Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 01/10/09 - 27/03/10

ADIB plans Mideast, North Africa growth

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank expects double digit growth this year as it expands locally and into Iraq and Egypt to be among the top three sharia compliant lenders in the Middle East, its CEO said.

In an interview with Reuters, Tirad Mahmoud said: "We are definitely looking at double digit growth in 2010. The Abu Dhabi government has injected money into the economy and this will bring life into the banking system."

He said the expected double digit growth referred to profit, deposits and other aspects of the lender's spread sheet for 2010. He added: "We will see double digit growth in loans this year. We won't randomly lend but will be selective."

ADIB, the second largest Islamic lender in the United Arab Emirates, posted a fourth-quarter loss of $169.7 million due to sharply higher provisions. The bank had annual earnings of $21.2 million in 2009 after taking provisions of $476.4 million for the year.

Mahmoud said: "Don't expect the same extent of provisions in 2010 but we will have (provisions) because it is part of the ongoing business. We cannot rule out additional accidents in the market place, we are ready for them."

The bank has secured a licence to start operations in Iraq and is awaiting a licence in Algeria. Mahmoud said: "We plan to open for business by June 2010 in Iraq. Iraq has oil, gas, a growing population and it will reach political stability."

ADIB also plans to expand its Egyptian subsidiary, the National Bank of Development, by converting it into an Islamic bank and re*****ing it before the end of 2010. He said: "Egypt is a big market. The bank has the potential to go up to 100 branches in the short term."

Currently, the bank has 69 branches in Egypt. In the UAE, the bank will open nearly 20 branches this year to tap demand for Islamic banking. Mahmoud said: "By end 2010, we will have 70 branches. We are looking at areas not saturated. There is pent-up demand in retail here."

He added: "We want to be number one in the UAE in size and among the top three in the MENA (Middele East and North Africa) region, that is our target in the near-term."

ADIB plans to open up 25 percent of its shares for foreign ownership but has postponed its shares buyback plan, he said.

He said: "It is the right time to do it because we will be actively engaged in two strategic markets - Egypt and Iraq."

Mahmoud added: "At the board meeting today, we postponed the shares buyback plan. We will relook at this later." (Reuters)

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/58152...-africa-growth

Iraq's Oil Industry Poised to Re-enter World Stage

When coordinated bomb blasts killed more than 120 people in Baghdad in December, days before a scheduled auction of Iraqi oil field development rights, the carnage raised fears that major oil companies might be deterred from showing up for the bidding.

An earlier auction attempt, in June, the first since Iraq nationalized its oil production in 1972, had already fizzled when the majors balked at Iraq’s tough bargaining stance.

Yet, amid extraordinarily tight security, they did show up: and more important, they were in a mood to gamble. The two-day event turned into the biggest oil field auction in history.

“The terrorists tried to send a message to the oil companies through the bombings,” the oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, declared on Iraqi t.elevision. “But this message was not delivered.”

After three decades of decline, sanctions and war, Iraq’s oil industry now appears poised to recover its place among the world’s leading producers — and perhaps even to challenge Saudi Arabia for the top spot by the end of the decade.

If all the companies participating in the industry’s revival “are reasonably successful in delivering on the commitments we’ve made, it is quite likely we will see Iraq increase its production to around 10 million barrels per day within about 10 years,” Tony Hayward, chief E.xecutive of BP, told the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, last month.

Iraq now produces about 2.4 million barrels a day and ranks below the top dozen producers.

Saudi Arabia produced about 10.7 million barrels a day in 2008, but reduced output slightly in 2009. It has a capacity of about 12.5 million barrels a day, but could increase that to 15 million.

The Saudis, with 266 billion barrels in proven reserves, have far more oil than anyone. Iraq ranks fourth, behind Canada and Iran, with 115 billion proven barrels: but that figure dates from the 1970s. Most oil experts believe that, with new technology, it has a lot more oil to be found and that these reserves will not be particularly difficult to develop.

Absent unforeseen political events, “the resources there are relatively easy to bring on-stream,” Mr. Hayward said.

That, industry analysts say, is the main reason that oil companies decided to take their chances and meet Iraq’s asking price.

Royal Dutch Shell and the state-run company Petronas in Malaysia were among the biggest apparent winners. They will jointly develop the giant Majnoon field, with proven reserves of 12.5 billion barrels and are expected to increase daily output to 1.8 million barrels, from 46,000 barrels now. Lukoil, of Russia, and Statoil, of Norway, will develop the similarly sized West Qurna 2, with reserves of 13 billion barrels. Other companies that came away with major prizes included Gazprom, of Russia, China National Petroleum, Sonangol, of Angola, and Total, of France.

The successful bidders will sign service contracts that will pay them a fee ranging from $5.00 to $1.15 a barrel for each barrel they produce above an agreed minimum.

U.S. companies went home from the December auction empty-handed, although they were somewhat more successful in the June bidding, when Exxon Mobil, after protracted negotiations, eventually won the right to develop the West Qurna 1 field in a partnership with Shell. The only other U.S. company that will be producing oil in Iraq is Occidental Petroleum, as junior partner in a deal with Eni, of Italy, and Korea Gas, of South Korea, to develop the Zubair field.

Still, in the oil-services sector, U.S companies are likely to do better. The success of the auction in December “implies a huge amount of service activity over the next two or three years,” Andrew Gould, chief E.xecutive of Schlumberger, the oil field services giant, said during a conference call from Houston.

Halliburton, Schlumberger and Bechtel are among U.S. companies in line to win contracts worth billions of dollars to repair pipelines, rebuild terminals and upgrade other infrastructure so that Iraq will be able to bring its crude oil to market, industry analysts say.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/bu...15reniraq.html

Iraq's troubled Elections
A ban on candidates with former ties to the Ba'ath party has led to increased political misdeeds ahead of the polls

Iraq's national elections will go ahead in a few weeks' time without one of the most prominent Sunni politicians in the country. Salah al-Mutlaq, who had been seeking to stand as part of Ayad Allawi's recently formed Iraqi National Movement (INM), had his appeal rejected on Friday. The decision was made after judges, as a result of an outcry among the great and powerful of Iraq's political actors, reversed their earlier, US-sponsored decision to postpone the appeals process until after the elections.

Fierce critics of the ban on candidates formerly tied to the Ba'ath party have called it a sectarian, pre-election tactic on the part of the Shia parties – particularly the largely sectarian and Iranian-backed Iraqi National Alliance, which also happens to have its own electoral candidates heading the commission that banned the candidates in the first place. The INM has, for the time being, chosen to suspend its campaigning in protest, but this is unlikely to lead a full boycott of the elections.

The general conclusion has been that Mutlaq's ban represents the liquidation of the threat to the "Shia" hold on power, but it is not yet certain which groups stand to gain the most from the affair. Individuals like Mutlaq may end up being political martyrs, which could then translate into votes for the INM, whose leader Ayad Allawi is predicted to also attract the secular Shia vote. More broadly, it could turn out to be advantageous for other Sunni and secular groupings, most of whom did not appeal the ban imposed on their candidates (and instead voluntarily replaced them) and who would benefit from the reduced competition, as well as from the heightened sense of nationalistic/anti-sectarian feelings in the tribal Sunni heartlands.

Conversely, Iraq's leading Shia parties may benefit the threat of Ba'athism becoming an electoral issue: protests in the Shia south suggests that it could end up dictating the vote in place of other issues such as the lack of basic services and employment and security – the latter which, but for the recent terror attacks, would have been the main campaign platform of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister.

Having the politics marred by an apparent Shia battle against the Sunnis, supplemented by an overarching power struggle between Iran, the US and the Arab world, could be in the interests of essentially sectarian groupings ISCI and the Sadrists. This may then prompt Maliki and his Islamic Dawa party to move away from its secularist, and relatively successful stance that proved fruitful in the provincial elections in January last year. All in all, it could constitute regression for the Iraqi state, given that it would fix the much-needed cracks that were starting to appear in the rigid sectarian dynamics of the political arena.

Meanwhile, the Kurds are preparing themselves for yet another electoral face-off between the powerful PUK-KDP alliance and political newcomer Change, but they will look on with a smile on their faces as they watch their Arab competitors in the south tear themselves apart. Increased division in the south makes the Kurds – who are largely united on the outstanding disputes – the all-important post-election ally and which, in turn, could give them the upper hand on disputes related to power, oil and land.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ions-baath-ban

Presidential Council endorses the law to impose income tax on foreign oil companies contracting for work in Iraq

Council approved the Presidency, in its meeting held on Monday 15/2/2010, the Act to impose income tax on foreign oil companies contracting for work in Iraq.

A statement by the Presidency of the Republic received by the independent press (Iba) that the approval was based on what passed the House of Representatives in accordance with the provisions of item (I) of Article (61) and the provisions of paragraph (a) of item (V) of Article (138) of the Constitution.

The law includes income tax rate (35%) of thirty-five percent on income earned in Iraq on contracts with foreign oil companies contracting for work in Iraq or its branches or offices and sub-contractors in the production and extraction of oil and gas and related industries.

The statement noted that the reasons for enactment of the law is for the purpose of supporting the national economy and the submission of income earned in Iraq to foreign oil companies and its sub-contractors in the production and extraction of oil and gas tax income.

http://www.ipairaq.com/index.php?nam...onomy&id=21365

CBI’s dollar sales drop to 178m on Tuesday

The Central Bank of Iraq’s (CBI) dollar sales reached $178.650 million in its daily auction on Tuesday, compared to $185.485 million in the previous session.

“The demand hit $12.06 million in cash, covered at an exchange rate of 1,170 Iraqi dinars per dollar, and $166.590 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 15 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell dollars.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127109

Tuesday Feb.16: Iraq - Turkey railway link re-opens


The first train service in decades has set off from northern Iraq to Turkey.

Both countries hope the re-opening of the historic rail link will contribute to the fast-growing trade between them.

Germany began building the Berlin to Baghdad railway a century ago, hoping to open a route through Turkey to the Gulf. It took three decades to finish.

But the two recent conflicts in Iraq have taken a toll on the rail network. There has been no regular service to neighbouring countries since the 1980s. But that should change now, with the first train leaving the city of Mosul on Tuesday and due to arrive in the eastern Turkish city of Gazientep 18 hours later, before making the return journey. For a distance of just 500km (311 miles), that is pretty slow going; running through Syria, the train has to cross two international borders.

But the revived rail link symbolises the increasingly close ties between the three countries.

Having overcome its fear of Kurdish nationalism, Turkey now does about $10bn of trade with Iraq's Kurdish regional government every year - about 80% of goods sold there are Turkish.

Relations between Iraq and Syria are more fragile - in the past Syria has been accused of backing the insurgents behind several big bomb attacks in Iraq.

But trade between them - and between Syria and Turkey - is growing rapidly.

Turkey is gradually upgrading its railway network with high-speed routes and Iraq also plans big investments in its railways.

http://www.pukmedia.com/english/inde...omy&Itemid=389

Ministry of Oil required oil companies invested manufacturing associated gas and handed over to Iraq for free

The Ministry of Oil in Baghdad, on Monday, oil companies have concluded contracts with the Iraqi Oil Ministry, to develop some of Iraq's oil fields, would be obliged to manufacture gas associated with oil and handed over to Iraq.

And Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil for extraction Alaibi Abdul Karim said in an interview for "Alsumaria News" on Monday, "The international oil companies that have already entered into contracts with the Iraqi Oil Ministry to develop oil fields in the two rounds of licensing the first and second, it will be obliged to prevent burning any amount of gas associated with oil, would also be required to build facilities for the manufacture of associated gas, and handed over to Iraq without charge."

Alaibi and pointed out that "nearly 70% of the gas that is emitted with the process of extracting oil, burn every day in Iraq is not benefiting from, and it caused great damage to the environment."

Iraq had occurred during the year 2010, several contracts with international companies to develop some oil fields, among the two rounds of licensing the first and second, to reach a production of at least 11 million barrels per day, within the next six years, and 12 million barrels a day, after Add the quantities produced of the other fields by national effort.

Alaibi and added that the Ministry of Oil, "and developed a plan to develop its gas fields in the coming years national effort especially in the fields of crutches and Mansuriyah", stating that "the development of these fields will be in addition to the production of associated gas, it will be sufficient to meet the needs of the Ministry of Electricity and Iraqi factories, to be issued to the surplus abroad."

The Iraqi Oil Ministry has offered the first licensing round in the gas fields for development, namely, field Mansuriyah in Diyala province, a crutch, and a field in Anbar province, but that none of the companies had not progressed to develop, because of the deteriorating security situation in the provinces.

For his part, Undersecretary of the Ministry for oil refineries Chandler Ahmed, said that the "Ministry of Oil a large project to develop the fields crutch and Mansuriyah invading national effort."

The Chandler said in an interview for "Alsumaria News", that "the project, which it hoped to decide in the coming days, will result in the first phase in each field, a hundred million cubic feet of gas," adding that the ministry "has signed contracts for the purchase of equipment for the development of fields and procedures are now creating the site and checks gas wells, and the addition of new wells, "he says.

Chandler added that "Iraq's production at the present time natural gas, with a nine hundred million cubic feet per day, are provided with the existing power stations, with the exception of modern ones, in addition to the factories of the Ministry of Industry," noting that "Iraq needs increase by significantly from the current production."

Chandler and the "natural gas, which results from the north to the south, consists of two types of gas: dry gas, which provides power stations and some petrochemical factories and fertilizer it needs, while the other type, it is the liquid gas used in homes, and the production of benzene is enhanced, by mixing natural gas oil with gasoline."

The Under the Ministry of Oil for refineries that "gas liquid production to approximately 4 thousand tons per day, fill the need for 85% of domestic production, estimated at four thousand and 500 tons per day, while the rest is imported from neighboring countries."

http://www.nasiriyah.org/nar/ifm.php?recordID=4654

Turkish company holds 3 trade exhibitions in Basra

A Turkish firm has expressed its readiness to organize three trade exhibitions at Basra International Airport, Basra’s first deputy governor said on Wednesday.

“The company’s director and other officials have made an outline of the products and equipment that will be displayed in the international exhibition in Basra…,” Nizar Rabie al-Jabiri said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The exhibition will be held from April 26-29, 2010.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127216

Military coups are something of the past, says Iraqi general

The possibility of someone staging a military coup in Iraq is almost nil, said Lt. Gen. Qassem Atta.

“No one has the ability today to stage a coup in Iraq,” said Atta in response to reports of a possible coup in the country as it gears up for general elections.

Atta made the remarks in response to media reports that senior military and security officers were planning for a coup prior to the elections scheduled for March 7.

“It is not possible for any military or political faction or individual to undertake a military coup,” added Atta.

The reports quoted a senior Iraqi politician as saying that the specter of a military coup was looming in Iraq.

Military coups were part of Iraqi political scene for decades since the 1958 revolution which overthrow the monarchy.

But Atta said the chance for that to happen was no longer there in Iraq.

Atta, who is also a spokesman for Baghdad Operations – the umbrella for the military and security forces guarding the capital, said the army would provide security for the elections to take place smoothly and peacefully.

He said Iraqi troops would guard 1,755 election centers across the country.

Iraq’s al-Qaeda branch has vowed to derail the elections.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index...02-17\kurd.htm

CBI’s dollar sales down on Wednesday

The Central Bank of Iraq’s (CBI) dollar sales went down to reach $90.068 million in its daily auction on Wednesday, compared to $178.650 million in the previous session.

“The demand hit $12.190 million in cash, covered at an exchange rate of 1,170 Iraqi dinars per dollar, and $77.878 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 14 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell dollars.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127186