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

Iraq: All eyes on the oil prize

IT IS nearly seven years after the US-led invasion of Iraq. US imperialism had hoped for a quick war, the Iraqi oil industry under the control of US companies and a compliant, stable regime. However, the situation today is very different to what George Bush and Tony Blair envisaged.

Chris Newby

The Iraqi population has been abandoned, facing high levels of unemployment and a lack of basic resources, while the Iraqi government and oil companies struggle for control of the country's enormous oil wealth. This has increased sectarian and national tensions within Iraq and these tensions are spilling over into the forthcoming elections on 7 March. Recent bomb attacks underline the dangerous situation that ordinary Iraqis still face.

Bremer

Control of the oil wealth in the predominantly Kurdish area of northern Iraq is a major issue underpinning a lot of tensions. That oil wealth is potentially vast. Estimates put the reserves in Iraq at 115 billion barrels, probably more than Iran's and second only to Saudi Arabia. Yet production is still running at 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) lower than the pre-war daily average of 2.5 million.

In post-Saddam Iraq, the US government was hoping to dramatically increase output under the control of predominantly US oil companies. To try to achieve this aim Paul Bremer, Bush's chief representative in Iraq in the year following the invasion, under the guise of removing all members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party from their positions, sacked oil technicians, engineers and administrators leaving behind only a skeleton crew of Iraqi oil workers to manage the existing production.

Bremer was hoping that private oil companies, eager to exploit the oil wealth, would come in with their workforces to take over. Some companies did, but attacks on oil pipelines and facilities increased from 200 in the first two years of occupation to 600 in 2007. In part this was in response to Bremer ripping up agreements over access to oil by the local population.

The major oil companies weighing up the risks decided the danger was too great at that stage. Also, significant action was taken by Iraqi oil workers striking against the privatisation of oil facilities in Basra.

Arguments developed between the Iraqi government and US about how the oil fields could be developed. None of these arguments centred on improving conditions for ordinary Iraqis, but who gets the biggest share of the oil wealth, the Iraqi regime or the oil companies.

In an attempt to develop the oilfields, on 2 January 2009 the Iraqi government offered a new deal to oil companies wanting to invest in Iraq, offering them $2 for every barrel they extracted after their original investment costs had been met.

The major oil companies initially rejected these terms out of hand, demanding complete control over production and payments of $25 per barrel! However, the Chinese National Petroleum company was keen to gain a foothold in Iraq and get its hands on some of the vast reserves. It induced BP, its partner in Iraq, to develop the Ramaila oilfield near Basra on the Iraqi government terms.

As a result of this other companies, not wanting to see the Chinese government gain all the most lucrative contracts, accepted contracts on the initial terms. These companies are mainly state-owned but include Shell and Exxon.

However, some members of the Iraqi parliament are now challenging these contracts, no doubt wanting to get their own hands on this oil wealth but also feeling the pressure from ordinary Iraqis angry at seeing jobs and the oil wealth leaving Iraq.

As Brigadier Marriner, the British defence attaché at the British embassy in Baghdad mused: "As a senior American politician said, 'If this was not about oil in 2003, it certainly is now'."

Elections

This is the background to the current elections. The government of prime minister Nuri al-Maliki is widely distrusted in Iraq. Iraq is judged as the fifth 'most corrupt' country in the world by Transparency International. US president Barack Obama is desperate for these elections to be held and to show some thin veneer of democracy.

The Iraq war and occupation has already cost the US government over $707 billion. At a time of the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s and with a US government debt of 12% of GDP, Obama urgently wants to limit the cost of this war with the aim of an ultimate withdrawal. But this cannot be at any cost. They want some form of stable regime that they can work with and one that will not stand in the way of the increasing exploitation of the oil wealth by private oil companies.

What these elections are not about is offering any dramatic improvement in the lives of ordinary Iraqis. All of the parties contesting the elections support the maintenance of capitalism and the ensuing cuts and privatisations that flow from this, while the wealthy elite enrich themselves at the workers' expense.

Unfortunately for Obama a spanner has been thrown into the works with the banning of about 500 of the 6,000 candidates and 15 of the parties by Iraq's accountability and justice commission.

Many of these are Sunni candidates and some have links to the banned Baath party. There is a fear that this could lead to an upsurge in sectarian violence and a boycott of the elections by sections of the Sunni-Arab population.

These elections will only serve to underline the majority of Iraqis' feelings towards the political process. As a retired agriculture professor in Baghdad recently said: "Most people don't trust the politicians now. They know they're backed by some outside power, and the biggest power is the Americans, so whoever the Americans back will win."

Iraqis' lives

The conditions that most Iraqis face are a clear reminder that the war and occupation were nothing to do with improving the lives of ordinary Iraqis. Unemployment stands at around 50% and about four million Iraqis are displaced. Alongside the fear that many Iraqis feel with the upturn in the bombing attacks, the conditions that many Iraqis face are brutal: 1,730 square kilometres of land are contaminated by landmines and unexploded ordnance, making 11% of all water supplies inaccessible.
Access to clean water is critical yet 15% of households are not connected to the public water network and in some areas 73% of the population have no access to safe water.

The number of women dying in childbirth is 300 women per 100,000 births in Iraq compared to 140 women per 100,000 births in neighbouring Iran. Yet prior to the years of western sanctions and then the invasion and occupation, Iraq had one of the more advanced health systems in the region.

Nearly a quarter of the population lives below the official poverty line of $2.20 a day and in just under 10% of districts in the country acute malnutrition in children - newly borns to five years old - runs at over 10%. Overcrowding in housing is also a massive problem with 13% of housing in urban areas occupied by ten occupants or more. There is a shortfall of two million houses.

Workers' movement

There is evidence that the suppressed workers' movement is struggling to improve the conditions for Iraqi workers, however small these steps forward may be.

The beginning of 2010 saw a strike of hotel workers at the Rasheed hotel in the green zone in Baghdad over a risk bonus. This followed on from a strike of leather workers which was successful in winning a 25%-30% safety bonus for 1,500 workers in the state-run enterprise of leather industries. Previous to that there had been an 18-day strike of 4,000 textile workers.

What is clearly lacking throughout Iraq is a non-sectarian mass workers' party that will fight for workers' rights and for the defence of public services, though these struggles can be part of the process of developing such a party.

This party needs to develop a programme that can begin to take the struggles of the Iraqi people forward. Its programme should include the democratic ownership by the people of Iraq of the major companies that dominate the economy and it should use the wealth of these companies, including the vast natural resources, for the benefit of the people of Iraq as a whole.

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/8891

The unresolved issue of Kurdish national aspirations

A BIG issue in Iraq is the national aspirations of the Kurdish population. Consciousness varies in different parts of the Kurdish area of northern Iraq, with support ranging from autonomy to outright independence.

The Socialist Party supports the right of the Kurdish population to self determination up to and including independence if that is what the majority of the population democratically decide.

It is no surprise that control of the oil reserves plays a part in this situation as well. The Kurdish area of Iraq sits on 5% of the world's known oil reserves - the 6th largest in the world.

There are growing ethnic tensions between the Arab, Turkoman and Kurdish populations. On the Arab/ Kurdish border known as the 'trigger line' there are 130 violent attacks a month. Many in Iraq, particularly in the government, do not want to see the separation of Iraqi Kurdistan - concerned at the loss of the oil wealth in the country.

However there is also pressure from neighbouring states, in particular Turkey, which is completely opposed to an independent Kurdish state of Iraq for fear of the effect this would have on the Kurdish population in Turkey.

In the Kurdish area in Iraq there is a growing mood amongst the population against the established Kurdish capitalist parties, the PUK and KDP, who many see as corrupt and not committed enough to national independence. Both the PUK and KDP have a history of perpetrating outrages against one another, including a catastrophic Kurdish civil war in 1993-1998.

A new political force Gorran ("movement for change") made a significant breakthrough in the elections to the regional parliament in July last year, winning 25 seats on an anti-corruption platform.

Gorran, however, is not a workers' organisation. It is headed by former PUK leader and media owner Nawshirwan Mistefa, who wants to 'modernise' the Kurdish region based on a free market economy.

The current situation shows the urgent need for an independent Kurdish party that is able to connect the national liberation aspiration to the social liberation of workers and poor people.

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/8891

CBI’s dollar sales drop to 89m

The Central Bank of Iraq’s (CBI) dollar sales went down to $89.812 million in its daily auction on Thursday, compared to $149.520 million in the previous session.

“The demand hit $2.350 million in cash, covered at an exchange rate of 1,183 Iraqi dinars per dollar, and $87.462 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 12 banks that participated in today’s session offered to sell dollars.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127623

Minister of Oil: the ministry's insistence on the development of the fields paves the way for the return of Iraq to its international

said Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said the state has taken the decision to establish rounds of competition at the insistence of the Ministry of Oil by because of the benefits of the economy based on national development of the fields down to the return of Iraq to the level of the best among oil-producing countries.

He said al-Shahristani, told the independent press (Iba) the approval of the International Secretariat of Transparency Initiative in Oslo Iraq's membership in the initiative unanimously to pave the restoration of Iraq's international status as one of the first countries in the region and the OPEC countries in joining the initiative.

He explained that the ministry and the rest of its subsidiaries has been able to overcome the obstacles and success of the conferences of the licensing contracts, despite the objections of some parties on the legal and professional contracts. Indicating that Iraq's possession of oil reserves to pave the higher rates of daily production is clearly in the future.

He noted that this initiative dealing with the commitment of governments and extractive companies transparently deploy the proceeds and payments relating to mining of natural resources from the ground and compliance and control in the presence of representatives of civil society.
He said al-Shahristani, this announcement is the result of the tireless efforts made by the ministry in order to achieve the requirements of accession of the official announcement.

http://www.ipairaq.com/index.php?nam...onomy&id=21754

Saudi huge budget to buy votes and a coup in Iraq

Confirmed the opposition that Riyadh has allocated a huge budget to buy votes in favor of some candidates for the upcoming Iraqi election, warning of "dangerous proportions," and "coup attempts" in the case of failure of its plans.

The network quoted a "two rivers Net" electronic sources in the Saudi opposition based in Washington, saying that the possession of information "unfolded on the monitoring of the government of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, on the imaginary budget to hit the Shiites in Iraq through the democratic process."

According to information sources, "in the event of lack of success in this task, the alternative is to prepare and plan for the implementation of a military coup at any cost, whatever the result."

"The visit to former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to Riyadh last Saturday, and his meeting with King Abdullah and intelligence chief Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, who personally handled the Iraq issue will have a dangerous dimension to the situation in Iraq, both in the context of elections or later, specifically a dangerous dimension to the present and the future of the Shiites of Iraq."

The "It is unfortunate to receive political and Iraqi national parties this visit, as a simple visit and meeting protocols between the Iraqi political leader and the Saudi officials."

She said it is Alaoml that promote knowledge of the seriousness of the consequences of this visit, and the seriousness of their Impact Report posted on an intelligence Saudi Arabia after the visit, "which he is careful to report absence of the real objectives of the visit and its results claiming that it aimed to only work on improving bilateral relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which have deteriorated due to the policies rulers in Iraq."

These sources confirmed that "the previous information obtained from inside the country confirmed that Saudi officials told Iyad Allawi, said they were putting behaving unlimited budget, billions of dollars for the purchase of receivables in the current elections, in order to pay for liberal, secular and liberal elements of the list and other lists, and liberal access to parliament,".

She added, "Our information confirmed by the now confirm that King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz said in a private and very brief (we paid for Saddam's $ 45 billion to wage war on Iran and we paid $ 80 billion for Americans to expel Saddam Hussein after Iraq invaded Kuwait Lachmann them, and we are ready to spend budget $ 250 billion to restore the rule of Shiites in Iraq and the Governor of another discipline, like Saddam, but we need time to implement our policy."

With the approach of the Iraqi legislative elections on the seventh of next month, has stepped up some Iraqi political forces outside the political movements throughout the country.

After Iyad Allawi's visit to Riyadh, looking Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi Wednesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Iraqi elections.

http://alforattv.net/index.php?show=...ticle&id=43613

The British Consul in Arbil, confirms his country's efforts in introducing the investment companies to Iraq

said the British consul in the city of Arbil, Jeremy Makadi, Britain's efforts to engage the serious companies (Iraqi-British) common to the implementation of large contracts, not only in Iraq but in Britain too.

Makadi said in a joint meeting between the Chamber of Commerce in Arbil and the British consulate in the Kurdistan Region was held on Monday that it has already been achieved through the company (Plan B) carried out by Iraqi contracts in Baghdad and London in the field of Information Technology.

And said British Consul in Arbil, the possibility of repetition of the experience provided by the company in the implementation of some projects that became a model for other companies, local, Arab and foreign.

http://www.ipairaq.com/index.php?nam...onomy&id=21825

Iraq to reinstate 20,000 officers from Saddam's army

More than 20,000 army officers who served under deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein are to be reinstated, a defence ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

"Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave his consent to reinstate 20,400 officers" who had made a request, Mohammad al-Askari said.

The United States dissolved Saddam's 450,000-strong army shortly after the 2003 US-led invasion.
Askari said the requests had come since 2008 from former officers either still living in Iraq or residing abroad. The reinstated officers now had "one month and 45 days" to report for duty.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidAN...dam%27s%20army

Asiacell Launches Unique Offer for Bonus Credit
100% bonus credit for prepaid customers

Within its efforts towards offering all that is unique and comprehensive to its prepaid customers, and in line with its plans to expand its customer base, Asiacell - the largest private Iraqi company and the first and only m.obile telecommunications company to provide coverage for all of Iraq - announced the launch of a new promotion offered for the first time in Iraq that provides 100% bonus credit to customers purchasing a new prepaid line and those recharging it during the promotion period. The promotion will be launched on the 25th of February and will be effective until March 25th 2010.

This unique promotion provides new Asiacell prepaid subscribers and new Youth Line subscribers the opportunity to receive 100% bonus credit that will be added to their balance if they recharge with scratch cards in the amounts of USD 10 or USD 20 or USD 30. The bonus shall be received in five equal installments over a period of five months, thus enabling prepaid subscribers to benefit from the features of this offer as well as other innovative features provided by Asiacell.

Commenting on this offer, Dr. Diar Ahmed, Asiacell's CEO, said: "We strive through this offer to respond to the telecom needs of all Iraqis across Iraq and provide them with unique offers that correspond to their every day requirements at competitive prices. This offer reflects our commitment to increasing our customer base in order to retain our advanced position in the Iraqi telecom market and contribute to developing the telecom sector in a manner that benefits our national economy and our efforts towards building a new Iraq."

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

Iranian companies discuss investment opportunities in Basra

A group of representatives of Iranian firms discussed with the Basra Investment Commission officials on Thursday opportunities available for projects in the oil-rich port city, according to the commission chief.

“A delegation representing several Iranian firms led by the trade attaché of the Iranian consulate in Basra considered ways to launch projects in the fields of oil and gas and other service fields,” Hayder Ali Fadel told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The projects included a pilot one to stretch a line from al-Sheieba refinery to al-Taji or al-Dora refineries to build a plane fuel refinery,” Fadel added.

He said that the companies that visited the Basra Investment Commission today (Feb. 25) have 50,000 factories all over Iran and abroad and are exporting their products to 120 countries in addition to their activities in 30 countries to provide engineering and technical services.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127662

CBI sells $642m this week

The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) dollar sales went down this week by 14%to reach $642.851 million compared to $744.306 million last week.

“The demand hit $42.120 million in cash this week compared to $71.030 million last week, covered at exchange rate of 1,183 Iraqi dinars per dollar, and $600.731 million in foreign transfers outside the country, compared to $673.276 last week, 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 banks that participated in this week’s session offered to sell dollars.

http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=127668