral pipes plan. The project, of which 65% has been completed, includes installing modern equipment and bringing the plants back into operation.

Work to redevelop the plants is carried out 100% via Iraqi manpower and expertise. Production of spiral pipes is expected to start in November of this year.

Contracts have already been signed with the ministry of oil to manufacture a 130 kilometre long pipe.

The company is at the start of developing the Baghdad steel and iron plant with the relevant engineering services. Development and rehabilitation works will continue throughout the second half of 2008.

The General Iron and Steel Company, which is one of the largest industrial complexes in Basra governorate and the region, specializes in making building, sponge and spiral iron pipes.

One of the company’s most important achievements has been rebuilding the electrical energy towers in Iraq's southern region and the communications towers for the postal offices. It has also lately made cooling warehouses for the ministry of trade in Basra governorate.

Plans for the development of Iraqi industry have been gathering pace, following the announcement from the Ministry that the roll out of Iraq's state owned industries will begin with a summit in Dubai in April, where HE Fawzi Hariri will be meeting with international business to discuss investment opportunities for bringing over 250 Iraqi production facilities up to full capacity.

The summit, which will take place on 19-20 April 2008, is organised with the specific intention of bringing decision makers from Iraqi industry together to meet with senior corporate executives to discuss ways in which to generate the $2.5 billion required to regenerate the sector. For more information on the summit please visit:

Iraq Development Program - Iraqi Ministry sets aside IQD 60 billion for iron and steel industry

Sorry if already posted......

Total announces plans to work in Iraq

French oil major Total plans to register its interest in helping to rebuild Iraq's shattered oil industry, once concerns over security have been alleviated.

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, Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie spoke about the company's plans.

"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.

However, he added that the company was entering into discussions so that 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.

Iraq Development Program - Total announces plans to work in Iraq

Thank you seaveiw for your updates.. Your doing a great job to keep the membership updated..

admin

Iraqi National Accord Issues Paper on Oil and Gas Law

The Iraqi National Accord, a Political Party lead by Iraq's former prime minister, has issued the following position paper on Iraq's oil law.

1) On Federal Oil Law & Revenue Sharing Law:

• We should not confuse the two laws: the Revenue Sharing Law is a political agreement and will ensure that all Iraq's oil and other revenues go into one account to be shared fairly among all its citizens according to population and in accordance with the Constitution. In our opinion this should be passed first, to create trust on all sides and ensure fairness.
• The Oil Investment Law (Oil & Gas Law) is a matter of how best to manage the Iraqi oil resources to maximize revenues for all its people.
• A draft was agreed by all sides in February last year, but unauthorized changes by Ministry officials in Baghdad led to disputes and it has been stuck -- Parliament has yet to receive an agreed draft to review and vote on.
• INOC (national oil company) is needed to operate the existing fields and double their current production, which is a major task.
• Private companies (both Iraqi and international) should focus on the undeveloped fields to add their production to Iraq's total, under the oversight and regulation of the Government, and on the best competitive terms to give maximum revenues to the people of Iraq (less than 5% profit rate is possible for many of these discovered fields in the South of Iraq).
• There must be clear separation of roles in the law, between the Ministry (whether Federal or Regional) as regulator, and the companies (whether INOC or private companies) as the regulated operators, as per best international practice and World Bank Guidelines.
• The national oil company (INOC) should have no role in awarding contracts. It must behave as a professional company without special treatment or advantage. Also its Chairman, Board of Directors and Managing Director should not be politicians or Ministry officials, and it should be accountable to the Government through the Ministry of Finance.

2) Oil Policy

• Iraq's production today is 2 million barrels per day -- less than in 1975 when the industry was nationalized. It should be at 10 million barrels per day, but the State has mismanaged the oil sector and misused the oil revenues. We mustn't repeat the mistakes of the past.
• The Constitution calls for maximum investment, and we cannot expect that the Government can do everything itself as the old socialist mentality of the 1970s -- the Government's role should be regulation and oversight, while having capable companies Iraqi and international, investing and working in all areas of Iraq.
• This will boost production quicker, providing higher revenues for Iraq and also more and higher-paying jobs for Iraqis.
• Many of the countries in the region have private companies investing in their oil sector under proper investment contracts: UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Syria, Algeria and Libya. This has brought great benefit and boosted production and revenues.
• The only countries with declining production and failed policies have been Iran and Kuwait, who have both followed state-strangled approaches for political reasons and with disastrous results: Iran insists on the national oil company doing everything and its production has fallen from 6 million barrels in 1979 to less than 4 million today. Kuwait with the same socialist approach has had production fall from 2.8 million barrels to 2.3 million barrels.
• Unfortunately, the current officials in the Iraqi Oil Ministry are advocating the same failed state-dominated policies and contract systems of Iran and Kuwait, instead of pro-investment successful policies of other countries in the region and internationally.
• We should also give preference to Iraqi private-sector companies and encourage them to invest in all sectors of the energy industry, as is normal in all developed economies. They will also be cheaper and give better terms to the Government than foreign companies, who are scared of the security and political situation and will charge more, and will not be accepted by the Iraqi people due to their history of colonialisation and political interference in the Middle East.

3) On KRG Contracts:

• No matter who signs the contracts, the oil revenues will all be shared by all the citizens of Iraq as per the constitution.
• Therefore all investment in Iraq today to boost production and revenues is positive.
• The authorities of the regional and federal governments on oil and other matters are defined by Iraq's constitution, which is the highest law of the country. Any disputes are legal matters which can ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
• Public arguments, disputes and accusations between officials at the regional and federal level are wrong and damage Iraq's credibility and reputation. A Federal Minister cannot decide and announce on his own what is "legal or "illegal" to suit his own ends.

4) On Ministry Incomp****ce:

• The Oil Minister is not an oil man but a scientist and maybe a good one.
• The Ministry now is open to politicization and morale is bad.
• Many top officials have left the Ministry in despair.
• No progress to speak of, only empty statements and future plans with ever slipping dates.
• The Ministry failed to sign a single contract with anyone -- the only 'achievement' is an MOU with Iran to build an oil pipeline to send Iraq's oil to Iranian refineries!
• Fuel smuggling and corruption still rife.
• Bad management is causing loss for Iraq as an example, Iraq is currently flaring $7 billion a year worth of gas at least, and there is no fuel for power generation!
• While pr****ding to want "transparency", the Ministry wants to discuss with the large oil majors (Shell, Total, BP). These companies are very capable but also bureaucratic and conservative,

whereas what Iraq really needs are fairer competition maximizing Iraqs interests as companies willing to work on the ground today (like what is happening in Kurdistan).

• "Black-listing", punishing and threatening of oil companies investing in Kurdistan is not only illegal, but has harmed Iraq's reputation and access to investment and oil markets: he has suspended MOUs signed by his predecessor which were adding value to Iraq for free, and has killed the relationships with important customers like Korea and Austria/ Eastern Europe, because their companies signed with KRG! (Even Saddam never stopped exporting oil to the US!)
• Ministry of Oil has been calling these companies "small and unimportant", which is nonsense (OMV is biggest company in Central Europe, Dana Gas is biggest private energy company in Middle East, Reliance is biggest energy company in India).

Iraqi National Accord

Originally Posted by Seaview

Iraqi National Accord Issues Paper on Oil and Gas Law

The Iraqi National Accord, a Political Party lead by Iraq's former prime minister, has issued the following position paper on Iraq's oil law.

1) On Federal Oil Law & Revenue Sharing Law:

• We should not confuse the two laws: the Revenue Sharing Law is a political agreement and will ensure that all Iraq's oil and other revenues go into one account to be shared fairly among all its citizens according to population and in accordance with the Constitution. In our opinion this should be passed first, to create trust on all sides and ensure fairness.
• The Oil Investment Law (Oil & Gas Law) is a matter of how best to manage the Iraqi oil resources to maximize revenues for all its people.
• A draft was agreed by all sides in February last year, but unauthorized changes by Ministry officials in Baghdad led to disputes and it has been stuck -- Parliament has yet to receive an agreed draft to review and vote on.
• INOC (national oil company) is needed to operate the existing fields and double their current production, which is a major task.
• Private companies (both Iraqi and international) should focus on the undeveloped fields to add their production to Iraq's total, under the oversight and regulation of the Government, and on the best competitive terms to give maximum revenues to the people of Iraq (less than 5% profit rate is possible for many of these discovered fields in the South of Iraq).
• There must be clear separation of roles in the law, between the Ministry (whether Federal or Regional) as regulator, and the companies (whether INOC or private companies) as the regulated operators, as per best international practice and World Bank Guidelines.
• The national oil company (INOC) should have no role in awarding contracts. It must behave as a professional company without special treatment or advantage. Also its Chairman, Board of Directors and Managing Director should not be politicians or Ministry officials, and it should be accountable to the Government through the Ministry of Finance.

2) Oil Policy

• Iraq's production today is 2 million barrels per day -- less than in 1975 when the industry was nationalized. It should be at 10 million barrels per day, but the State has mismanaged the oil sector and misused the oil revenues. We mustn't repeat the mistakes of the past.
• The Constitution calls for maximum investment, and we cannot expect that the Government can do everything itself as the old socialist mentality of the 1970s -- the Government's role should be regulation and oversight, while having capable companies Iraqi and international, investing and working in all areas of Iraq.
• This will boost production quicker, providing higher revenues for Iraq and also more and higher-paying jobs for Iraqis.
• Many of the countries in the region have private companies investing in their oil sector under proper investment contracts: UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Syria, Algeria and Libya. This has brought great benefit and boosted production and revenues.
• The only countries with declining production and failed policies have been Iran and Kuwait, who have both followed state-strangled approaches for political reasons and with disastrous results: Iran insists on the national oil company doing everything and its production has fallen from 6 million barrels in 1979 to less than 4 million today. Kuwait with the same socialist approach has had production fall from 2.8 million barrels to 2.3 million barrels.
• Unfortunately, the current officials in the Iraqi Oil Ministry are advocating the same failed state-dominated policies and contract systems of Iran and Kuwait, instead of pro-investment successful policies of other countries in the region and internationally.
• We should also give preference to Iraqi private-sector companies and encourage them to invest in all sectors of the energy industry, as is normal in all developed economies. They will also be cheaper and give better terms to the Government than foreign companies, who are scared of the security and political situation and will charge more, and will not be accepted by the Iraqi people due to their history of colonialisation and political interference in the Middle East.

3) On KRG Contracts:

• No matter who signs the contracts, the oil revenues will all be shared by all the citizens of Iraq as per the constitution.
• Therefore all investment in Iraq today to boost production and revenues is positive.
• The authorities of the regional and federal governments on oil and other matters are defined by Iraq's constitution, which is the highest law of the country. Any disputes are legal matters which can ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
• Public arguments, disputes and accusations between officials at the regional and federal level are wrong and damage Iraq's credibility and reputation. A Federal Minister cannot decide and announce on his own what is "legal or "illegal" to suit his own ends.

4) On Ministry Incomp****ce:

• The Oil Minister is not an oil man but a scientist and maybe a good one.
• The Ministry now is open to politicization and morale is bad.
• Many top officials have left the Ministry in despair.
• No progress to speak of, only empty statements and future plans with ever slipping dates.
• The Ministry failed to sign a single contract with anyone -- the only 'achievement' is an MOU with Iran to build an oil pipeline to send Iraq's oil to Iranian refineries!
• Fuel smuggling and corruption still rife.
• Bad management is causing loss for Iraq as an example, Iraq is currently flaring $7 billion a year worth of gas at least, and there is no fuel for power generation!
• While pr****ding to want "transparency", the Ministry wants to discuss with the large oil majors (Shell, Total, BP). These companies are very capable but also bureaucratic and conservative,

whereas what Iraq really needs are fairer competition maximizing Iraqs interests as companies willing to work on the ground today (like what is happening in Kurdistan).

• "Black-listing", punishing and threatening of oil companies investing in Kurdistan is not only illegal, but has harmed Iraq's reputation and access to investment and oil markets: he has suspended MOUs signed by his predecessor which were adding value to Iraq for free, and has killed the relationships with important customers like Korea and Austria/ Eastern Europe, because their companies signed with KRG! (Even Saddam never stopped exporting oil to the US!)
• Ministry of Oil has been calling these companies "small and unimportant", which is nonsense (OMV is biggest company in Central Europe, Dana Gas is biggest private energy company in Middle East, Reliance is biggest energy company in India).

Iraqi National Accord

there it is again.....corruption and doing nothing...why has it taken Maliki so long to shake up the parliament...including the oil minister....looks like from this report that he doesn't have a clue...we've been hearing about this parliament shakeup for almost a year and a half...and still they procrastinate while their people still live in poverty...and yet they all say they are concerned about their sovergnty....give me a break....good work Seaview..please keep it up....Pat

Senior delegation arrives in Tehran to discuss borders

Iraqi senior delegation that represents many ministries reached to Tehran yesterday to discuss disputed matters about borders, as Oil minister denied that Iran has trespassed joint oilfields between the two countries at his recent visit to southern provinces.

The Iraqi delegation headed by under secretary of FM, Mohamed Alhaj Hmood, and included officials from Agriculture, Water Resources, Transportation and Oil ministries to discuss Algeria agreement and oil fields.

Oil Minister, Hussein Shehristani, denied news talked about Iranian tresspasses on the fields in Majnoon well at his visit to the same well.

Senior delegation arrives in Tehran to discuss borders | Iraq Updates

Iraq-Iran border demarcation talks start in Tehran

The first session of negotiations between the Iraqi and Iranian delegations on the demarcation of borders between the two countries started on Tuesday in the Iranian capital Tehran, the Iraqi undersecretary for foreign affairs said.

"The negotiations will touch the demarcation of borders as well as the Shatt al-Arab river channel within a positive atmosphere. There will be another session today and more sessions tomorrow," Muhammad al-Hadj told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

The Shatt al-Arab is a river channel, about 193 km (120 mi) long, of southeast Iraq formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and flowing southeast to the Persian Gulf. It forms part of the Iraq-Iran border, and navigation rights to the channel have long been disputed by the two countries.

This issue, Hadj said, would not be resolved in just one meeting. "We need to exert tremendous technical efforts. So far we are marching on the right track. There are no outstanding points between both sides," he added.

On the amendment of the Algiers Accord, which Iraq demanded to have amended and to the rejection of Iran, Hadj replied that "this issue is not within the delegation's mission. This affair is to be solved at the political level, but our mission is merely technical."

The Algiers agreement was signed in March 1975 during the then-vice president, Saddam Hussein, and the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, in the presence of the then-president of Algeria, Houari Boumedienne.

Iraq then considered the agreement "null and void" when the Iranian-Iraqi war broke out in 1980. The agreement re-entered into effect in 1990 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and before the U.S. war on Iraq in 2003.

The agreement provides for dividing the waters of Shatt al-Arab, the passage leading to the Gulf, between the two countries.

On whether there is a U.S. role in these negotiations, Hadj flatly denied any U.S. role.

"There is no U.S. role in these negotiations. These are direct negotiations between the Iraqi and Iranian delegation," he said.

Iraq-Iran border demarcation talks start in Tehran | Iraq Updates