Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 15/04/08 - 26/08/08

Marriott considering opening hotel in Baghdad Green Zone

A Marriott International official said yesterday that the company was evaluating whether to open a hotel in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, responding to a request from U.S. government officials who are eager to help revive Iraq with foreign investment and economic activity.


The Bethesda firm, one of the largest hotel operators in the world, would have to overcome major obstacles, such as Baghdad's lack of security and its ravaged infrastructure. Chief executive Bill Marriott is considering the deal but is concerned about safety issues, according to someone familiar with his thinking.

Marriott, which is paid fees by hotel owners to manage properties, is mulling the move as it embarks on a major expansion in the Middle East.

To meet demand from a surge of business activity there, Marriott intends to boost its properties in the region from 26 to about 75 during the next several years.

Opening a Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh is one thing. But moving into Baghdad is quite another. The Green Zone has been a frequent target of attacks by insurgents. A recent flare-up, when 114 rocket and mortar rounds fell in the Green Zone during a 30-day period ending in late April, showed the unpredictability of the danger.

Marriott is not the only company that has been approached about managing the hotel development, but it has connections to the Bush administration. Bill Marriott is chairman of the president's Export Council, which advises Bush on trade issues. The council is appointed by the president and includes U.S. business leaders and several Cabinet members, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Paul A. Brinkley, the deputy under secretary of defense for business transformation, declined to identify any hotel companies considering the deal, nor would he identify the developers, saying only it was a consortium of European, American and regional investors. A license for the hotel's construction has been issued by Iraqi authorities, he said.

"As with any opportunity, we carefully consider all the factors involved," said Marriott spokesman John Wolf. "We're evaluating this, just as we are considering opportunities elsewhere." Private entities in the United States and Iraq were also involved in approaching the company, Wolf said.

At a National Press Club event highlighting Iraq's business opportunities, Brinkley appeared with Iraq's Industry Minister Fawzi Hariri. In an interview afterward, Hariri said Iraqis "would welcome" an American hotel in Baghdad. "We would welcome more than one," he said. "We would like all the chains to be there."

The Iraqi government is also willing, Hariri said, "to provide them with all the necessary support from infrastructure and facilities for this to happen." He expects any hotel venture would be "very productive and profitable" because as the country's situation improves "there is a great deal of interest from business people and the business community to travel to Iraq."

This week, for instance, officials from German automaker Daimler said the company planned to open an office in Baghdad. However, hotel offerings for business travelers are slim. "We have a shortage of good quality accommodations," Hariri said.

Marriott is generally a risk-averse company, though it has taken big chances when there was a strong business case. Perhaps the biggest risk the company took was in the 1980s, when it spent several hundred million dollars to open the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.

Times Square was not the commercial mecca it is today, where prostitutes and drug dealers are now difficult to find. Back then it was still, as Bill Marriott once wrote, a "run-down, seedy area that might or might not come back to life." Building hotel there was "a huge risk."

But Marriott went ahead, installing one of the most elaborate hotel security systems of its time. Entrance to the hotel was limited. The lobby was located on the eighth floor. Times Square turned around, and today the Marquis is among the company's most profitable hotels.

Iraq Development Program - Marriott considering opening hotel in Baghdad Green Zone

DNO repeats Iraq export permit seen in 2008

Norwegian oil producer DNO International repeated on Wednesday its view that it would receive a licence to export oil from Iraq during 2008.

DNO, the first foreign firm to drill for oil in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion, is producing oil from wells in north Iraq where it partners the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Asked about the timing of the export permit, Chief Executive Helge Eide said: "We can reference the statement we had made where the KRG... said it would make sure we would export and that this could happen this year."

"The timing of the licence for exports is solely under control of the KRG and all statements regarding the process and the timing will have to come from them," Eide told a news conference after DNO published its first quarter results.

"We don't have anything to add to that for the time being."

DNO repeats Iraq export permit seen in 2008 | Industries | Energy | Reuters&

Iraq Upgrading More Refineries

Iraq has signed a contract to expand an oil refinery.

The Iraqi Oil Ministry has concluded a contract with a U.S. company, Colorado Industrial Construction Services Co., to modernize the refinery in the southern city of Najaf. Under the $85 million contract, Colorado Industrial would help increase refinery capacity from 20,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil per day. The Najaf refinery was constructed in October 2006. Under the contract, the U.S. firm would build a third production unit by late 2009.

Iraq has been expanding refinery capacity in an effort to ease the gasoline shortage. The Oil Ministry plans to build refineries in Karbala and Nasseriya as part of a plan to increase refinery capacity by nearly 500,000 barrels of oil per day.

World Tribune — Iraq upgrading more refineries

ISX opens with two 17-million-share contracts

The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) opened its session on Thursday with two 17-million-share contracts.

The first contract was concluded by an Iraqi company, which bought 13.6 million shares at a value of 1,150 Iraqi dinars (1 U.S. dollar= 1,221 Iraqi dinars) per share; while the second was concluded by a foreign company, which bought 4 million shares from the al-Warkaa Bank at a value of 1,400 Iraqi dinars per share.

The Iraqi Stock Exchange holds three sessions a week: Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Aswat Aliraq

2nd Iraq Business, Investment Conference begins in Cairo

The 2nd Iraq Business and Investment Conference (IBIC) opened on Thursday in the Egyptian capital Cairo with the aim of discussing Iraq's main economic issues and the role of businessmen in the economic process.

Three days ago, the head of the Iraqi Businessmen Union, Ragheb Reda, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI), that the conference would be attended by Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi and a large number of businessmen from all over the world.

"Invitations have been sent to over 600 Iraqi, Arab and international experts in the field, including representatives for economic organizations and government projects, businessmen and traders," Reda said.

Among the issues on the conference's agenda is the role of private business and companies in boosting the Iraqi economy, he explained.
The first IBIC was held in Dubai in 2007 with the participation of prominent Iraqi and Arab figures. One of the recommendations of the Dubai conference was to support the Iraqi economy by all means.

Aswat Aliraq

Vice president urges businessmen to invest in Iraq

Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi called on businessmen from inside and outside Iraq to boost the Iraqi economy and invest in the war-ravaged country on the sidelines of the 2nd Iraq Business, Investment Conference, which opened this morning in the Egyptian capital.

"The most important feature of the current renaissance stage is the establishment of residential and medical compounds all over the country and the encouragement of tourism by building huge hotels, such as the Marriott, and tourist facilities overlooking the Tigris River," Abdul Mahdi said in his opening speech addressing the conference.

The 2nd Iraq Business and Investment Conference (IBIC) opened this morning in downtown Cairo's Grand Hyatt Hotel under the auspices of the Iraqi vice president and Egyptian Prime Minster Ahmed Nazeef.

The conference entitled, 'Today's Iraq…homeland for investment,' will last until May 16.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian premier said that Egypt will spare no effort to help Iraq rebuild itself.

On Wednesday, an Iraqi delegation of 630 figures, including 130 officials and 500 businessmen, investors and economists, arrived in Cairo to take part in the conference.

The officials included Minister of Finance Baqer Jabr Solagh, Minister of Industry Fawzi al-Hariri and university presidents.

Nearly 200 Egyptian businessmen and investors attended the conference, which is expected to tackle the role of private business and companies in boosting the Iraqi economy.

The first IBIC was held in Dubai in 2007 with the participation of prominent Iraqi and Arab figures. One of the recommendations of the Dubai conference was to support the Iraqi economy by all means.

Aswat Aliraq

Sharp drop in demand for dollar at daily auction

Demand for the dollar was sharply down in the Iraqi Central Bank's auction on Thursday, registering at $ 47.210 million compared to $134.695 million on Wednesday.

"The demand hit $9.190 million in cash and $38.020 million in money transfers outside the country, all covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,199 Iraqi dinars per dollar, a tick lower than yesterday,” according to the central bank's daily bulletin which was received by Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

None of the 13 banks that participated in the auction offered to sell dollars.

Speaking to VOI, Ali al-Yasseri, a trader, attributed the lower demand for the dollar to the small number of the banks that participated in today’s session and to the small size of the remittances.

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

Aswat Aliraq

Record oil prices lift Dana Gas profit
United Arab Emirates-based Dana Gas said on Thursday its first-quarter net profit rose to 25 million dirhams ($6.81 million), up 19% from the year-ago period, helped by record oil prices.

The company's revenues from oil and gas production in the three months ending March 31 grew to 272 million dirhams, an increase of 35% over the same period last year, it said in a statement.

"Comparing this year's first quarter with last year's first quarter, the growth was mainly driven by an increase in oil prices that have resulted in high returns," Finance Director Neeraj Agrawal told newswire Reuters.

Record oil prices lift Dana Gas profit - Retail - ArabianBusiness.com

Kurdistan Region Provincial Councils to Design Region’s Own Draft Law

Today the Provincial Councils of Sulaimani, Erbil and Duhok convened in Sulaimani to design a draft law which will identify the authorities of the Kurdistan Region Provincial Councils.

“The draft law will be designed on the basis of several laws including a law which has been indorsed by the Iraqi Council of Representatives in 2008 and harmonizing it with the confidentiality of the Kurdistan Region. The draft also will lean on the law number 71 of the Iraq’s Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and a draft law which has been addressed to the Kurdistan Region Parliament recently we are trying to design a powerful law that will be directed to the legal committee inside Kurdistan Region Parliament,” head of the Legal Committee of Kurdistan Region’s Provincial Councils told PUKmedia.

PUKmedia :: English - Home

UBS Now Sees Oil Marching to $156 Yearly Average by 2012

Crude oil prices are set to steadily rise over the next four years and will take the earnings of major oil companies along for the ride, UBS told investors Thursday.

The firm now sees crude oil prices averaging $115 a barrel this year and reaching an average of $156 a barrel in 2012. This will benefit major oil companies including Chevron Corp. (CVX), which it upgraded to buy, as well as oil service and drilling companies, several at which UBS started coverage Thursday also with buy ratings.

The move marks a major switch in UBS' view of crude oil prices, which it had expected to pull back in the face of reduced demand due to concerns about a recession in the U.S. Goldman Sachs also raised its expectations for the oil market last week - both firms revised their views upward as benchmark crude futures in New York rose by around a third in just the past three months.

Goldman last week put forward two scenarios for the oil market - either a "super spike" to as high as $200 a barrel over the next two years before dropping precipitously to a "normalized" price of $75 a barrel in 2011, or a more gradual ramp-up in average prices to $120 a barrel by 2010, and lasting for a few years before falling again.

UBS' view seems to cut the difference between Goldman's scenarios - the firm sees crude marching steadily higher to an average of $156 a barrel by 2012, with its normalized price reaching $96 a barrel in 2013, or $82 a barrel in today's dollars. The normalized price represents an estimated minimum producers need to charge in order to generate enough returns to stay in business.

UBS analyst William Featherston said that it's not speculators who are pushing prices higher, but the long-term fundamentals of demand growing faster than supply. Recently, prices have been pushed higher for a variety of reasons, he said, including critical supply setbacks in non-OPEC countries as well as interruptions in Nigeria, a cut-off of exports from southern Iraq and higher than expected demand outside the U.S.

In addition to Chevron, UBS believes other oil majors are set to benefit from these trends, and it recommended investors buying (in order of preference): Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY), Apache Corp. (APA), ConocoPhillips (COP) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM).

The firm also started coverage with buy ratings at oil service, drilling and equipment firms Transocean Inc. (RIG), Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO), Noble Corp. (NE), Ensco International Inc. (ESV), Atwood Oceanics Inc. (ATW) and Rowan Cos. (RDC).

The firm also increased the allocation of energy companies in the portfolio strategy it recommends to investors to account for its more bullish view of oil prices.

Benchmark crude prices closed Wednesday at $124.22 a barrel and traded up about 1% premarket Thursday.

UBS Now Sees Oil Marching to $156 Yearly Average by 2012 | Iraq Updates