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

De Mistura congratulates Iraq on the progress towards the restoration of full sovereignty

Congratulated the former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General Stefan de Mistura, the Iraqi government to the great progress that has been made towards the restoration of full sovereignty of the country.

According to a statement issued by the Office de Mistura said Wednesday that the success of the Iraqis in the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the cities to be commended, adding that the Iraqi government is fully aware of what it needs to do in order to provide better services to the people of Iraq.

De Mistura said that the responsibility for the development of the President of Iraq in an irreversible path towards peace and development lies with the Iraqi people.

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Obama renews its commitment to withdraw all troops from Iraq, according to the announced schedule

Expect the U.S. president Barack Obama to face difficult days in Iraq, the stage will be followed by the withdrawal of U.S. troops from cities.

Obama reiterated at a news conference in Washington to withdraw all its troops from Iraq, according to the announced schedule, parking, vowing the United States with Iraq.

Obama added that there are forces trying to test the stability of the Iraqi people through more bombings and killings of innocent civilians, saying he was confident the failure of these groups and that the future will be those who build for those who do not demolish.

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Jaber Khalifa: delay approval of oil and gas law is a Significant attract investors

A decision of the Commission on oil and gas representative Jaber Khalifa Jaber said the lack of activation of the previous laws relating to the oil sector and to delay the adoption of the oil and gas law had been significantly affected in attracting investors to the oil sector.

Jaber said in a press statement on Tuesday that failure to activate the protection of important laws such as the hydrocarbon wealth and dispersal of views in approving the oil law has led to the loss of the general legal framework, which is searching for a foreign investor.

Jaber called on to work the old law until the oil and gas law of Iraq, stressing the need to mainstream the economic concepts of foreign investment and private sector support.

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Investment Baghdad expects improvement in the economic situation in Iraq after June 30

Vice-President of the expected investment of Baghdad, Abdel-Sattar, the Sudanese, said the group will see the investment in Iraq after the withdrawal of a broader foreign forces from Iraqi cities.

He said Sudan's independent press that the announcement of the military withdrawal from the cities, gave a clear reference to the fact that security in Iraq has become stable.

He said, adding that the main reasons that Iraq was deprived of investment for these years, the situation is unstable.

Sudan said that the move to create a direct relationship with flexibility in the investment side, so that will reform the country's economic future after this step.

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Media Adviser to the Ministry of Oil: companies will increase production to 10% in three years

Said Issam Jihad, media adviser at the Ministry of Petroleum, the lack of any company in the field Mansourieh Diyala may not be due to the tense security situation in this province, but may be due to the reasons for these companies and the freedom available to all companies in the introduction of the contract on the fields you want and we will repeat the attempt to invest in this field and contracting out in future rounds.

Jihad said that the participation of companies from several countries of the world demonstrates the improved security situation in Iraq.

Jihad said in a statement to the reporter that the operation had been in accordance with great transparency and the absence of any fear of any party about the existence of any contracts have been signed with the Ministry of Oil and the Iraqi government from behind the scenes tour which made the first round and These bids have been to the public and nothing more.

He said the contracts are contracts to protect the oil wealth, these companies will work on the development of the production resources of these fields and thereby increase production, these companies will be held accountable for all new barrels produced and we certainly agree on the price will be for these companies and these companies do not participate in the Iraqi oil companies will in the first three years to increase the productivity of 10% and in the following years will bring the production agreed upon.

"Had we have in terms of these contracts to be implemented and there is fine in the case of oil companies from producing the required level of the Iraqi side and that these companies did not comply with the conditions required of the ministry the right to end the contract with the Ministry of Oil."

Msheeraaly The mechanism adopted in the Ministry of oil companies were transparent, and that announced in front of the cameras and in front of all Iraqis have been developed in the production of specific price per barrel to $ 2 a barrel, but for the companies which offers more than that will be negotiated with them to reach the figure suited to the Oil Ministry.

For his part, Ali Alaak Adviser to the Prime Minister said the security situation is the important factor for the work of these companies and it is not the only factor for the improvement of oil production, but the size of the field and the length of age and proximity to sources of export and there are many technical factors, and this is not the last opportunity for these contracts.

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Calls on the Government to an economic agreement with the IMF without the obligations of the future

economic expert called the Iraqi government to deal with the International Monetary Fund to obtain a loan, to be without the obligations of the future.

Dr. Ali Al-Manie told the independent press (Iba) said Thursday that the Iraqi citizens may pay a high price again by the obligations of the IMF, which has been the country from the beginning of the year in the event of a disagreement on the practical mechanics of the possible repayment of the loan of $ 7 billion.

He added that the oil states are betting that the United States for their contributions to finance the loans through the IMF to the States, will face difficulties in the payment of the value of exports, since the devaluation of the dollar will reduce the capacity to provide such loans, adding that it will have a negative impact on Iraq in the absence of agreement.

He was confident with anti responsible for fiscal policy in Iraq through the establishment of common items serve the citizen. e said the Iraqis were still suffering from the consequences of the Fund's policy to commit themselves to the government to lift subsidies on oil derivatives, and other development plans.

The experts at the International Monetary Fund expected to see the value of the proceeds of oil-producing countries, could be a devastating setback against the backdrop of an expected decrease of the value of the dollar .. and the experts, that the reduction in the value of the dollar will have a dramatic impact on the economies of States that its currency to the dollar, including Saudi Arabia and the number of of the other Gulf states.

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Decline in the sales of the Central Bank of the dollar

Sales of the Central Bank of the decline in the dollar auction, which was organized by the World Bank on Thursday after it reached sales of 102 million and 150 thousand dollars.

The quantity sold in cash and 16 million while the quantity sold, remittances amounted to 86 million and 150 thousand dollars.

The number of banks participating in the auction today, 13 banks, yesterday after the 14 banks.

The total sale price of 1173 dinars to the money the dollar, including the central bank and a commission of $ 3 dinars per dollar. The cash sales commission of 13 dinars per dollar with a deduction of eight dinars per dollar.

Was purchased by Bank of any sum of the dollar.

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The Oil Ministry announced the date for the second round of licenses oil contracts

The Ministry of Oil and its intention to bring forward the second round of licensing for oil contracts, after they were refused the offers made by companies for a number of fields, and approval of the Rumaila only.

Said Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told the independent press (Iba) said Thursday that the ministry intends to bring forward the second round of the award of contracts for big oil to give foreign companies a second chance to make offers to the oil fields that have not been knocked down in the first round which was held last Tuesday.

The Jihad to the second round was scheduled to take place the end of this year, but the ministry and provide the view on the new date will be announced soon, without specifying a date certain.

The Jihad, the ministry plans to develop two gas fields are the fields of cane in the province of Anbar, in Diyala province Mansourieh themselves as not been awarded any of the fields to foreign companies.

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Maliki: We call on French companies to the task of investment opportunities in Iraq

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been the formation of a joint Iraqi French businessmen involved in the development and stimulation of Aajawanb economic, trade and security.

Maliki said during a joint press conference with his French counterpart Francois Fillon said the Iraq welcomes French firms calling on them to invest in various areas of Iraq, said French Prime Minister that Iraq today is a new stage has been the signing of the joint statement sets out a road map economic cooperation as well as the bilateral investment protection agreement and to facilitate visas for Iraqi businessmen.

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Iraq oil auction dashes majors' bonanza hopes
Iraq's first auction of contracts to develop its oil fields since the US-led invasion was not the bonanza for the oil industry that ****utives hoped, and has tempered eagerness to participate in future bid rounds

Iraq closed the oil auction on Tuesday after awarding just one of the eight fee-paying contracts on offer, to a consortium led by British oil major BP.

For five of the fields, companies sought operating fees far above what Iraq was prepared to pay, prompting the government to ask bidders for the seven unawarded contracts to resubmit their proposals.

An official close to the process said these were then sent to the cabinet for consideration, without being made public.

For Western oil majors which have struggled to add new reserves in recent years - as the biggest reserves holders like Saudi Arabia and Russia keep their biggest fields for their state oil companies to develop - Tuesday's auction offered an unrivalled opportunity.

Investors feared the companies might even have been prepared to agree to loss-making deals simply to gain a foothold in such a prolific area.

But in the end, the two sides differed wildly on the value of the opportunity on offer and largely stuck to their guns.

While the government said it was prepared to pay maximum fees of around $2/barrel for most contracts, some companies sought fees 10 times that level.

"It's a complete gulf, a chasm," said Alex Munton, Middle East analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

The $2/barrel fee - which BP accepted after initially pitching for $3.99/barrel - would make Iraqi barrels among the lowest margin barrels in the world.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc has said that it achieves a margin of $2-4 a barrel in the Niger Delta, $20 in the United States and $10-12 in the North Sea.

"The Iraqis have been pushing operators hard on costs and in some cases operators have preferred to walk away rather than accept an uneconomic solution," a source at one of the companies said.

The Rumaila contract which BP and its partner China National Petroleum Corp won will be worth around $1 billion a year over 20 years.

Iraq plans to hold another bid round later this year, offering companies the opportunity to invest in undeveloped fields.

However, after Tuesday's result, analysts said they were pessimistic about its chances.

A senior ****utive at Maersk Oil and Gas, which participated in the bidding on Tuesday, said he was unsure whether his company would participate in the next round.

The failure of even Chinese oil companies - typically the biggest payers in auctions for energy assets - to meet Iraq's demands is not a good omen for future bid rounds, IHS Global Insight Middle East Energy analyst Samuel Ciszuk told Reuters.

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