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

No secret plans to privatize the oil sector .. Shahrastani: Iraq demands a timetable for an agreement with the United States

Guardian newspaper The Guardian on Wednesday the British Oil Minister Hussein Shahrastani that Baghdad demanding a schedule for the Convention on long-term security that are being negotiated with Washington. It insists on its right to object (use the veto), to implement the American Forces military operations in Iraq. Shahrastani added in an interview with the newspaper that "long convention lasts for two years and the maximum that could be terminated by either party that are reported six months before. "Commented the newspaper commented that" these remarks Shahrastani comes amid extensive negotiations behind closed doors between the Iraqi and American governments led to the emergence of complaints among the U.S. Congress as in the circles of Iraq, the Bush administration is trying to tie the hands of the next American president by seeking to maintain Military bases for a long time in Iraq in preparation for possible attacks mounted by the United States on Iran and other countries in neighboring Iraq." But the U.S. president denied this.

The oil minister explained that "our constitution does not allow any violation of Iraqi sovereignty was, and the presence of foreign troops on Iraqi territory carried out military operations without prior notification to the elected government and the ratification of a breach of sovereignty." The Convention on the American Forces The Status Of Forces Agreement, which defines short as the "Suva Sofa" of a treaty would be reflected in the framework of a strategic relationship affects manifestations of the American Iraqi entire being out of work now in private, described by the newspaper.

The Guardian commented that he attaches these conventions seen as "legal issues" allow President George Bush's claim to achieving success and legitimize the U.S. occupation at the end of the guardianship of the United Nations on Iraq at the end of this year.

The paper said before the talks in the spring present, sought Robert Gates and U.S. Secretary of Defense to dispel the doubts that have emerged in the Iraqi national circles saying that the United States "has no interest in establishing permanent bases."

But Shahrastani disclosed to the newspaper that "Iraq now want to be short-term sofa for a year or two" refers, according to a newspaper opinion, the broad timetable for determining the presence of American and remove ambiguity about the threats posed by the presence of temporary or permanent bases in Iraq.

Commented the newspaper commented that this "explosion shattered the relative calm boom in Baghdad since a ceasefire on 11 May, which ended fighting between Iraqi and American forces by Shiite militias from the other side.

The newspaper found that the Bush administration exercised considerable pressure on the Iraqi Government for the conclusion of two security by July 31 of next July; Shahrastani said only that "there is no room for (Suva) to the Iraqi parliament before the summer vacation."

On another level, detecting and Iraqi Minister of Oil, the newspaper also reported that the Iraqi government expects the first signature on contracts with Western oil companies within the next two weeks. And specialization of these contracts with technical support and repair Iraqi oil installations, AM.

He said Hussein Shahrastani, "Tenders for the development of new oil fields on its way now to prepare; but it will be open to competitive bidding, and there are no secret plans to privatize the oil sector; because INOC will remain the owner control over 80% of Iraqi oil reserves discovered to date ".

Translated version of http://www.aljeeran.net/

Turkish private airline restarts regular flights to N Iraq

A privately owned Turkish airline has announced that it will launch regular flights between Istanbul and the northern Iraqi city of Arbil starting from June 29.

The Turkish airline company Atlasjet had long considered Istanbul-Arbil flights, but the project had been stalled many times for various reasons such as security and flight safety concerns, said the report.

The flights will initially run five days a week, with the possibility of being increased to six days a week depending on demand, said the report, adding that the airline plans to transport 3,000 passengers monthly.

CRJ-900s and Airbus A319s will be flying between the two cities, it said.

Although Arbil is a high-risk area in terms of security, charter companies have always been interested in flying to the region because of the high profitability.

The first flights between Turkey and northern Iraq were from Istanbul to Sulaimaniya starting in 1995 by Fly Air. Flights to Arbil followed later. However, the airline terminated the flights to the region in 2006.

http://www.iraqdevelopmentprogram.or...ws/new2007.htm

Empty Kurdish pipeline awaits oil deal with Baghdad

FAYSH KHABUR, Iraq | The pipeline that could pump northern Iraq's oil for export is nearly complete but empty, ending for now in the soil near the borders with Syria and Turkey, on the side of a dirt road.

The buried pipelines are meant to carry oil from Iraq's second-largest oil hub, Kirkuk, to the Iraqi government's oil export metering station guarded by Iraqi Kurdish forces less than a half mile up the dirt road, and on to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Oil pumped by the Norwegian company DNO and the idled pipeline await the outcome of ongoing negotiations between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and federal Iraqi government over permission to export.

Oil officials from both sides say they are ready to sign an export deal but have not reached an agreement. The deal could add 1 million barrels per day to the market within five years - half of Iraq's total exports now, according to KRG estimates.

"We have told the KRG that we are willing to receive all the oil that's being produced by DNO and others," said Iraq Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, adding the "others" include only the four contracts signed before February 2007 when a draft oil law was agreed to by both sides. Oil produced from the more than a dozen other contracts signed since then would be confiscated outright, he said, claiming Baghdad's sole rights to sign deals.

He said all Iraqi oil exports must take place by the state-owned oil marketing company SOMO, and all the revenue deposited into the Development Fund for Iraq, the U.N.-mandated and audited account of Iraq oil sales.

"That has always been our position. We not only encouraged that but insist that there is no other way to export oil but through our export pipelines and SOMO contracts."

Ashti Hawrami, the natural resources minister of the KRG, said there are still a few issues on the technical side to be sorted out before they are able to actually export oil.

"When we are ready we will call our colleagues, and I don't envisage any problem in that," he said. "The metering station is in the KRG territory. We can just link up the pipeline, open the metering and tell SOMO that so many barrels are going through, please account for it."

The export issue has been included in disputes between the central and regional governments over revenue sharing, the legitimacy of the KRG deals and the oil law.

Washington Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News - Empty Kurdish pipeline awaits oil deal with Baghdad

Update......

Oil giants returning to Iraq through no-bid contracts

Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein consolidated his power.

Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Co. — along with Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq's Oil Ministry for no-bid contracts to service Iraq's largest fields, according to ministry officials, oil company officials and a U.S. diplomat.

The deals, expected to be announced on June 30, lay the foundation for the first commercial work for the major companies in Iraq since the U.S. invasion, and open a new and potentially lucrative country for their operations.

The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry, and the offers prevailed over others by more than 40 companies, including companies in Russia, China and India. The contracts, which would run for one to two years and are relatively small by industry standards, would nonetheless give the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country that many experts consider to be the best hope for a large-scale increase in oil production.

There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract. The Bush administration has said that the war was necessary to combat terrorism. It is not clear what role the United States played in awarding the contracts; there are still American advisers to Iraq's Oil Ministry.

Sensitive to the appearance that they were profiting from the war and already under pressure because of record high oil prices, senior officials of two of the companies, speaking only on the condition that they not be identified, said they were helping Iraq rebuild its decrepit oil industry.

For an industry being frozen out of new ventures in the world's dominant oil-producing countries, from Russia to Venezuela, Iraq offers a rare and prized opportunity.

While enriched by escalating prices, the oil majors are also struggling to replace their reserves as ever more of the world's oil patch becomes off limits. Governments in countries like Bolivia and Venezuela are nationalizing their oil industries or seeking a larger share of the record profits for their national budgets. Russia and Kazakhstan have forced the major companies to renegotiate contracts.

The Iraqi government's stated goal in inviting back the major companies is to increase oil production by half a million barrels per day by attracting modern technology and expertise to oil fields now desperately short of both. The revenue would be used for reconstruction, although the Iraqi government has had trouble spending the oil revenues it now has, in part because of bureaucratic inefficiency.

For the U.S. government, increasing output in Iraq, as elsewhere, serves the foreign policy goal of increasing oil production globally to alleviate the exceptionally tight supply that is a cause of soaring prices.

The Iraqi Oil Ministry, through a spokesman, said the no-bid contracts were a stop-gap measure to bring modern skills into the fields while the oil law was pending in Parliament.

It said the companies had been chosen because they had been advising the ministry without charge for two years before being awarded the contracts, and because these companies had the needed technology.

A Shell spokeswoman hinted at the kind of work the companies might be engaged in. "We can confirm that we have submitted a conceptual proposal to the Iraqi authorities to minimize current and future gas flaring in the south through gas gathering and utilization," said the spokeswoman, Marnie Funk. "The contents of the proposal are confidential."

While small, the deals hold great promise for the companies.
"The bigger prize everybody is waiting for is development of the giant new fields," Leila Benali, an authority on Middle East oil at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, said in a telephone interview from the firm's Paris office. The current contracts, she said, are a "foothold" in Iraq for companies striving for these longer-term deals.

Any Western oil official who comes to Iraq would require heavy security, exposing the companies to all the same logistical nightmares that have hampered previous attempts, often undertaken at huge cost, to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure.

And work in the deserts and swamps that contain much of Iraq's oil reserves would be virtually impossible unless carried out solely by Iraqi subcontractors, who would likely be threatened by insurgents for cooperating with Western companies.

Yet at today's oil prices, there is no shortage of companies coveting a contract in Iraq. It is not only one of the few countries where oil reserves are up for grabs, but also one of the few that is viewed within the industry as having considerable potential to rapidly increase production.

The no-bid deals are structured as service contracts. The companies will be paid for their work, rather than offered a license to the oil deposits. As such, they do not require the passage of an oil law setting out terms for competitive bidding. The legislation has been stalled by disputes between Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties over revenue sharing and other conditions.

The first oil contracts for the majors in Iraq are exceptional for the oil industry.

They include a provision that could allow the companies to reap large profits at today's prices: the ministry and companies are negotiating payment in oil rather than cash.

"These are not actually service contracts," Benali said. "They were designed to circumvent the legislative stalemate" and bring Western companies with experience managing large projects into Iraq before the passage of the oil law.

A clause in the draft contracts would allow the companies to match bids from competing companies to retain the work once it is opened to bidding, according to the Iraq country manager for a major oil company who did not consent to be cited publicly discussing the terms.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...y/5845757.html

Oil Ministry adheres to the oil draft law approved by the Council of Ministers

The Oil Minister Hussein Shahrastani maintained his ministry and the Iraqi government oil draft law approved by the Council of Ministers in February 2007.

Shahrastani added in a press statement yesterday, Wednesday, that the publication of the draft is the foundation upon which depends the ministry in some permits oil companies in Iraq, although it did not adopt a formal status as yet.

He explained that the submission of a draft law to parliament depended on reaching agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.

He pointed out that the draft is still the subject of acceptance from the central government but between the Kurdistan Regional Government proposed a review of some articles.

Translated version of http://foratnews.com/paper.asp?ID=10215

Update.......

Zebari was optimistic about the possibility of reaching a security agreement with the United States

Transnational Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Wednesday in Washington, expressed optimism that negotiators Iraqis and Americans reached before the July 31 agreement to regulate the proliferation of U.S. forces in the future.

He said Zebari told reporters in response to a question on whether the parties would agree on "Status of Forces Agreement" by the deadline "I still optimistic."

The agreement aims at defining the rights and responsibilities of U.S. forces at the end of the mission of the United Nations on December 31.

He added after his talks with Zebari and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington "at first that the Iraqi government is committed to these negotiations."

He said: "I think they have identified points of disagreement in the Convention, were presented options to overcome these difficulties."

He explained that the talks on the strategic framework which defines American relations - Iraq are performing well.

He added: "We have assured the Minister of Foreign Affairs that the strategic framework agreement soon to be completed in particular political side, economic, scientific and cultural agreement."

In response to a question, he said it was too early to say whether he believed that the Iraqi government will approve the Convention on the Status of Forces.

Zebari said "We have said from the outset that this agreement will be an agreement transparent. Will not include any accessories company."

He added: "Ultimately, while we are putting the finishing touches on the document was transferred to the parliament for ratification."

He explained, "but we are not yet at this stage, we have no agreement yet and we still hold negotiations."

Asked about obtaining concessions American said, "I can say that there is greater flexibility of the American side to reach an agreement acceptable to both parties, to the Iraqis and for them."

He Zebari also called for "flexibility" in the American newspaper interview published Tuesday, "Wall Street Journal."

The Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced last week in Amman that talks with Washington on the Security Agreement governing the presence of U.S. forces in this country will continue despite the arrival in some cases to "a dead end."

In the interview with the Wall Street Journal, Zebari said that despite some progress, some files remain unresolved, including differences on the number of U.S. bases which will allow them to stay in Iraq after the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Is also being discussed will be whether to allow U.S. authorities to arrest Iraqi civilians and whether U.S. forces would enjoy immunity from prosecution in Iraq.

Translated version of http://wasatonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8867&Ite mid=101

Iraq begins investing gas field «crutches»

Sources told Iraqi oil «life» she likened the inability of the Iraqi parliament's ratification of the oil and gas in its current and deported to the next session, due to the dispute happening between the political forces around drafted.

She explained that the gap of differences between the blocs and parties, and each team's opinion, prevent enable parliament to approve the law, which has become one of the most contentious issues of controversy in Iraq, suggesting that these differences centred on the oil contracts, which clinched the Kurdistan region with foreign companies, In addition to licensing contracts for exploration, development and production, which is considered the backbone of the law. The remarks were the most important, do not overlook the law that the manufacturing sector, giving priority to the legislation law the Iraqi oil company.

In addition, the company hopes «Lukoil» Russian, which is visiting a large delegation including Iraq, reviving the field holding «West Qurna», who entered the company in the era of the former regime, which was worth about 3.7 billion dollars to develop one of the largest oil reservoirs in Iraq .

It quoted official in the delegation when they met President Jalal Talabani «that the company is seeking to declare the possibility of Russian participation in investment and develop Iraqi oil fields, and means of removing obstacles that impede their contribution and work».

Elsewhere, said Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad Iraqi oil l «life», the ministry began investing field «crutches» gas in Anbar province (western Iraq), and Qualification willing to export its products to Syria, then recovered in the form of liquefied gas.

He added that the ministry has succeeded in a number of wells drilled in this field, and hopes to invest quantities of gas produced in the first instance through the export to Syria, to be returned to Iraq in the form of liquefied gas, followed by another phase, which export volumes to Europe via Syria, after Increase the size of the production field, which contains very large quantities of gas, pointing out that a large number of international companies made offers to invest.

Translated version of http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNewsAr.aspx?id=6347

Iraq stands ready to supply Jordan with Gas

Iraq expressed readiness to provide Jordan full requirements of the rule of gas through the Arab Gas Pipeline, to enable Jordan to face the burden of high oil prices that reached record levels unprecedented.

He said Iraqi Finance Minister Baqer Jabr Al-Zubaidi told reporters that his country would officially informed Jordan recently. Expected to start operations to provide Jordan with gas after the completion of the D pipeline, which links the gas field devoted to this end in Iraq with the Arab Gas Pipeline.

He added that the field-Zubaidi gas intended for export from near the Iraqi-Syrian border and far from Jordan, has been the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Syrian side, which will extend the gas pipeline inside its territory along the 70 kilometres to reach the gas plant Syrian dedicated to re-production for several purposes.

He said Zubaidi had been allocating a part of the ration card run by the Iraqi government and the annual cost of $ 5 t 5 billion dollars so as to benefit the private sector and Jordanian companies which will significantly the volume of trade exchange between Jordan and Iraq.

Translated version of http://www.aljeeran.net/economic.html

KRG Calls for Extra Budget from Baghdad

KRG Planning Minister, Othman Shwani, said KRG sent its project plans to Baghdad to ensure supplementary budget from the federal government.

The supplementary budget is allocated only for investment and reconstruction projects and it is irrelevant to the operating budget. In addition to the basic budget allocated by the federal government, Kurdistan region is supposed to receive a budget equivalent to 17 percent of Iraq’s supplementary income.

“Pursuant to this percentage, the supplementary budget of Kurdistan region for the previous six months is estimated by $5 billion, Shwani revealed.

As the price of oil recently rose in the world market, the Iraq’s overall income for 2008 reaches $ 100 billion while the estimated income was about $ 50 billion.

“Iraqi government will probably plan the second phase of the supplementary budget for the next six months,” Shwani added.

PUKmedia :: English - KRG Calls for Extra Budget from Baghdad

European and Asian companies exceeded U.S. transactions in Iraq

USA Today newspaper said that U.S. and Asian Krupp began to overcome their counterparts in the American victory in transactions for the completion of economic projects in Iraq.The newspaper added in a lengthy economic report published Wednesday that improved security conditions in Iraq helped launch a number of economic projects that were stalled in the past.

Paul Brinkley and sign an official of the U.S. Defense Department to reach the cost of reconstruction projects in Iraq by the end of this year to one billion dollars, pointing out that the value of the projects won by American and foreign companies until the present time amounted to more than 500 million dollars.

Translated version of http://www.aljeeran.net/economic.html