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

Sorry if posted before...a few days old

Barham Salih: there are problems over the oil law but we will defeat them for the interests of all
08/11/2006
Source: Prepared by IRAQdirectory.com

The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Salih, in charge of the chairmanship of the Committee drafting the new Iraqi oil law, admitted the existence of "problems" with regard to the oil draft law of Kurdistan region. He said that "despite the current problems, I am confident that good will would overcome these problems and ensure the development of this wealth and benefit from private investments so as to ensure the interests of all parties".

The Deputy Prime Minister refused to go into details of the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil on Kurdistan oil, but he stressed that "talks on the completion of the Iraqi oil law would be resumed soon, and representatives from Kurdistan will participate in them ». He added that the draft law is expected to be presented by the Commission of writing down the draft law of Iraqi oil to the Iraqi parliament before the end of the year, and it will determine the responsibility of provinces and the central government on the oil industry and the rights of each party.

However, the draft bill of Kurdistan oil is ready and expected to be approved soon. This may mean that the regional law will be issued before the law of the federal government. On his part, the spokesman of Kurdistan government, Khalid Salih, said: "His government is determined to proceed with applying its law which falls in line with the Iraqi Constitution that clearly recognizes the superiority of the regional law over the federal government law in this matter". It is noteworthy that the draft law based on Article 115 of the Iraqi Constitution, which provides that "all that was not provided for in terms of exclusivity to the federal authority falls under the power of regions and provinces which are not members in a region.

Other joint powers between the federal government and the regions give priority to the law of regions and provinces in case of disagreement between them". Khalid Salih explained that the draft bill for Kurdistan oil has not been formally presented to the Kurdish Parliament yet, but the Kurdish Minister of Natural Resources, Ashti Horami, has completed the work on the draft law and presented it to the Cabinet of Kurdistan, then to be submitted to the Kurdish Parliament in a few days. This law is prior to the draft text of the Iraqi oil law which is expected to be submitted by the central government in Baghdad and which will clarify the final form of distributing the oil wealth on Iraqi people and the role of regions in running it.

This led to some opposition among Iraqi quarters. In spite of the confidence shown by officials in Kurdistan government in continuing the development of oil fields in the region, there is a problem that may hinder the export of oil from the there and benefit from its incomes and that is the issue of transporting oil, especially that the oil pipelines belong to the central government.

A delegation, headed by the Kurdish Prime Minister Najirvan Barzani, is expected to visit Baghdad in the coming days to resolve the differences on the Kurdish draft law and consult on the formulation of the Iraqi oil law. Although the earlier draft of the Iraqi oil identified three months to resolve the differences between the central government and the government of Arbil on Kurdish law since the date of approval; however, the latest draft does not specify a period of time for that. Article 24 of the draft law explains that in case the Iraqi government and the regional one fail to reach an agreement over wealth-sharing and management of oil, the regional government will entirely run the oil operations, including the control of the oil revenues.

Abdel Aziz Al-Otari, the former Iraqi Oil Minister, explained that the current law applicable in Iraq is the "National Oil Company Law" that goes back to 1964 and which puts all the operations of oil at the disposal of the central government and the incomes go to the central treasury. As for the Kurdish oil and disagreements over the distribution of oil wealth, he said: "The issue depends on the legitimacy of such wealth and the international recognition of Kurdistan and its right to dispose of its oil".

As for the export of oil from Kurdistan region, Al-Otari explained: "transporting oil through the Iraqi oil pipelines or by trucks, in small quantities, must be done in cooperation with the neighboring countries". Valery Marcel, the competent of "oil affairs in the Royal Institute of International Affairs" in Britain, pointed out that "the bulk of the Iraqi government in its negotiations with the government of Kurdistan region is ways to transport oil".
She explained that "transferring oil to be exported via the Iraqi territories (outside Kurdistan), or via Turkey (to the port of Ceyhan), both sides have an interest in delaying the independence of the region; therefore, they may hinder the export of oil, if not in agreement with them". Marcel said that "there are several points which raised differences" over Iraqi oil: the first of those is "about the current and future fields which the constitutional interpretation concerning them is not clear".

She added: "it is possible to solve the problem of revenue-sharing mechanism, but the problem is, which income exactly would revert to what party". On his part, the spokesman of the regional government explained that Irbil has received no "formal objection or even an official comment on the law" and that so far the objections were in the form of "statements to the media"; adding "the federal government has no right to object to the law which falls within the Iraqi constitution". Khalid Salih said: "We want to avoid problems and resolve this issue through public debates".

The draft law specifies neither the share submitted by the central government to Kurdistan from of the oil revenues nor the share specified to the Iraqi government from the oil revenues of Kurdistan. Article 5 of the Kurdish draft law states that "the regional government would share the oil revenues with the Iraqi people, according to the Iraqi Constitution", without specifying percentages. Supplement (a) states that the distribution of the Kurdish government's quota of "all government revenues from Iraqi fields will be equitable proportion".
Khalid Salih explained that these ratios were not specified because they must be debated in Kurdish Parliament to reach a final percentage; while Marcel said that this must be clear in the law of Iraqi oil from Baghdad.

However, the draft law determined that 10% of all income will be annually distributed to "every citizen in Kurdistan region", in addition to the allocation of 7% of an investment fund "for the coming generations of the citizens of the Kurdistan ", also, the allocation of not less than 1.5 per cent of oil revenues to "citizens of the Kurdistan who have suffered or still suffering from difficulties because of the policies of the former Iraqi regime".

The American Deputy Minister of Finance, Robert Kimitt said earlier that the controversy between Baghdad and Erbil is not about the distribution of wealth, but on the right of awarding contracts to international companies for exploration and extraction of oil in Kurdistan region. He added: "There is a general agreement on the distribution of income, but there is still some debate on the responsibility of the government and the region on contracts and which international companies to explore oil wells".

He believed that these discussions "come in the context of the general debate on federalism in Iraq". The second part of Section VII of the Kurdish draft law, states that the Minister of Kurdistan is responsible for negotiation and approval of any oil agreements, and implementing them. Article 80 of the draft states that any agreements made by the Iraqi government on oil in Kurdistan region, must be reviewed and "put under the control of the regional government".

Mohammed Ali Zenni, the oil expert in the "Center of Global Energy Studies" in London, pointed out that the situation in Kurdistan is unique, saying: "usually oil operations are run by the central government; for example, oil in Britain, located in the North Sea, which dates back to Scotland, is supervised by the central government in London". As for the taxes owed to the operations of oil industry, Part V of item 49 of the Kurdish draft law states that, "taxes of the regional government will be the only ones" applied to the oil operations, and the item from article 115 and the second part of Article 121 of the Iraqi Constitution, allow that.

The last article says that "the regional authority has the right to amend the application of the federal law in the region, in case of contradiction or conflict between the federal law and the regional one on issues that do not fall within the exclusive competence of the federal authorities". On his part, Hega Idah, director of the Norwegian company "DNO", one of the most prominent foreign oil companies in Kurdistan region, said that his company is continuing its work and excavation in the region, without fearing the problems that may arise from the new draft law. He added: "differences will not hinder our work. Our contract with Kurdistan government corresponds to the Iraqi constitution, and these differences will be resolved in time".

He explained: "We depend on what we hear from Kurds". He pointed out that his company had contracts with the Iraqi Oil Ministry, "during the past year and a half we have not seen any indication of resentment from the Ministry concerning our work in Kurdistan". He confirmed that it is expected to start oil production in the first quarter of next year, after the discovery of oil in the fields of Taqtaq Hink talkie in Kurdistan. He added that "DNO" assessed the fields and expects to explore more oil wells by the end of the current year. Barham Salih expressed his wish to resolve any disagreements over Iraqi oil. He stressed that it is time for the Iraqi oil wealth to become a blessing and not a curse, causing more problems for the country because of the conflicts over who controls it.

Cheers!
DayDream

Originally Posted by Adster

LMAO, read this! I emailed the Gazette and asked....

Hi there, with the recent passing of the FIL just wondering why it was not included in the latest edition of the Gazette?

Do you know when it will appear in there?

Thanks.

And the reply....

DEAR MR

what do you mean by FIL plz what do you want

tell them the FIL will help people in the North buy new snow blowers...right sgs

Originally Posted by shotgunsusie

this is proof positive that youve read too many articles!! lol
you know, today was church in iraq and who is to say that those words were not reiterrated at some mosques around town?? hmm?? maybe you heard them and google translated it for your dream !!

this is proof positive that youve read too many articles!! lol

You got that right!! BTW: HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLE GIRL!!

Cheers!
DayDream

Voices of Iraq: Basra-Parks
Posted by: nadioshka on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 01:03 PM
“The engineering units of Basra municipality have finished putting the layout of al-Khura and al-Seraji parks plus several cafés and an open air cinema,” head of municipality Ismail Ghazi Ouda told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).Work will include planting trees in the parks and building facilities to serve the visitors, he added.“All work would be assigned to local contractors and companies,” Ouda said.Basra lacks public recreation places as the former regime took over most such places including al-Seraji park where presidential palaces were built on. Other such places were victims of subversion and neglect.

Basra-Parks :: Aswat al Iraq :: Aswat al Iraq

Just back from the Halifax. Bought several more million. The teller said at the end, 'you're a millionaire', 'yes' I said, 'soon will be', and walked out leaving her open mouthed.


Just to say, the Halifax will buy back unused notes providing you have an account with them. Might be worth our English members considering this.......... Then again once it revals and is on Forex all banks will have jumped on board.

Originally Posted by owejac

Hello SGS I'm sitting here in cold Norway fighting the flu. (sniffle sniffle)

Well to bee frank. I,m so excited my hart allmost stop.



The last bit of news I would like to pass on is the fact that Chase Bank here in Phoenix is no longer selling Dinar. We have called several branches, including the one closest that we know was selling and they are no longer. When asked for a reason we were given none. Take it for what it is, but we still think we are on the verge.

Best Regards,

Dan Fadden
CEO
Ompus / FreeDinar

Do anybody know anything about this is the info from Ompus correct.
Or do Case still sell Dinars?

Originally Posted by DayDream

this is proof positive that youve read too many articles!! lol

You got that right!! BTW: HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLE GIRL!!

Cheers!
DayDream

sorry neno but i gotta....
[email protected] WOoT!!!
in the immortal words of the beatles... let it be!!

Originally Posted by owejac

Do anybody know anything about this is the info from Ompus correct.
Or do Case still sell Dinars?

I'm in Phoenix and I just purchased on Monday and picked it up on Wed. I plan on going in to purchase more tomorrow (since they're probably closed today) and then we'll know.

OOPS:
Actually, tomorrow is Veteran's Day and since the banks are open on Saturday they will probably be open today!!!! So it will be this morning I'll be going.

YAZZMAN RATE 1.86....... WOOTIER

Sorry...Had to say it.

Cheers!
DayDream

09 November 2006 (AME Info FZ LLC)

Al Jazeera English will broadcast a weekly programme, 'Inside Iraq', to examine developing in events in the country. It will be hosted by Iraqi-born presenter Jasim Azawi who was a former news anchor at Abu Dhabi TV.

Cheers!
DayDream