Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 06/05/09 - 04/09/09

Shahristani: the Ministry's efforts to increase the production had nothing to do with the request of Parliament questioned Oil Minister

defended the Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, on the record in light of criticism that Iraq's oil production is still below the level of Before the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Shahristani said during a joint press conference with government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh "The department and its efforts to seek a modest increase in production Commensurate with the oil and the boom in world oil prices, denying that "those Increase in conjunction with the interrogation and the oil minister from the House of Representatives " ..

For his part, Dabbagh praised "the efforts made by the Ministry to increase production and development sector Oil, "denying" the government can exercise any pressure on the Ministry for this purpose. "

He stressed that "oil is To balance the economic spin-country. " Dabbagh said he hoped to "solve the oil and gas law the issue of the new oil agreements. In a conciliatory tone that the government Chi may ease its stance. "

He stressed that "the inauguration of Crude exports in the interest of Kurdish Iraq, which most need the money to rebuild what Devastated by years of war, pointing out that this will narrow the differences between the various points of view " ..

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Prime Minister agrees to make some amendments to the Law on Investment

The General Authority for Investment in the province of Najaf, the approval of the prime minister of some of the changes in the investment law in Iraq.

Anwar said the Hububi correspondent member of the media center of the communication that the prime minister had agreed to some amendments have been ratified and brought to the House of Representatives for approval.

The amendments include Hububi according to facilitate the work of investors and give them the land for investment, particularly in the residential area.

And the amendments concurrently with the investment project will be implemented during the coming period is to build 30 housing units were required to choose a piece of land located between the provinces of Najaf and Karbala and in the first of thousands of units 5 and the three types of construction for low-income and middle-and higher.

And on the activities of the Hububi He sent envoys to the United Kingdom, accompanied by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been meeting with investors to discuss investment projects that would develop and promote the city as well as the invitation of the United Arab Emirates delegation traveled to the investment for investment companies to the UAE investment opportunities in Najaf as the first market in Iraq because of its sanctity, and initial resources and religious delegations that more than 10 million visitors a year has achieved good results of these visits with the ongoing Arab and foreign.

As a member of the ongoing preparations for the draft of Najaf, the capital of culture and the establishment of a five-star hotels to receive the delegations of Arab and Islamic countries.

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Dollar sales reach 178m on Thursday

Demand for the dollar was higher in the Central Bank of Iraq’s (CBI) auction on Thursday, reaching $178.290 compared to $134.990 million in the previous session.

“The demand hit $36.930 million in cash, covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,176 Iraqi dinars, and $141.360 million in foreign transfers outside the country, covered at an exchange rate of 1,173 Iraqi dinars per dollar,” according to a CBI news bulletin received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

None of the 14 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell dollars.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=114455

Iraq hints at supplementary budget as oil prices soar

Firmer oil prices may help the government to issue a supplementary budget to meet shortfalls, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.

Maliki said he was encouraged by the recent hikes in oil prices and reports of an increase in Iraqi oil production.

“There is a possibility to present a supplementary budget for the parliament in the light of the improvement in oil prices and the additions made to oil output,” Maliki told a meeting of Iraqi governors.

Oil prices are hovering at $70 and the Oil Ministry has announced that it has raised output by at least 90,000 barrels a day.

“The improvement in prices and oil output will enable us to submit such a budge,” he said.

The parliament has approved a budget of $58.9 billion for 2009. Originally, the government had estimated oil revenues to go beyond $70 billion for the same year.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index...06-10\kurd.htm

HSBC eyes major growth in Iraq, plans expansion

The Middle East arm of HSBC sees great potential in Iraq, and is planning to expand its operations there as security and the country's legal framework improves, the bank's regional chief said on Thursday. In 2004, HSBC bought 70 percent of Iraq's Dar es Salaam bank, which has 14 branches, and is now eyeing growth in infrastructure projects and supporting businesses as violence ebbs and Iraq rebuilds after years of war.

"We're only scratching the surface as far as I'm concerned," HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd chairman Youssef Nasr told Reuters by telephone from Dubai.

"Even though the situation has improved on the security front, the size of the economy, the activities in which we can get involved is still a fraction of what is to come."

Iraq's banking sector is tiny by global standards -- Dar es Salaam has a capital of 50 billion Iraqi dinars ($43 million) -- and the state controls some 80 percent of gross domestic product, generated almost entirely through oil sales. Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein nationalised much of the banking sector, and now only about 37 percent of customer deposits are placed with 30 or so small private banks. Yet Nasr was optimistic money would filter through to the general population of Iraq from government oil sales, following a pattern seen in other Arab states.

"In most Middle Eastern oil exporting countries the big money started in the hands of the state and the national oil companies ... Some of the top Gulf family companies made their money subcontracting for the national oil companies," he said.

Iraqi private banks spoken to by Reuters said they had seen profits soar -- albeit from a low base -- in 2007 and 2008 as Iraq spent on investment projects and boosted state salaries, although a fall in oil prices since then has forced budget cuts. Dar es Salaam could not immediately provide Reuters with financial statements, but Nasr said its profits had grown too.

"It went from a loss making proposition in 2006, to a small profit in 2007 to a much larger profit in 2008."

CHALLENGES AHEAD

Yet banks and other businesses in Iraq face several challenges. Bombings and shootings are still common, and the insurgency triggered by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion remains stubborn in parts of the country.

Iraq's legal and regulatory framework is nascent and its all important hydrocarbons law -- which would determine how its vast oil reserves are exploited and shared -- is bitterly contested and has been delayed for years. Oil infrastructure projects in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region are subject to doubt due to Baghdad's rejection of Kurdish deals signed with foreign oil firms.

"The oil law will determine a better comfort zone in terms of which entities ... are going to be recipients of oil money, what their authority is going to be in investing or spending," Nasr said, when asked which laws were key to HSBC's Iraq plans.

Iraq has also only in recent weeks begun to outline the property and real estate ownership rights of foreign investors.

"If we're going to do commercial or residential mortgage lending, we've found that up to this point the legal system is not as robust as it should be," Nasr said.

He did not say how many more branches of Dar es Salaam he expected to open, but said HSBC was likely to focus on the south, home to the country's only ports and through which most oil is exported, and along northern trade routes to neighbouring Turkey, one of Iraq's main trading partners. Should Iraq stabilise and laws firm up, Nasr said its economy could equal the Arab world's largest, Saudi Arabia.

"Iraq's oil and gas reserves are just short of Saudi Arabia. It has a population which is slightly larger and it has the benefit of much better water resources than Saudi Arabia."

http://in.reuters.com/article/bankin...*Channel=11557

Shabandar announced formation of a parliamentary body to close file of Kuwaiti reparations

Deputy of the Iraqi List Shabandar attributed to the formation of a parliamentary body will be moved by political means on the global institutions to close the file and obtaining compensation Kuwaiti reparations for Iraq.

Shabandar said at a news conference that he must depend on the Kuwait claim any compensation, closure of this issue once and for all the amounts deducted from the Iraqi national income, pointing out that this body will compensate Iraq for all the losses caused by Saddam's war against Iran as a key partner and instigator on this war.

He explained that the body will Shabandar also Kuwait's claim for compensation of all Iraqis living in Kuwait and the Kuwaiti government expelled arbitrary and coercive methods after the arrest and torture without any reason than that they did not have recommended the Iraqi embassy in the times of the previous time.

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Three countries in the UN Security Council declares its support for Iraq would emerge from Chapter VII

Three permanent members of the UN Security Council its full support to Iraq out of the money item VII.

The positions of these international line parallel with the movement to change the Iraqi and Kuwaiti point of view, and unjustified reluctance to rid Iraq of UN sanctions for the time being, despite assurances to the officials continued in Baghdad that the country does not bear the consequences of the resulting time in the era of Saddam.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad yesterday announced the formation of a parliamentary body to move politically and diplomatically, to close the file of Kuwaiti and obtaining compensation from the Kuwaiti government compensation for the damage done to Iraq.

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The government refuses to pay the financial dues of foreign oil companies operating in the territory of Kurdistan

The central government challenged the legality of contracts signed by the Kurdistan Regional Government with foreign oil companies, unless approved by the Oil Ministry in Baghdad, which refuses to pay any financial benefits for foreign companies operating in the territory of Kurdistan. The government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told a joint news conference with Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said Wednesday the oil ministry must approve these contracts, pointing out that it will remain illegal until then. The Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, the government's refusal to pay the financial dues of the foreign companies that have signed separate deals with the Kurdish region to the development of Taq Taq oil fields and Tauki in Kurdistan. Shahristani stressed that Iraq will not consider any compensation to these companies under any circumstances, calling on the Kurdistan Regional Government to the payment of foreign oil companies from its own budget, which is strongly rejected by the Kurds.

Baghdad had allowed the beginning of the month to begin the export of crude oil from fields developed by the Kurdish oil companies and the Norwegian DNO Petroleum Addax registered in Toronto, Genel Enerji of Turkey.

The al-Shahristani said the ministry will announce the end of this month the names of foreign oil companies that have received permits to work in the mining sector and the development of oil fields. The al-Shahristani said that "there has been a major oil holding the first session of competition. We have chosen six giant oil fields and gas fields and asked the major oil companies in the world qualify Vtkdmt 120 companies of which 35 were accepted."

"In June, on June 29, the media is invited to attend the bidding, we will work openly and transparently and to brief people on the presentations made at the moment, which will inform the minister." He added that "it would not be through bilateral negotiations and closed doors, but to the people," and that "the bids will be presented to four companies on the first day." An official at the ministry that the companies "will operate the service contracts for the first time in Iraq."

The al-Shahristani, to the continuation of the negotiations between Iraq, Kuwait and Iran to develop oil fields in common with each of the two countries, however, described the negotiations Balbtiip, and that Iraq has already begun development work on the Iraqi side of those fields. Shahristani stressed that the causes of the demand by some parliamentary blocs questioned purely political, he said, noting that the parties seeking to raise its total mass by adopting this method of political action.

The Ministry participates in the implementation of plans and programs of the State through the development of oil and gas fields of the 78 fields, including not only the advantage of only 15.

The Oil Ministry announced on 30 June last year that it had granted 35 permits a global company to work in the mining sector and the development of oil fields of the 120 companies had applied.

The six fields were raised to compete, including the fields of Rumaila North, South and West Qurna fields Albozorkan Abu Fakkah West, Maysan, as well as fields of Kirkuk and Bai Hassan in addition to gas fields in the same area and are hard up and Mansourieh. Shahristani said that "these fields will increase production capacity from the current level of 2.4 million barrels per day to about four million barrels per day during the period of development."

For the export of oil from Kurdistan, he said, "contracts in the Kurdistan has not been submitted to us, nor the central government, the Kurds, but officials say it is the participation of contracts, namely, that the share of companies in the oil extracted."

The authorities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in the first of this month for the first time to export about 100 thousand barrels of crude oil per day.

The Turkish company Genel Enerji and Addax Petroleum of Switzerland and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, in the Taq Taq field in Erbil. Is also the Norwegian oil company DNO with Genel Enerji Tauki in the field near Zakho in Dahuk, in accordance with contracts strongly opposed the Baghdad government.

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Parliament: There is obstruction of the interrogation of al-Shahristani, from within the House of Representatives

A member of the Commission on oil and gas in the Iraqi Council of Representatives Khalifa Jaber said all the evidence possessed by the official sources is documented about the existence of issues of administrative and financial corruption in the Oil Ministry.

Khalifa said in a press statement that there is obstruction within the interrogation of al-Shahristani, the House of Representatives.

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Norwegian oil company expects payments for Iraqi oil exports

Linked companies (De. That. Or) International, the Norwegian oil investments in Iraq, quickly receiving payments from the central government for oil exports began in June of the current field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

He said the company's Chief E.xecutive Helge Eide told a news published on Friday that the company has not received any money so far shown that it is usually done a month later.

He added that the company had nothing to do with Iraqi officials as the government of Kurdistan province, which shares in the three fields in the north of Iraq is representative of the interests in the talks on the export permits with the central authority in Baghdad.

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