Thread: Archive Latest News - Dinar Think Tank - 27/08/08 - 15/01/09

Cars that can compete with International Companies to develop production

A source at the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, the General Company for the auto industry had prepared a strategic five-year terms of cooperation with major international companies specialized

Indicating that such a new plan to develop the performance of the company and enable it to cover about 40 percent of the local market need of their products.

The source said: The plan included the production of buses, trucks, chilling, drawings, and non-stereotypical industries such as oil and steel structures and m.o.bile homes, bridges and water purification plants, and after-sale services, "indicating that the application of this plan, the company will" cover 40 per cent of need Local market their products. "

The source added: that the company was "currently seeking to conclude cooperation agreements with several international companies specialized in the autom.o.b.ile industry, including German, Swedish, French," adding that they also seek to cooperate with the investors who wish to work in this area. "

It should be noted that the company was able to fill "a large part of the need for State ministries, including oil, transport, communications, municipalities, and the Interior, in addition to the secretariat of Baghdad, the Ministry of Electricity companies and the private sector."

http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=e...IGw8WktqvolYCA

Iraq Shines in Financial Gloom
FEAR and uncertainty were hot commodities in global markets Monday with the unlikely exception being war-torn Iraq. Stocks plummeted and currencies fell as shock waves from the Wall St meltdown continued to reverberate across financial capitals.

The Mexican peso plunged to its lowest level in years. Its stock market dropped 5.4 per cent. Brazil and Russia temporarily halted trading after a series of steep drops on their exchanges.

Meanwhile, Sweden, Denmark and Austria joined Ireland and Germany on a growing list of European countries that have pledged to guarantee bank deposits to tamp down consumer worries.

"This is a stampede,'' said Valerie Plagnol, chief strategist at CM-CIC Securities in Paris. On the very day that Washington began to unfold the $700 billion economic rescue mission, foreign governments and investors seemed resigned to a long period of tight credit and turmoil.

Russia suspended its benchmark RTS stock index twice on Monday, as it fell 19.1 per cent, its worst ever one-day drop. It had already halted trading three times last Friday, hoping to slow sliding shares and capping the market's worst week in nearly a decade.

In Latin America, the US financial crisis caused trading on Brazil's stock exchange to be halted twice on a day when the value dropped by eight per cent. In Argentina, stocks fell 10 per cent, and currencies across the region tumbled against the dollar. The uncertainty comes at a time when Latin America has been enjoying its strongest sustained economic growth in 25 years. The region grew by 5.7 per cent in 2007 and was projected to grow by about 4.5 per cent in 2008.

In South Africa, the stock market hit its lowest mark in more than eight years. Banks in Zimbabwe ran out of cash after depositors tried to pull out their money. In Pakistan, the rupee hit a new low and with its currency having lost 21 per cent of its value already this year, Standard & Poor's warned that the country was close to bankruptcy. Next door, in India, stocks fell nearly 5.8 per cent, the lowest close in two years.

Apparently immune to all the turbulence was Iraq. The government has little if any investments in the institutions affected by the crisis and a barely functioning stock market. Most Iraqis keep their money in their homes rather than trust banks.

"We don't believe it will affect our bank balance,'' said Minister of Industry Fawzi Hariri. "In the short term we'll be one of the least-affected nations.''

The Iraqi government has more than $25 billion in cash reserves. Even with oil prices dropping below $90 a barrel, the Iraqis forecast oil revenues to be in the neighbourhood of $80 billion.

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/...1_opinion.html

Addax Petroleum announces acquisition in Kurdistan region of Iraq
Addax Petroleum Corporation today announces that it has acquired a 33.33 per cent interest in the Sangaw North Production Sharing Contract ("PSC").

The Sangaw North license area is operated by Sterling Energy plc ("Sterling") and is located approximately 80 kilometers southeast of the Corporation's Taq Taq field.

Commenting today, Addax Petroleum's President and Chief ****utive Officer, Jean Claude Gandur, said: "We are pleased to expand our activities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to include the highly prospective Sangaw North license area. Given our successful drilling campaign at Taq Taq, we intend to assist our partner to expedite exploration drilling. We believe that exploration success at Sangaw North would offer attractive synergies with the development of Taq Taq for the benefit of all the people of Iraq and our shareholders."

The Sangaw North PSC covers a gross area of approximately 121,600 acres (492 km(2)). Petroleum exploration activity to date includes field studies and the acquisition of 310 km of 2D seismic which is expected to be completed in November of this year. The Sangaw North license area contains a large surface anticline, a number of surface oil seeps and the operator is targeting to spud an exploration well in mid-2009.

The Sangaw North PSC is subject to an assignment to the Korean National Oil Corporation which, when completed, will reduce the Corporation's interest to 26.67 per cent. In addition, the Kurdistan Regional Government has the right to require that at a future date a government nominated entity is assigned 25 per cent which, if exercised, will further reduce the Corporation's interest to 20 per cent.

Under the terms of the acquisition, the consideration from Addax Petroleum comprises the reimbursement of Sterling's past costs as well as funding the seismic campaign and the drilling of the first exploration well.

This reimbursement is funded from the Corporation's existing financing facilities and the future costs will be included in the Corporation's 2009 capital budget which is expected to be funded entirely from the Corporation's funds flow from operations. The Corporation continues to have substantial funding capacity within its existing financing facilities.

Addax Petroleum announces acquisition in Kurdistan region of Iraq - Industry Press Releases

Russian Luke Oil urges Iraq to ease investment in oil field

Russian Luke Oil Company urged Oil Minister Hussein Al Sharistani to remove hindrances preventing it from investing in an oil field in western Al Qurna region after China became one month ago the first country to negotiate on an oil agreement that dates back to the time of the former regime. The company’s ****utive director said that Al Shahristani is the only one eligible to delay the agreement despite that Russia has shown willingness to cancel most of Iraq’s debts.

Russian Luke Oil urges Iraq to ease investment in oil field | Economics News | Alsumaria Iraqi Satellite TV Network

Iraq to outline oil contracts to foreign companies

Iraq will next week provide foreign oil and gas companies with details of the contracts under which it hopes the companies will help boost the country's oil output by 1.5 million barrels per day.

A delegation led by Iraq's oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani will present prequalified companies at a meeting in London on Monday with geological data on the fields, as well as details on the financial terms of the contracts and the process for applying.

Bill Cline of consultants Gaffney Cline, which is helping organise the roadshow, said that although some companies have been working with Iraq on studies of the fields for some years, the presentation will make sure all compete on an even basis.

Royal Dutch Shell and BP were among the companies that helped appraise the fields.

The contracts on offer are service contracts, which mean the winners will be paid a flat fee to produce the oil rather than receive an equity stake in the fields or any share of profits.

Forty-one companies, including most of the big international oil companies, have qualified to bid.

Cline said he expected companies to have to take away the information they receive and study it closely before deciding whether to bid.
Oil ****utives agreed that no decisions were likely to be made on Monday.

"There won't be any negotiation," a source at one of the oil companies that will attend said.

While the improved security climate in Iraq is easing one main deterrent to investment in Iraq, oil companies generally do not like service contracts as these cap their gains.

However, Muhammad-Ali Zainy, senior energy economist at the Centre for Global Energy Studies, said the contracts will attract strong interest.

"I think there is going to be some severe competition," he said.
"There is nothing wrong with the format of the contracts. There are reasonable. They are 20 years long".

The oil fields open for long-tern development contracts are Rumaila, Kirkuk, Zubair, West Qurna Phase 1, Bai Hassan and the Maysan fields. Maysan comprises three fields, Bazargan, Abu Gharab and Fakka.

Two gas fields, Akkas and Mansuriyah, are also open.

Iraq said it wants to sign the deals by mid-2009.

Iraq to outline oil contracts to foreign companies | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

Draft Oil and Gas Law to be submitted to Parliament
Signs are that some agreements have been made, but tensions remain.

After bitter disagreements between Baghdad and Erbil, a draft of the national Oil and Gas Law is set to be sent to the Iraqi Council of Representatives for approval.

A member of the Parliament and the Parliament Oil and Gas Committee announced that a draft law that both the Kurdistan Regional Government and the central government agreed upon will be submitted to Parliament for discussion and final approval.

Bayazid Hassan, a Kurdish MP on the Kurdistan Alliance List, told a local Kurdish news agency that the Iraqi Minister of Oil, Hussein al-Shahristani, has promised to send a copy of the draft to Parliament.

The draft law has been awaiting approval for a long time after having passed through stages of tough discussions and arguments between the KRG and Baghdad. After the first draft of the law was created, and both Kurds and Maliki's government agreed to it and gave the green light for it to be sent to Parliament, the law was sent to another committee for linguistic proofreading, where, as Kurds claimed, changes other than just linguistic changes were made. As Kurdish officials in Baghdad argued, the committee has changed the basics of the law in a way that reduced the power of the regions in controlling the oil and gas revenues and given some of those powers to the central government.

Therefore, the Kurdish leadership, represented by the Kurdistan Alliance List in Iraqi Parliament, vowed to block approval of the law.

Tensions between the Iraqi Oil Ministry, which strongly recommended the law, and the KRG were further tightened by the approval of the Kurdistan Regional Oil and Gas Law by the Regional Parliament and subsequent oil contracts signed by the KRG, in compliance with the law, with international oil and gas companies.

Minister al-Shahristani vowed to oppose the KRG and described the contracts as illegal. He also warned the foreign oil companies about their cooperation with the KRG and threatened to blacklist them in his ministry's list of companies for oil tenders. For instance, the Oil Ministry halted oil export to an Austrian oil company that had a contract with KRG.

The KRG, on the other hand, claimed that both its Oil and Gas Law and the production-sharing contracts with foreign oil companies were legal and in full compliance with the Iraqi Permanent Constitution, which was approved by the majority of Iraqis in a referendum in 2005.

Efforts were made to devise a solution to the problem. KRG delegates headed by Regional Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani visited Baghdad several times and met with the Iraqi Prime Minister and other officials from his government and the Oil Ministry to find a solution. Still, none of the parties were ready to fully compromise on their demands and expectations.

Although this announcement by MP Hassan hints at some agreements between the two parties and thus the originally approved draft is to be sent to Parliament, the points of disagreement between them have not yet been resolved and still need to be addressed.
According to Hassan, the problems are over those oil deals that the KRG signed with foreign companies.

"Undoubtedly, those issues are to be solved later either by the Federal Court of Iraq or the national Oil and Gas Law will find a solution for the issue after its approval," said Hassan.

Regarding the February agreement between the KRG and Baghdad about the draft law, Hassan said that according to the agreement both the central and regional governments should agree on distributing the oil wells. Besides, he added, Article 110 of the Constitution has identified the shared oil wells between Erbil and Baghdad as well as those oil wells from which the KRG is authorized to extract oil, but all the oil revenues from all over Iraq should be returned to the country's Treasury, from where they should be shared among Iraq's regions and provinces.

It is also mentioned that a percentage of the revenues are to be shared with the areas where the oil wells are as part of their compensation for the pollution as a result of the wells.

However, experts see a national oil law as vital and urgent for the country as international oil companies are worried about doing business in the country without an appropriate legal system that organizes the oil sector in Iraq.

Dispaly Article

Kurdish parties gather before Baghdad negotiations
Officials unite on important topics and agree on unification of certain ministries.

The two major Kurdish parties meet before resuming negotiations with federal government officials on disputes concerning Kurdistan Region.

Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani will head a delegation to Baghdad in the coming days to meet with top Iraqi officials, said Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Monday.

After a meeting of the politburos of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the leaders of the two parties, President Talabani and President Barzani, highlighted the topics in a press conference held in Pirmam resort in north of Erbil city.

"?The meeting discussed the [Kurdistan] Region President's visit to Baghdad for negotiations on finding solutions to the current problems," said President Talabani at the conference. Main topics will be the oil issue, security conditions, and Iraq's relations with its neighbors.

A member of the KDP politburo, Mahmoud Muhammad, told the Globe that the suspended problems between Erbil and Baghdad are complicated and interrelated; thus, solving them is not an easy task.

On the oil issue, Talabani said: "Iraq's oil is a national wealth. As mentioned in the constitution, the contracts (in any part of Iraq) must be accomplished under the knowledge of both the regional and central governments." He explained that the oil incomes are distributed according to population and areas exposed to damages are taken in further consideration. "Kurdistan Region, which witnessed Anfal, chemical bombardments, and destruction of its villages, should not be counted equal to a place that saw no damages."

Referring to the late-breaking security developments in neighboring Turkey, President Talabani condemned the attack on the Turkish army. "According to the constitution, no external force should exist inside Iraqi land," he added.

Last Friday, 15 Turkish soldiers were reported killed in a conflict with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) near Samdinli in southeast Turkey next to the Kurdistan Region border. The Turkish government has banned the PKK.

"We would like to have the best relations with our neighbors and any tension on the border serves no side," said President Barzani, clarifying Kurds' stance and condemning the destructive actions on the border between Iraq and Turkey. He also hoped the damages do no reach the region and Kurdish people.

Barzani clearly denied any connection to that situation in Turkey and assured, "we have no link to that intension. If any body accuses us, we count as baseless."

The KDP and PUK meeting also discussed internal regional issues. PUK politburo member Imad Ahmed said that the two parties agreed on unifying the three separate ministries of the Kurdistan Regional Government. The unification of the two Peshmarga ministries, the two finances ministries, and the two Interior ministries will be announced in the next two weeks.

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Oil Search says it started drilling the Shakal-1 prospect

Oil Search reports that the Shakal-1 well commenced drilling on 4 October. As at 0600 Iraqi time (-7 hrs AEST) on 8 October, the well was at a depth of 21 metres and drilling ahead in a 30” hole.

The Shakal-1 prospect is targeting a large sub-thrust anticline. The primary objectives of the well are Tertiary and Cretaceous reservoirs similar to those in nearby discoveries. The planned total depth of the well is 3,350 metres and it is expected to take approximately 60 days to drill.

In line with Kurdistan Regional Government requirements, Shakal-1 is being drilled as a tight hole. As such, no further releases will be made unless there is a material or share price sensitive outcome.

The participants in Shakal-1 are:

Shakal Production Ltd 36%, operator
Kurdistan Government 20%
Kurdistan Government (unassigned) 20%
Oil Search Limited 15%
Petoil 9%
Total 100%

http://www.oilsearch.com/resource/08..._Shakal-1_.pdf

Sharjah Ruler Receives Delegation from Iraqi Oil & Gas Parliamentary Committee

H.H Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, UAE Supreme Council member and ruler of Sharjah today received Dr. Ali Hussain Blu chairman of Committee on Oil and Gas at the Iraqi Parliament who led a 12-member delegation.

At the meeting, Sheikh Sultan was briefed on the latest developments in Iraq as well as on the efforts to help Iraq out of the current vicious circle of violence.

The meeting also explored the strong relations between UAE and Iraq and ways to further bolster them.

Sheikh Sultan expressed hope that Iraqis would soon be able to overcome the current hard situation and establish sovereignty on Iraq's territories.

Blu and members of the committee are in the UAE to participate in a workshop organized by the Sharjah Oil Council between 5 and 9 October.

UAE Daily News - Your No.1 source of United Arab Emirates news - Sharjah Ruler receives delegation from Iraqi oil '&' gas Parliamentary Committee

Talabani confident on Agreement

Iraq's president says he is confident the US and Iraq will reach a security agreement because it is necessary for the country's development.

President Jalal Talabani told state t.e.l.e.vision that the agreement will ensure the country's economic stability and enable Iraqi security forces to develop.

The two countries have been negotiating an agreement for most of this year to replace a UN mandate that expires at the end of the year.

At least two major issues are standing in the way of a deal.

One is who would prosecute American soldiers accused of crimes and whether the agreement would include a timetable for a US withdrawal.

PUKmedia :: English - Talabani confident on agreement