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

Originally Posted by Seaview

Zubeidi in Amman to discuss support of the International Monetary Fund for Iraq

Arrived in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Minister of Finance Bayan Jabr at the head of a delegation of the Iraqi Central Bank Governor Sinan al-Shabibi and adviser to the Ministry of Finance, Aziz Jaafar.

Zubeidi round was held talks with the IMF experts, which included the Ruon Dorrn Ibrahim Tijani and Sioux Warren which was reached agreements on the International Monetary Fund support for Iraq in the field of technical and scientific, through its experts in the area of fiscal policy and oil.

It was also the subject of the discussion of quotas, which represent the development of Iraq's share of the loan amounts allocated to States signed with the IMF and that Iraq can refer to when needed in the event of a decline in oil prices or exports, or the need for Iraq to rebuild the infrastructure of the water projects, energy and other service projects.

It was agreed in principle that the ratio of quota between 5 to 6 billion dollars and the interest rate does not exceed 1% and the duration of not more than five years and renewed after five years the duration of ten years.

It was also agreed to continue the functional and technical meetings between Iraqi experts and experts the International Monetary Fund in mid-July and follow-up discussions, to be presented to the Council of Ministers, after the validation is sent to the House of Representatives and in the case of an initial agreement to be signed the new agreement during the month of September 2009.

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new agreements with the International Monetary Fund on quota

Iraqi delegation started a new round of talks with the experts of the International Monetary Fund in order to conclude agreements in the field of technical and scientific expert in the field during the fiscal policy and oil.

A source at the Ministry of Finance, according to the Independent Press Agency (EYBENS) The Finance Minister, who arrived in the Jordanian capital of Amman, also discussed with the experts of IMF quotas, which are the subject of the development of Iraq's share of the loan amounts allocated to States signed with the IMF and that Iraq can refer to when needed in the event of a decline in oil prices or exports, or the need for Iraq to rebuild the infrastructure, water projects, energy and other service projects.

He said the Iraqi delegation, which also included the governor of the Central Bank of Iraq d. Shabibi, and adviser to the Ministry of Finance. Aziz Jaafar, had reached a tentative agreement on the quota between the ratio of 5 to 6 billion dollars and the interest rate does not exceed 1% and the duration of not more than five years and after five-year renewal of the duration of ten years.

The source noted that he was agreed to continue the professional and technical meetings between Iraqi experts and experts the International Monetary Fund in mid-July and follow-up discussions, to be presented to the Council of Ministers, after the validation is sent to the House of Representatives and in the case of an initial agreement to be signed the new agreement during the month of September 2009.

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Ministry of Planning: Five-Year Development Plan in 2010 depends

The Ministry of Planning of its intention to adopt a five-year plan for development in Iraq as of next year.

He said Planning Minister Ali Baban told reporters during a visit Muthanna province recently that a systematic five-year plan that the prime minister agreed to implement starting from next year until 2014 would give the provinces of space planning and spending and embark on the implementation of strategic projects.

Papin called provincial departments to exercise the functions and responsibilities and a willingness to develop a five-year plan to prepare for the major development projects, strategy and conceptualization to implementation of ambitious projects.

Baban and asked departments to work on the establishment of provincial industrial city in each province depends on local resources and promote the necessary industries in that province. He said that his ministry will provide technical support and professional support to all departments of the provinces on this side, and development conference will be held in each province during the current year.

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An expected economic recovery in the event of a significant rise in oil prices

The economist, Minister of Energy and Mines, Chakib Khelil, the Algerian in his latest quest to deliver on the price of a barrel of oil to the world of $ 90.

Said Dr. Nabil Al-Saadi academic in the Faculty of Economy and Administration, according to the Independent Press Agency (EYBENS) that the price to $ 90 would open the way to producing countries to strengthen their financial vulnerability to crisis after the world, including Iraq. He added that many refer to the expectations of economic recovery for Iraq's future if the search by the Oil Ministry to increase production and continuous coordination with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries "OPEC", he accepted the price to invest in supporting the Iraqi economy and to increase daily production and the strengthening of reserves, deposits of crude oil and gas normal.

Saadi noted that there is debate about the exact level of oil reserves in Iraq because the situation in the oil sector in the last six years requires development plans and the exploitation of the reserve to maintain Iraq's Rating Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries "OPEC" is based on proven oil reserves data.

The Algerian news agency APS quoted Chakib Khelil as saying that he expects the price of oil to $ 90 in the second half of 2010 ..

Khelil blamed the current oil price of about $ 72 a barrel to reductions in inventory and the decision of the International Energy Agency lowered its forecast for the lifting of global demand and an increase in fuel consumption in the United States.

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CBI dollar sales down by 53%

Demand for the dollar slumped by 53% in the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) auction on Sunday to reach $95.090 million compared to $178.290 million in the previous session.

“The demand hit $24.150 million in cash, covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,176 Iraqi dinars, and $70.940 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 13 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell dollars.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=114591

Iraqi lawmaker calls on Iraqi Oil Minister to attend the Iraqi Parliament

Decision maker of the Iraqi parliamentary committee of oil and gas as well as Iraqi lawmaker from the Islamic al-Fadhila (virtue) Party, Jabir Khalifa Jabir, said that Sheikh Khalid al-Atia, the deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, is the only refuser of questioning the Iraqi oil minister.

Jabir Khalifa Jabir today in a press conference at the Iraqi parliament called on the Iraqi oil minister to attend the Iraqi parliament and answer questions of the Iraqi lawmakers.

Iraqi lawmakers have emphasized that preparations for questioning the Iraqi oil minister have been completed and it has been addressed to the presidency council of the Iraqi council of representatives for setting a date for the questioning.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...11605&Itemid=1

Inspector General of the Ministry of Oil: the assignment of 3 issues important to the integrity

revealed the Inspector General in the Ministry of Oil p transfer of three important files to the integrity, without reference to the type of these files.

The Inspector-General of the Ministry Alaa Mohieddin in a press statement on Sunday that the office was able to detect three important issues in the ministry, adding that investigations were finalized with the parties involved in the ministry, and was brought to the fair to take the legal course.

Inspector General did not disclose the type of issues to complete the investigations in the form of integrity.

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Azawi: We will try to pass a referendum and approval during the current month

Rashid al-Azzawi, deputy of the Iraqi Accordance Front, we will try to acknowledge that the law on public referendum, and endorse it in this month to have things ready from a legal standpoint to Alastphae a security agreement on the date specified.

He said al-Azzawi told the independent press (Iba) today, Sunday, that the Accordance Front, the first called for a referendum on the security agreement, and "may add a Achtrtna that the law of the Convention (the requirement of the referendum), where the condition of the Convention to hold a popular referendum after six months of signing it."

He has been decided that on 30/7/2009 the date for the referendum on the Alatvaip security, and we are committed to keep an appointment set out the conduct of the referendum and putting pressure on the Electoral Commission and the House of Representatives for the popular history and the specific approval of the referendum law, "because the popular to the law needed to clarify and define Many of the issues that must be separated by special law referendum.

He said that in the case of the issuance of the law and remains the only approved technical matters relating to the Office of the elections, and the government's preparations for the referendum in terms of security.

The Iraqi government has proposed to postpone the date of the referendum on the security agreement with the United States to coincide with the forthcoming parliamentary elections in February next year, because of financial and administrative.

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Decision of the Commission on oil and gas mixing accused Shahristani of securities in cases of corruption

deputy accused Jabir Khalifa Jabir decision of the Commission on oil and gas over the mass of Virtue Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani to work on the mix of securities in cases of corruption and that he received the oil ministry is corrupt

And criticized Jaber's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, which were presented recently in a number of media.

He Jaber al-Shahristani said his work calls into question those figures that participated in the preparation of the report record oil corruption and the failure of a large oil ministry In the performance of work

The decision of the Commission on oil and gas charges of Sheikh Khalid Al Attiyah, First Deputy Prime Minister that it is among the Working to block the interrogation with the Minister of Petroleum

He pointed out that the Prime Minister relied on the important personalities in the writing of the report, such as oil Thamir Ghadhban, senior adviser to Prime Minister Dr. Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, who is working to remedy the situation, in addition to the oil-Alaak Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, pointing out that the statements made by the oil minister and a clear indictment of those figures written report.

He explained that the report was written by those who regard the issues of punitive and in 2007, which amounted to more than 31% and the number of Alakbarat reached 45%, And in 2006 there were 99 criminal case in 2008 there were 100 criminal cases, pointing to the issue of the oil minister said in t.elevision interviews in order to otherwise mislead the media and not to reveal the facts.

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The next hot place for investment...Iraq???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9o-5zsqUGQ

Rush for ‘easiest oil in the world’
The oil giants are to return to Iraq for the first time since 1972

This month an Iraqi politician will appear on t.elevision to open envelopes and reveal the winners of a long and hard-fought contest. In the balance hangs the wellbeing of 28m people, tens of billions of dollars of contracts and how much you and I pay for everything from yoghurt pots to petrol.

It should make good viewing. For the hopeful contestants, it has been a long wait — since 1972 to be exact. That was when the Iraqi oil industry was nationalised and foreign operators were booted out. Now the oil giants have been invited back. At the ceremony on June 29 and 30, Hussain al-Shahristani, the oil minister, will reveal which of them will be the first to be let back into the south of the country, where most of its oil and gas resources are found. Up for grabs are 20-year concessions to operate six huge oilfields and two gas fields. In all, 32 companies are bidding, including BP, Shell, Sinopec of China, Lukoil of Russia and Total of France.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Manouchehr Takin, analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies. “Fields like this don’t exist anywhere else in the world.”

The excitement is understandable. Iraq owns the world’s largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Iran, but produces the same amount per day, about 2.5m barrels, that it did in 1976. Decades of underinvestment, wars, Saddam Hussein’s regime, and political infighting have meant that hundreds of billions of dollars worth of the black stuff have remained underground. There have been many false dawns, however, and jumping back into the oil industry in Iraq brings as much risk as opportunity. The country is still occupied by more than 130,000 American troops and nobody can be sure how the security situation will hold up. Visitors to Kurdistan, the most stable part of the country and where many of the early oil deals have been struck, still travel in armed convoy. Hotels are cordoned off behind blast walls patrolled by guards wielding AK47s. The contracts have been put out to tender but a highly controversial hydrocarbon law — intended to govern how oil proceeds are split among the population – remains locked in parliament, more than four years after it was first proposed. Al-Shahristani is fighting for his political life. He has been heavily criticised in recent weeks by MPs angry about the stagnation of the industry at a time when the country desperately needs revenue. Yet the oil companies are unfazed by the uncertainty. Iraq is sitting on 115 billion barrels of proven reserves. At a time when explorers are going to great lengths to get at new sources, Iraq’s is the “easiest” oil in the world. It costs between $2 and $4 a barrel to extract, compared with $50 or more for tar sands or deep-sea drilling.

In its annual review of world energy, BP announced last week that global reserves fell for the first time in more than a decade. Lambert Energy, a consultancy, predicts that at present rates of decline the world will need 40m barrels a day of new production capacity within a decade just to keep up with current demand. Philip Lambert, its founder, said: “The world needs Iraq, both the north and the south, to work. There is nothing else that can fill the gap.”

So will this latest initiative succeed? Industry insiders say it has a good chance. On June 1, Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, hosted a gala ceremony celebrating the connection of a pipeline out of Kurdistan, in the north of the country. It was a momentous occasion. It connected two fields, Taq Taq and Tawke – the first to be developed since the 1970s – to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey.

Talabani’s presence was key. Since 2003, the Baghdad government and Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan, have been locked in a bitter row. Ashti Hawrami, the Kurdish oil minister, has signed 30 contracts with foreign companies without the blessing of the federal oil ministry. These so-called production-sharing agreements are generous. They give oil companies a 10%-20% cut of revenues. The deals infuriated Al-Shahristani, who blacklisted any company that dealt with the Kurds. That is why no big oil company entered the region, leaving it to minnows such as Heritage Oil, Addax Petroleum and Norway’s DNO. Talabani’s blessing at the opening was seen as a shift in the government’s stance. Uncertainties remain, though. The Kurdish contracts have yet to be ratified by parliament, while the law to determine how oil income – 95% of Iraq’s GDP – will be distributed remains mired in controversy.

The deals offered to the oil giants in the south won’t be nearly as attractive as those in Kurdistan. They are technical contracts, under which companies are paid a fee to increase production. Oil groups have found such deals in other countries such as Iran unappealing. However, the contracts do provide for additional payments if production targets are passed.

Fortunes are already being made. Last week Heritage, the group run by Tony Buckingham, agreed a merger with Genel Enerji, a Turkish group that shares ownership of the Taq Taq and Tawke fields. After the deal, Buckingham’s 16% stake in the new group, which is set to enter the FTSE 100, will be worth about $1 billion (£610m). Sinopec and Korea National Oil Company are circling Addax, the London and Toronto-listed group that also has operations in Kurdistan. It could be taken over for as much as $8 billion, which would mean a $2 billion payday for boss Jean Claude Gandur, who owns about a third of the firm. Since 2003, the oil giants have been manoeuvring for position. BP sent in workers to help the government carry out field studies.

The big prizes lie in exploration because much of the country’s oil remains undiscovered – Takin estimates that up to 200 billion barrels could be realised – and that would put Iraq comfortably ahead of Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest owner of oil reserves.

The Iraqi government will this year auction off new blocks for exploration. Paul Atherton, chief financial officer of Heritage Oil, said: “It’s all about getting in early and cherry-picking the best assets.”

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle6493356.ece