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

maybe what THEY need is a new parliament...as this one so far has just let their own people down...they move along at a snail's pace expecting everyone to lend them a hand with their chapter VII but yet they have failed to pass any of the oil and gas laws which will benefit their people....maybe its time for a NEW IRAQI GOVERNMENT...IMHO...Pat

British employment program in Basra

The Basra Investment Commission had a meeting on Wednesday with a British delegation to discuss a program to employ 500 young people for one year.

“The program provides opportunities to work in the private sector in Basra,” Dr. Hayder Ali Fadhil, the Commission’s head, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

He said that the program would be expanded to other provinces by the Iraqi labor ministry, in case it succeeded in Basra.
The oil-rich city of Basra lies 590 km south of Baghdad.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=119733

Gazprom to bid for Iraqi fields in consortium with Turkish company

Russia’s energy giant Gazprom will bid for Iraqi oil and gas fields in a consortium with Turkey’s state-run oil company, a Russian business daily said, citing the Turkish Energy Minister.

Iraq will sell 14 blocks with total reserves of 41 billion barrels of oil and some 740 billion cubic meters of natural gas as 10 lots in December.

Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) will compete for six lots, and will form a consortium with Gazprom to bid for the other four lots, Vedomosti quoted Taner Yildiz as saying.

Up to 45 companies will be invited to bid, including Russia’s state-run crude producer Rosneft, the country’s largest independent oil producer LUKoil and Gazprom’s oil arm, Gazprom Neft.

According to the paper, Iraq is planning to earn $1.2 billion from onetime payments ($100 mln-$150 mln as bonus for each lot) and will retain a 25 percent stake in each project.

Meetings with bidders will be held on October 18-19, with bidding terms to be announced in early November, Vedomosti said.

The paper has not yet received any comment from either Gazprom or Gazprom Neft.

In June, the Turkish company unsuccessfully bid for 10 Iraqi fields with reserves exceeding 47 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=119714

CBI dollar sales down by 53%

The Central Bank of Iraq’s (CBI) dollar sales went down by 53% in its daily auction on Wednesday to reach $123.020 million compared to $231.018 million during the previous session.

“The demand hit $9.480 million in cash, covered by the bank at an exchange rate of 1,183 Iraqi dinars, and $113.540 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 16 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell dollars.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=119727

Iraq new electoral law awaits ratification

Iraqi Parliament opened a new session on Tuesday, yet, the electoral law did not figure on the agenda. While countdown for ratifying the new electoral law has started, the Independent High Electoral Commission set October 15 as the final deadline to ratify the new law, or else, upcoming elections would be held according to the present law.

Three parliamentary lists are trying to adjourn the ratification of a new law in order to adopt the old one.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News...ification.html

Odierno: US to withdraw 4000 troops from Iraq

The United States will withdraw about 4,000 troops from Iraq by the end of October, the U.S. military commander in Iraq General Raymond Odierno said in testimony prepared for a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

"We have approximately 124,000 troops and 11 Combat Teams operating in Iraq today. By the end of October, I believe we will be down to 120,000 troops in Iraq," Odierno plans to tell the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

In an advance copy of the testimony obtained on Tuesday by Reuters, it figured that nearly 100 U.S. bases also have been closed. Odierno said that Iraq security is improving, but there are still some sources of potential conflict.

"I call these drivers of instability," he said, listing among them national elections coming up in January, Arab-Kurd tensions and violent groups within Iraq.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq and extremist groups continue to pose threats to stability as they seek to exploit political fissures, destabilize the government and undermine the progress made to date," Odierno added.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News...from-Iraq.html

Syrian senior official in US for talks

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Al Mekdad met U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew as part of talks with the Syrian Government that have started early this year, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

"We have a wide range of common interests between Syria and the United States in the region," Crowley told a news briefing, adding that Al Mekdad is due to meet a range of other U.S. government officials during his trip to Washington.

Diplomats in Damascus said Al Mekdad's visit was aimed at discussing U.S sanctions on Syria as well as its relations with Iraq.

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News...for-talks.html

Iraqi parliament committee looking into KRG-DNO row

Iraqi parliamentarians are seeking information on a spat between Kurdish authorities and oil firm DNO, which prompted the suspension of the Norwegian company's activities in Iraq for up to six weeks. Ali Hussain Balou, head of parliament's oil and gas committee, said a meeting was held on Wednesday to discuss the issue and potential irregularities, and that the committee had asked the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for clarification.

"The oil and gas committee decided today to ask the KRG and natural resources ministry to provide us with a clear vision about this issue," said Balou, a Kurd.

The KRG, which governs Iraq's largely autonomous northern enclave of Kurdistan, suspended DNO's activities there last week after a share deal between the two sides was made public. The KRG said it had done nothing wrong and the Oslo stock exchange said the KRG was not being investigated. Still, Kurdish officials said the disclosure had done it "unjustifiable and incalculable harm". It has yet to lift the prohibition on DNO's activities -- centred on the Tawke oilfield -- and it is unclear what DNO must do to lift the ban. A KRG official said on Monday talks with the Oslo bourse were "extremely positive". Iraqi officials in Baghdad have so far had little involvement in the row.

"DNO is working on Iraqi soil and extracting crude owned by all Iraqis, so we have the right to know the rights and wrongs of the issue," said Jabir Khalifa Jabir, a member of parliament and secretary of the oil and gas committee.

The committee has little sway over oil issues in Kurdistan, which vigorously asserts its independence on energy deals. The two sides have long been at loggerheads over the right to sign oil deals, territorial borders and other issues. Baghdad deems oil deals the KRG has signed independently with foreign firms as illegal, despite allowing in June exports from fields they had developed.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKRA...*****Channel=0

DinarBanker.com Meets Fifth Year of Operation with 10 Billionth Dinar Purchase

U.S. registered Iraqi Dinar currency broker, DinarBanker.com meets fifth year of successful business with ten billionth Iraqi Dinar purchase.

September 30, 2009 –- In his first ever address to the United Nations General Assembly, President Barack Obama announced the success of the “coordinated international response to bring the global economy back from the brink.” From local to international markets, investors are increasingly more confident to step out of the hesitancy of the financial downturn and invest in promising new opportunities. President Obama also spoke of the improving situation in Iraq, noting that “American forces have removed combat brigades from Iraqi cities, and set a deadline of next August to remove all of our combat brigades from Iraqi territory.” The improving security situation is good news for both the Iraqi people as well as domestic and local investors seeking new opportunities in Iraq’s vast human and natural resources.

One such company that has been working towards opening up promising new markets in Iraq is DinarBanker.com, which buys and sells the nation’s currency. In line with the promising success of Iraq and the stabilization of the global economy, DinarBanker.com is pleased to announce that it has officially purchased its 10th billionth dinar from retail investors. This extraordinary figure represents the substantial capital directly received by dinar speculators all over the world looking to cash in on the great potential of the Iraqi currency.
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http://www.prweb.com/releases/iraqi-...web2965354.htm

There is no clear economic philosophy in fiscal or "monetary policy" in Iraq at this point

List of Prime Renewal Tariq al-Hashimi "there is no clear economic philosophy in fiscal or monetary policy" in Iraq at this point, noting that "the country is in an economic vacuum."

He also added in a press statement received by the independent press (Iba) a copy of today, "there are needs for the Iraqi people and act in accordance with the reaction and we will work to develop an economic policy that meets the needs of Iraq and Iraqi expertise and a distinct manner."

He noted that the electoral program of the list will be published for everyone in the coming weeks, adding that the program in the finishing touches and there is a door to economic reform.

He said al-Hashemi "Our philosophy will not come out of the economic decisions of the Economic Forum, which sponsored him personally a few months ago, those decisions will be at the center of the project sponsored by the electoral list of renewal."

He said the list will renew a special study to the roof of Iraq's per capita income is characterized by the rest of the political entities, stressing: "We will put a solution to the problem of security through the economy because the problem of unemployment provide a fertile ground for terrorism, both industrial and agricultural products leaving the face coming from abroad must be provided possible support to them."

http://www.ipairaq.com/index.php?nam...onomy&id=15906