Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 08/09/09 - 09/01/10

Shell, Mitsubishi discuss investment in Basra gas

Discussions occurred on Wednesday between the Basra local authority and representatives of the two firms of Shell and Mitsubishi regarding work mechanisms to invest in the province's natural gas.

"51 percent of the revenues will go to the Iraqi South Gas Company, while 49 percent will go to the investing firms," Ahmed al-Husseini, the Basra deputy governor, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

He said that the contracts will preserve natural gas as a national resource, as the gas is currently being burnt.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZA...%20Basra%20gas

US Defence Secretary Gates arrives in Baghdad

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Baghdad on Thursday for an unexpected visit, according to an AFP journalist traveling with him.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidAN...20in%20Baghdad

U.S. defence chief makes unannounced visit to Iraq

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates made an unannounced visit on Thursday to Iraq, where U.S. military leaders are planning to sharply reduce troop numbers by next summer despite delays in Iraq's forthcoming national polls.

Gates says that Iraq's decision to hold parliamentary elections in March, a delay of several weeks from the original date, will not affect U.S. plans to end combat operations next August and reduce the number of U.S. troops to 50,000 from around 115,000 now.

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...14995&Itemid=1

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki fires Baghdad Security forces Chief

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki fired the head of Baghdad's security forces yesterday after bombings in the capital which killed 127 people, a statement from his office said.

"Nuri al-Maliki, as the commander in chief of the armed forces, ordered the removal of Lieutenant General Abboud Qanbar from his post," the statement said.

Qanbar will be replaced by Lieutenant General Ahmed Hashem Awoudeh.

The Islamic State of Iraq posted a statement on Wednesday, a day after the attacks, on a website used by militants, according to SITE, a U.S.-based group that monitors such websites.

The group said it had targeted the Labour and Finance Ministries and judicial buildings in its "third wave" of attacks. The authenticity of the claim could not be verified.

The Islamic State of Iraq said it will keep up attacks until "Sharia of Allah (Islamic law) rules the land and the worshippers."

http://pukmedia.com/english/index.ph...14990&Itemid=1

Interesting,

What we are seeing now is different than what we saw earlier with suicide bombings, makes you wonder if this is a sign of the future without sharing the wealth with the poor. I have not read of any groups involvement which was always known almost immediately before, makes you wonder if this is turning into an economic bombing given the specific target. Too little has been done by current administration, plain and simple, so a new war may be starting given target.

Success to all, Mike

you know Mike,you may be on to something there...maybe enough is enough....either s*** or get off the pot as we say here in the U.S....lol...they have had ample time to move a lot further along then they have the past 4 years....all these laws where they have to be tabled because they don't have a status quo and the delays are going to do most of these so called "POLITICIANS" in...as well it should be....their people have had enough of DELAYS and BICKERING"...IMHO...Pat

Some Results of the Oil Bids


Shell steals Majnoon from Total

The Majnoon field was awarded to a Shell-led consortium after a quick bidding war with Total, the presumed favorite.


Halfaya field goes to China

Halfaya is in Missan province, which has occasionally seen Mahdi Army action, but has been relatively calm and could see a few takers in the auction.


Ministry rejects Sonangol’s offer for Qaiyarah

This field is near enough to Mosul to ward off most serious oil companies, and ends the day unclaimed.


East Baghdad ends day alone

It's proximity to Sadr City made it a hard sell to foreign firms, none of whom made an offer for it.


No bidders for Eastern Fields

Will any company risk insurgents and the Arab vs. Kurd dispute to invest in four small but prospective fields? No.


No Link.

Iraq oil development rights contracts awarded
A joint venture between the UK's Shell and Malaysia's Petronas oil companies has won the right to develop Iraq's giant Majnoon oil field.

A total of 44 companies are bidding for 10 fields in the second such auction since the invasion in 2003.

Shell and Petronas beat a rival bid from France's Total and China's CNPC.

Although Majnoon is a huge oil field, with reserves of 13 billion barrels of oil, it currently produces just 46,000 barrels per day.

Shell and Petronas have pledged to increase that output to 1.8 million barrels per day.

Their venture, which includes a 20-year service contract, will receive a fee of $1.39 a barrel. In June this year, a winning bid to develop an Iraq oil field received $2 a barrel.

Also on Friday, a consortium led by China's CNPC was awarded the contract for Iraq's Halfaya oil field. The consortium also includes Malaysia's Petronas and France's Total.

It requested fees of $1.40 a barrel of oil extracted from the field, and projected output would reach 535,000 barrels per day.

Halfaya, in southern Iraq near the border with Iran, is a much smaller field with reserves of 4.1 billion barrels of oil.

Potential profits

Iraq's known reserves of conventional oil rank behind only Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Its daily output is relatively small - about 2.4 million barrels - but it aims to triple that over the next few years.

It needs the expertise of foreign companies to reach that goal of reviving its oil industry, which has been battered by years of war and sanctions. As much of its oil is relatively cheap to extract, analysts suggest the potential profits for foreign companies could be huge.

"This is an opportunity without precedent anywhere else in the world. The scale of reserves available for development and exploitation is without equal," Peter Kemp from Energy Intelligence told BBC News.

"That is something that no oil company... can ignore."

But as BBC World Service's economics correspondent Andrew Walker points out, there are serious drawbacks for foreign contractors, most obviously the issue of security.

"Iraqi politics and an uncertain legal environment are also complications, creating doubts about the soundness of some oil contracts," he says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8407274.stm

Jihad: The Ministry of Oil can conclude contracts in the oil before the oil law

The spokesman for the Ministry of Oil Assem Jihad, the ministry put the final touches to launch the second round of licenses for the development of 10 oil fields discovered and developed through service contracts.

Jihad commented in a radio interview on the remarks of Minister of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government in which he said that Baghdad rushed the announcement of the tour, saying that contracts are contracts of service and dates of specific long ago.

The reason why the ministry not to wait until the adoption of a law of oil and gas contracts with international companies, Jihad said that the current laws allow the Government and the Ministry of oil contracts to develop the oil sector.

Jihad denied that the fields are to be negotiated within the disputed area.

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...EMe6Zw-ZZw0GYg

GDID gave thumbs up to 242 projects in November

The Directorate for Industrial Development (GDID) has granted licenses to set up 242 fresh industrial projects during November 2009 at an investment cost of 33.667 billion Iraqi dinars ($28.8 million), the industry ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

“The licenses were distributed to the fields of foodstuff, textile, wooden, paper, chemical, plastic, construction, metal and processing industries,” read the statement as received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The foodstuffs came in the lead with 107 licenses at an investment cost of 13.489 billion Iraqi dinars, followed by the construction industries with 55 licenses worth 10.110 billion,” it added.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=123308