Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

Trade Bank of Iraq - Your Trade and Investment Partner in Iraq

US Dollar ( USD ) 1,406.87 1,533.87

Obviously no woooots today...

TOKYO - Fresh from a serious setback in Iran, where it lost its controlling stake in the huge Azadegan oilfield, Japan has launched diplomatic efforts in earnest to secure petroleum in neighboring Iraq.

Recently, Tokyo invited Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani to Japan and they issued a joint communique pledging Japanese assistance for improvements to the oil and gas infrastructure in the war-torn country. Japan specifically pledged to provide loans of about 20 billion yen (US$170 million) to Iraq as part of the $3.5 billion aid package already committed.

Iraq is believed to have the world's third-largest oil reserves, after Saudi Arabia and Iran. Despite its huge potential, however, the country is relatively unexplored because of years of sanctions and war. Only a quarter of its 80 discovered fields are pumping oil at present. By extending loans and increasing involvement in the reconstruction process, Tokyo is hoping it can acquire a good share of these massive oil reserves.

Japan imports almost all of its oil, and nearly 90% of that comes from the Middle East. In a significant setback for its energy-security policy, Japan agreed last month to give up its controlling interest in Iran's massive Azadegan oilfield - one of the world's largest, with an estimated 26 billion barrels of reserves - amid international tensions over Tehran's nuclear program.

After sustained discussions on the topic, Japan's Inpex Corp and Iran's National Iranian Oil Co reached a basic agreement reducing the Japanese developer's stake in the southwestern oilfield to 10%, down from 75%. Inpex is also to renounce its status as the operator. This development has thrown the Japanese government's aim - of ensuring energy security through Japanese-own companies' increased foreign output - into jeopardy.

At present, Iraqi oil accounts for only a minuscule percentage of the East Asian country's overall imports. To enlarge on this, Japan has its eyes on at least three Iraqi fields, including the giant East Baghdad oilfield, which has an estimated 18 billion barrels of reserves. The two other oilfields are Gharraf and Tuba, both in southern Iraq.

The Gharraf and Tuba fields have proven oil reserves of 1.1 billion and 1.5 billion barrels, respectively. After returning to Baghdad, the Iraqi oil minister said Japanese firms have also shown an interest in the Nassiriya oilfield, in southern Iraq, which has proven oil reserves of between 2 billion and 2.6 billion barrels.

Meanwhile, two Tokyo-backed oil developers - Arabian Oil Co and the Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (JAPEX) - have recently renewed, for another year, their respective agreements with the Iraqi Oil Ministry to provide technological assistance, hoping to take a share of the oil wealth in future.

Iraqi Oil Minister Shahristani's Asia-Pacific tour also took him to Australia and China. China and Japan are, respectively, the world's second- and third-largest importers of energy resources. In a report issued early this year, the government-affiliated Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) warned of an ever-intensifying global competition for oil and gas. The report said China's oil consumption will nearly double by 2020 from the current level.

The setback in Iran came at an awkward time for Japan, which launched its New National Energy Strategy in late May. The new strategy calls for various specific goals to ensure the nation's energy security in the long term. In addition to importing almost all of its oil, Japan is the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The new strategy reflects strong concerns about energy security amid high oil prices and intensifying global rush for oil, gas and other resources, led by China and India.

The New National Energy Strategy calls for, among other things, increasing the ratio of "Hinomaru oil" - oil developed and imported by domestic companies - from 15% to 40% of total imports by 2030. But the draconian cut in Inpex Corp's stake in the Azadegan project has made this ambitious goal even more difficult to achieve.

Japan's invitation of the Iraqi oil minister came only two weeks after Inpex Corp was pushed out of the driver's seat in the Azadegan project in Iran, underscoring how passionately Tokyo is wooing Baghdad.

Although Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq in the summer, it has taken a high profile in Iraq's reconstruction. Tokyo hopes its generous aid pledges - $5 billion in total, with $1.5 billion in grants and the remaining $3.5 billion in soft loans - will be rewarded with access to Iraq's extensive oil reserves.

Japan's aid is the largest by any single nation, except the United States. The $1.5 billion portion has already been disbursed, and the $3.5 billion soft loan is to be fully allocated by the end of 2007, with the focus likely to be on energy-sector developments.

Shahristani met with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari and other officials in Tokyo. The Japanese side specified that about 20 billion yen ($170 million) in loans would be spent on upgrading an oil refinery and working on a fertilizer plant, near the southern port city of Basra. The repayment period for these soft loans is 40 years and they carry an annual interest rate of 0.75%. Japan and Iraq also agreed to hold energy talks at least once a year.

Japanese investment
"The oil industry is important for the reconstruction of Iraq," the Iraqi minister told Amari. "But investment is not sufficient," he continued. "We would like Japanese companies as well as Japanese official loans to come to Iraq. [We are] not short of funds [now]" thanks to recent high oil prices, but the country hopes to start "major construction [of oil facilities] next year, and we will need more funds", Shahristani said.

The two countries issued a joint statement calling for Japanese companies to work in Iraq's oil- and natural-gas-development projects. "Both sides welcomed that Japanese corporations have the intention to keep performing activities which aim at obtaining a secure energy supply, and contributing to the development of the oil and gas fields in Iraq in a positive way," the statement said.

The statement also confirmed that "it is essential to explore Iraq's oil and natural-gas reserves ... as well as to restore and expand Iraq's existing facilities and to develop related industry in the sector, in order to reconstruct Iraq".

Promisingly for the Japanese government, Iraq's oil production rose to 2.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) in June, and Shahristani noted at the time that this was to increase to 2.7mbpd by the end of the year. Before the war, output was about 3mbpd, peaking at a record of 3.5mbpd.

In Australia en route to Tokyo, Shahristani expressed his confidence again that international investment would help Iraq more than double its oil output to 6mbpd by 2012-14. In Tokyo, he also said Iraq hopes to export more than 4mbpd by 2010. "We are determined to go beyond that to 6 million [bpd] by cooperating with foreign companies," he said.

He said the oil sector, which accounts for about 70% of Iraq's gross domestic product (GDP) and 90% of its national income, would receive a boost after a new hydrocarbon law expected by the end of the year that will provide further guarantees for foreign investors.

Asia is seen as a major target market for Iraq once production and exports are increased. "We are not exporting enough at the time being, but that is only transitional," he said. "Our increased production will be for the Asian markets."

Security concerns
It is clear that Japan is interested in increasing its profile in Iraq's energy sector, but the main obstacle to ramping up investment remains the endemic violence that persists in the Middle Eastern country.

Shahristani acknowledged that if it were not for the increasingly frequent attacks by saboteurs on northern pipelines, Iraq could be shipping about 400,000bpd more in crude-oil exports.

"The pipeline that takes the oil through Turkey has been attacked more viciously in recent months," he said. "We are talking with the minister of defense to provide better protection." But he said he hopes to see an improvement in pipeline security soon.

China in Iraq
Japanese officials and analysts also worry that countries such as China might have an edge over Japan in gaining access to Iraq's energy resources, since it has more experience operating in inhospitable environments such as Sudan and Angola.

In fact, the new government in Baghdad has courted Beijing because Chinese producers have been willing to invest in countries that are considered dangerous or politically isolated. Beijing had previously been thought to be out of the running for major contracts in postwar Iraq, with the best deals going to the United States and its allies. But the upsurge in violence there has made the country less attractive to Western producers.

In Beijing, Shahristani and Chinese officials agreed to revive a 1997 deal worth $1.2 billion signed by China and Saddam Hussein's government to develop the al-Ahdab oilfield. Al-Ahdab, with an estimated development cost of $700 million, was awarded to China National Petroleum Corp and Chinese state arms manufacturer Norinco by Saddam. The deal was frozen by international sanctions and then Saddam's overthrow.

Competition for gas
Concerns about tougher competition for natural-gas supplies in the medium and long terms are also growing in Japan as many countries, led by China, are stepping up LNG purchases.

China began to import liquefied natural gas in May. The first LNG shipment into China came from Australia. China's LNG imports have also come at a time when Japan and China - the two Asian giants - are locked in the simmering territorial dispute over gas resources in the East China Sea. Japan is now the world's largest LNG importer, accounting for more than 40% of total global imports. But China is expected to catch up with and possibly overtake Japan as the world's largest LNG importer in 2020.

Malaysian national oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) said at the end of last month that it had signed a deal to supply LNG to Shanghai for 25 years, starting in 2009. In other recent developments, China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) signed frameworks with Suez SA, Total SA and Shell Eastern Trading Ltd to buy spot shipments of LNG to make up for any supply shortfalls.

ExxonMobil Corp also reached a preliminary agreement recently to sell natural gas from the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia's Far East to China - instead of to Japan as originally planned. That deal faces hurdles, however, including the economics of building a very long pipeline and getting the cooperation of OAO Gazprom, Russia's natural-gas-distribution monopoly.

Other participants in the Sakhalin-1 project include Tokyo-based Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co (SODECO), jointly owned by the Japanese government and private sector, and Russia's state-owned oil firm Rosneft. SODECO has a 30% interest in the project, while the Russian firm has a 20% stake. The project operator ExxonMobil holds the right to decide which parties receive natural-gas exports.

Japan purchased 58 million tons of LNG from abroad in 2005, of which 25% was from Indonesia. Most of Indonesia's long-term LNG supply contracts with East Asian countries, such as Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea, start expiring from 2010. Indonesia is poised to cut in half its Japan-bound exports of gas when long-term contracts expire in 2010 in order to boost the availability of fuel for domestic industries amid decreasing natural-gas, as well as oil, production at home.

Despite being a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Indonesia became a net importer of crude oil in 2004. Qatar is expected to replace Indonesia as the world's largest LNG exporter in 2010.

The report by JETRO, released early this year, predicted that the percentage of oil as an energy source will level off in China at about 26% by 2020 while that of gas will sharply grow to nearly 9% because of a sharp increase in imports from Indonesia and Russia.

As China - and to a lesser extent India - demonstrates a willingness to pay higher prices to ensure gas supplies, producers are likely to push ahead. Still, most industry observers expect the Asian LNG market to remain tight in coming years, keeping prices high.

Asia Times Online :: Japan News and Japanese Business and Economy

From noozz.com

Kurdistan government unveils draft for oil policy

The government of the Iraqi Kurdistan Province has announced a draft oil policy, a model production sharing agreement with oil companies as well as proposed a federal legislation to that effect and has referred it to concerned authorities in the central government for review, relayed al-Ahali

Ok, I am not good in the exchange rates but I don't get something. Please anybody explain if you can to me:

Tradebank just updated: 11/6 - 1.406,87 USD/IQD
Trade Bank of Iraq - Your Trade and Investment Partner in Iraq

I go to Ameinfo currency.
Here the IQD is moving against the Euro. These quotes are provided by Saxobank. I think it is moving because the EUR is moving.

Now whole morning I checked DinarExchange site. They have a live ticker also powered by the Saxobank.

Here the IQD/USD = 1.469,3 and totally black not moving at all. Dead.

How is it possible that the Tradebank can change the value against the Dollar and the Saxobank is not changing at all against the dollar??? If the dollar changed they should be all changing I assume.

Can someone explain it?

Completed programs

infrastructure
*USAID projects have added 1,292 MWs of new or rehabilitated generation capacity to the national grid. This is a big portion of the over 2,700 MWs of new or rehabilitated capacoty added in total by the USG.

*Provided out-of-country training for 240 ministry of Electricity officials, plant managers, and engineers in how to properly operate and maintain the power plants.

*In addation to the new and rehabilitation power projects, provided over $100 million of extra equipment and spares to the Ministry of Electricity to support the maintenance and expansion of the power system.

*Rebuilt several hundred kilometers of 400Kv electrical transmission line between Nassariya and Khor Al Zubayr in the Basrah area, re-establishing the major bulk power transfer link between Central and Southern Iraq.

* Provided 37 electrical distribution substations for the Baghdad area totaling over 1,100Mva of new capacity.

* Restored water treatment services to 2.8 million Iraqis and provided sewage treatment to 5.1 million Iraqis.

* Improved potable water and/or sewage treatment service in siz cities and provided treated water to 70 rural communities nationwide.

*Imporved the domestic telephone system and restored the international calling service.

*Installed a consolidated fiber optic network, which will allow Ministry of electricity officials to monitor and control the electric grid, greatly improving the reliability of electric power service to Iraqis.

* Repaired and refurbished Baghdad International Airport and Basrah airport to prepare for commercial operation.

*Reopened Umm Qasr seaport to commercial operation, through dredging and clearing harbor, restoring port tariffs, and renovating buildings and infrastructure.

* Rebuilt three major highway bridges and 72km of the Iraqi Republican Railway line from the port of Umm Qasr to Shuayiba Junction.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
*Audited more than 1,200km of the fiber optic backbone network and performed emergency repairs, reconnecting 20 cities and 70 percent of the population.

* Reconstituted Baghdad area phone service by installing switches with 240,000 lines at 12 sites.

* Installed and fully integrated 13 new swithces with 14 existing switches.

*Worked with the Ministry of Communication to reactivate more than 215,000 subscriber lines.

*Installed a satellite gatewat system at Baghdads largest telecom exchange and restored international service.

*Trained telecom engineers and technicians in the operation and maintenance of the satellite gateway system and the new switches.

FOOD SECURITY
*Worked directly with the World Food Program and Coalition forces re-establish the Public Distribution system in less than 30 days. avoiding a humanitatian food crisis and providing food security throughout the country.

EDUCATION
Through the Higher Education and Development program five american and 10 iraqi universities partnerd to aid the reestablishment of academic excellence in iraqs higher education system. More than 1,500 iraqi faculty and students have participated in workshops, trainings, conferences and courses all over the world since January 2004.

Some other completed projects:

Two water projects are complete in Baghdad Province:

USAID has completed the Iraqi Teacher Training project, successfully training more than 38,000 teachers. Efforts included:

• Trained and prepared 68 Master Trainers to educate English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in secondary schools;

• Trained and prepared 53 Master Trainers to educate teachers and administrators in Information and Computer Technology (ICT);

• Trained and prepared 74 Master Trainers in Science Pedagogy;

• Trained and prepared 58 Master Trainers in modern teaching methods;

• Over 38,000 secondary school teachers have received instruction directly through USAID programs, including: 7,480 English teachers; 13,740 teachers in computer skills; and 15,045 in pedagogical innovations. Additionally, 115 local staff and 244 MOE staff have received training;

• Science training has reached over 1,000 model school science teachers and other teachers in the districts where model schools are located.

More than 750,000 residents of Al Amarah province are benefiting from a newly renovated fire station: Reconstruction problems included crumbling walls and floors, a polluted water storage tank and decayed roof tiles.

USACE managed the renovation, which included the installation of new joists and wall supports, roof tiles and floor tiles; new electrical, water, sewage and air conditioning systems; and the construction of a sleeping quarters, kitchen area and general use room.

A new school is complete near Mosul. The $460,000 project will benefit almost 900 Iraqi school children:

A newly constructed school located in the center of Dahuk will provide service to approximately 840 students and 36 teachers.

This new two-story complex consists of a 12-room classroom school with a detached exterior lavatory building, a play-yard and a generator building; all of which is surrounded by a three-meter high perimeter wall.

The exterior and interior walls are of masonry construction with a concrete super structure and terrazzo tile flooring. The exterior wall finishes are cut stone and plaster.

“Of the 317 school projects funded by the Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Fund in the northern region of Iraq, 315 are complete and two are in progress. “

Marines and Iraqi soldiers joined together to hold a medical clinic in Hamandiyah for more than 300 Iraqis:

Some Iraqi citizens suffered from more serious conditions. One small infant was diagnosed with spina bifida, a condition in which the spine is not completely grown together. Doctors were unable to treat the child there, but referred his mother to a specialist for treatment.

“There is nothing we can do here for this little guy,” said U.S. Army Dr. (Lt. Col.) Kathy F. Champion, a 42-year-old physician from Olympia, Wash. “We have given the mother information on an American doctor who specializes in this area, who is in the country.”

AND THIS IS JUST A SMALL PIECE OF EVERYTHING USA AND OTHERS HAVE DONE FOR IRAQ. SO YOU TELL ME, DO YOU THINK THEY WILL DO THIS FOR FREE??

My apologies for not being able to find any substantial information regarding dinar or r/v. I feel bad reading all of your information, and not putting forth anything. I even contacted a TON of people who buy a lot of dinars via ebay to see if someone out there knows something. (some of you are on this group.... ) However, I guess I violated some ebay privacy deal and got reported...nice expecting the ebay police to arrive at any minute.

Is anyone feeling deflated? Are we still thinking that it will revalue sometime this week? If the Iraqi people are allowed to go pick up their checks starting tomorrow, then they are in fact getting a measly 7 bucks????????

Thanks in advance for any "pick me ups!"

Al Maliki pleased as Sunnis complain
Baghdad, 06 November 2006 (Reuters)

Iraq's government said Saddam Hussain had got what he deserved when an Iraqi court sentenced him to hang, but a senior Sunni Arab member of parliament dismissed yesterday's verdict as political.

The discrepancy highlighted sectarian divisions that have turned increasingly violent since US forces overthrew Saddam in 2003.

"He is facing the punishment he deserves," Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said in a televised address to the nation two hours after the verdict.

The Islamic Party, Iraq's biggest Sunni Arab party, said that the government should have stopped the bloodshed in the country before sentencing Saddam.

"The government should have put food on the table of the starving people, stopped all criminal acts, death squads and sped up the national reconciliation before it puts all criminals before and after the fall of [Saddam's] regime on trial."

A senior Sunni Arab parliamentarian, who asked not be quoted by name for fear of sectarian reprisals, said, however: "This is a political verdict from a political court." Al Maliki said last month that Saddam's execution could not come soon enough, fuelling charges of political interference. But yesterday he emphasised the independence of the court system.

"Justice is stronger than its enemies and the law will win," Al Maliki said. "For me his sentence does not represent anything because executing him is not worth the blood he spilled ... but it may bring some comfort to the families of the martyrs."

"Executing Saddam will not bring a loved one back from the dead or a senior cleric like Sadr," he added, referring to Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Al Sadr, who was killed in 1999.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd, said: "The court has proven to be professional and just. Saddam was given the justice he denied to the people of Iraq over 35 years."

Question did the Sunnis not read Resolution 1546 #7 & #17 or did they not attend the meeting in July. Per the September 1, 2006 update on this resolution it sound like the Sunnis didn't really hold up to their end of the bargain on stopping the violence - so now they complain -
Resolution 1546 9/1/2006 update

Originally Posted by MOM2TWO

My apologies for not being able to find any substantial information regarding dinar or r/v. I feel bad reading all of your information, and not putting forth anything. I even contacted a TON of people who buy a lot of dinars via ebay to see if someone out there knows something. (some of you are on this group.... ) However, I guess I violated some ebay privacy deal and got reported...nice expecting the ebay police to arrive at any minute.

Is anyone feeling deflated? Are we still thinking that it will revalue sometime this week? If the Iraqi people are allowed to go pick up their checks starting tomorrow, then they are in fact getting a measly 7 bucks????????

Thanks in advance for any "pick me ups!"

Ok let me get ya excited here is a quick recap:
1. Aman isx ticker for the last week says: ISX starts trading NOV 7th.
2. Soldier is told by bank in iraq on Thursday - no sale until RV in a couple of days hmmmm
3. Bank has not updated since Thursday (which tells me the soldier story is correct)
4. 10,000 Hand out Nov. 7th
5. none of the news site's have hardly anything or 11/6 news.
6. Plus forex sites are doing a funny dance the last two days on dinars.

NOV 7th is REALLLLLLY LOOKING GOOD!!!
I think maybe we need to watch NYC forex at 9am EST today and just see if something may give us some clues.

HOPE this gets ya a bit EXCITED -

Kiddo you are doing great on helping everybody here too, we are happy to have you in the family here at rolclub.

RV THIS WEEK

Originally Posted by MrsCK

4. 10,000 Hand out Nov. 7th

Im sorry if i have missed this but my computer crashed last week. Is this confirmed, do we have an article that states that the hand out will be on the 7th??