Thread: Archive News - Iraqi Dinar Think Tank - 06/10/2010 - 24/01/2011

Baghdad plans to send a ministerial committee to Washington broad powers to attract companies invested

The adviser in the Iraqi government ended its mandate, said Monday that the government would send a ministerial committee has broad powers in the first of November to the United States to attract more than 130 U.S. company to work investment projects in Iraq.

Salam al-Quraishi, told the Kurdish news agency (Rn) that "the Commission will examine the main obstacles facing investment companies in the U.S. work in Iraq and the success of investment experience in the country."

Quraishi and that "the Committee is composed of the National Authority for Investment and the Ministry of Construction and Housing and the Ministry of Municipalities and a number of provincial councils and board of advisers of the prime minister."

Iraq seeks to increase its investment to $ 660 billion after the extensive tour of his officials in a number of countries to attract investment companies.

Qureshi said that "more than 130 investment company has extended an invitation to the Iraqi government to visit the United States to discuss ways to overcome the obstacles facing investment," noting that "2011 will see the active presence of the United States after the security situation improves by a large margin."

He explained that "many of the investment countries worried about the implementation of projects in Iraq because of the problems of ownership of the land and the process of disbursement of funds for the implementation of projects." Adding that "the State Commission that will be sent to the United States will have broad powers to overcome obstacles and problems facing the work of these companies, according to the mechanisms Legal accredited to the Iraqi government. "

Announced that the National Investment Commission time earlier, that the main obstacle to the investment process after security, is the ownership of the land and the multiple sources of decision in the management of the investment portfolio in the country. Criticize economists investment law in 2006 because he did not emphasize the protection of solid of money invested Alajni and local levels.

And formed the National Commission for Investment in 2007 after the issuance of the new law to invest in Iraq, the body responsible for strategic investment projects, all of a federal nature exclusively, while the regional and provincial bodies responsible for investment planning and granting investment licenses in their areas.

http://www.aknews.com/ar/aknews/2/190904/

Oil official: crude oil exports for the month of September last year exceeded 60 million barrels

The total exports of Iraqi crude oil for the month of September last year 60.6 million barrels and that the amounts realized from the sale amounted to 4.428 billion dollars in accordance with what was announced by a source in the Ministry of Oil.

He said Almsdrllokalp by news Monday that average selling price was 73.07 dollars per barrel and exported quantities of crude oil for the month of September Tksmt between Basrah, which total exports of 45.2 million barrels and the amounts realized from the sale amounted to 3.28 billion dollars, while exports have been the oil of Kirkuk 15, 4 million amounts realized from the sale 1.148 billion dollars.

The source added that the quantities that have been loaded by the international oil companies that carry different nationalities of the 28 oil company, was one of the ports of Basra and Khor al-Amaya in the Gulf Arab, and Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, trucking and truck to Jordan.

http://radionawa.com/Ar/NewsDetailN....043&LinkID=155

Federal Court decides to abolish the Iraq Parliament's open session

Iraq's Federal Court has decided on Sunday to abolish the open session of the Iraqi Parliament and to resume the Parliament's normal sessions, according to an urgent report by the semi-official Al-Iraqiya TV Channel.

The Parliament had failed to hold any session since the general elections that took place on March 7, 2010, but for an open session on June 14, 2010, that was concentrated on reading the legal oath by some Parliament members, and had stopped the works of the session till an unknown date, pending the agreement by different political blocs to distribute the leading State poisons among them.

The Iraqi Constitution includes an article regarding the holding of the Parliament's first session to elect the Parliament's Speaker, his two deputies by the majority voting by a number of Parliament members, through direct voting and then the election of a new President of the Republic, provided the latter would assign the leader of the largest parliamentary bloc to form the government, according to Article 76 of the Constitution.

The Iraqi political arena had witnessed every-increasing differences since the announcement of the reults of the nationwide elections that took place on March 7th last, that escalated between the two main blocs that won the largest number of seats in the new parliament, al-Iraqiya bloc, led by former Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi and outgoing Prime Minister and leader of State of Law bloc, Nouri al-Maliki, with the first that got 91 out of the parliament's 325-seats and the latter that got 89 seats.

The Sate of Law, that formed a coalition with other blocs to achieve the largest bloc in the new parliament, had demanded the formation of the new government, whilst Al-Iraqiya refused the claim, saying that it had gained the largest number of seats in the said elections, and thus it had the right to form government.

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

Oil: licensing contracts will be signed after approval by invading the Council of Ministers

Said a spokesman for the Ministry of Oil, Monday, the final signature of contracts by the third round of licensing has been referred under which three gas fields for investment will be made after approval of the Council of Ministers directly.

He said Assem Jihad told (Voices of Iraq) that "The oil ministry after the victory of corporate contracts for third round of licenses for the fields of oil will provide the contracts to the Council of Ministers for approval as soon as possible," noting that the ministry "will be determined immediately after the date for the final signing with the international companies".

The third round of licenses for fields invading Iraq ended assignment field crutch in Anbar province, to a consortium of Kocaz Korean Munai Kaz Kazakhstan equally between them, and the field of Saybah in Basra, a coalition led by Kuwait Energy by 60% and TPAO of Turkey, while the transmitted field Mansourieh gas in Diyala TPAO to a coalition led by 50% and the membership of Kuwait Energy by 30% and the Korean Kocaz by 20%.

It contains three fields, collectively, more than 11 trillion cubic meters of gas.

http://radionawa.com/Ar/NewsDetailN....024&LinkID=155

Iran, Iraq leaders discuss boosting ties: state TV

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad telephoned his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani and discussed boosting relations between the two neighbours, state media reported on Monday.

Sunday's conversation between the two leaders came a week after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited Tehran as part of a Middle East tour aimed at securing regional support for keeping his job following an inconclusive general election in March.

"I hope that with the formation of a new Iraqi government, bilateral ties will expand in different areas, especially in the economic and political fields," state television quoted Ahmadinejad as telling Talabani.

The Iraqi president said he hoped to travel to Iran once the new government is in place, the television said on its website.

Protracted coalition talks in Baghdad are set to come to a head after Iraq's highest court told parliament on Sunday to end the deadlock in electing a new prime minister and president.

Maliki has been locked in a battle for the premiership with former prime minister Iyad Allawi.

Iran has stepped up its diplomatic activity in the region in recent weeks, visiting Lebanon and holding telephone talks twice in eight days with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

In his talks with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week, Maliki called Iraq's relations with its eastern neighbour "strategic" and urged Tehran to help rebuild his country.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidAN...A%20state%20TV

Iraqi Finance renewed its claim to raise zeros from the local currency

renewed the Iraqi Finance Ministry claim of the Central Bank of Iraq need to raise three zeroes from the local currency, said advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance that the process of lifting the zeros from the local currency will facilitate the circulation of funds between Iraq and the investment companies, as they will be addressed economic crises in the country.



The chancellor said the ministry, Alckheon Zia, in an interview with Kurdistan News Agency (Rn) that "the lifting of the three zeroes from the local currency will facilitate financial transactions between governmental institutions and global investment firms operating in Iraq."

He added that "the Ministry of Finance consistently advocated the need to raise three zeroes from the local currency to address the economic problems facing the trade and closer economic difference between Iraq's domestic currency and the currencies of regional states."

And that "change the currency does not affect practically the value of the salaries of staff not on the value of the Iraqi dinar, because the purpose of the order of the financial situation of the country."

He Alckheon that "start to change the local currency during 2011 will result in a strong Iraqi economy can meet the changes that occur on the international market."

In the opinion of Supervisors on the management of the CBI that the process of deletion of zeros from the currency would cause the increase in expenses, which in turn will allow an increase of cases of financial corruption, in addition to not addressing the problem of inflation suffered by Iraq.

The rumors have recently confirmed that the Iraqi government plans to make changes to the local currency, including raising three zeros "in order to reduce the inflation suffered by the Iraqi market", as well as add the language Kurdish paper currency.

The local Iraqi currency has gone through several changes in its history, most recently in 2004 when the former Governing Council replaced the previous currency, which was a symbol of the former regime.

http://www.aknews.com/ar/aknews/2/190679/

Originally Posted by davidwilsoon

The Central Bank of Iraq’s (CBI) dollar sales went down to $116.511 million in its daily auction on Wednesday (Oct-6), compared to $163.939 million in the previous session.

“The demand hit $9.660 million in cash, covered at an exchange rate of 1,183 Iraqi dinars per dollar, and $106.851 million in foreign transfers outside the country, covered at an exchange rate of 1,179 Iraqi dinars per dollar,” according to a CBI news bulletin received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

This was three weeks ago...

UPDATE: =Iraq Likely To Sign Shell Gas Deal By End-2010 - Official

Iraq is meeting with Royal Shell Dutch PLC (RDSB) to finalize a draft of a $12 billion deal to develop a gas-structure project in southern Iraq, and may sign a deal by the end of this year, a senior Iraqi oil official said Tuesday.

"There is a meeting being held in Basra [Tuesday] to agree on a final draft contract," Asri Mousa, an Iraqi Oil Ministry technical advisor told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of an Iraqi petroleum meeting in Istanbul. It could be the last meeting before sending the draft to the cabinet for approval, he said.

"We are expecting to sign the project with Shell by the end of this year," he said.
Asked why the project was delayed, Mousa said the two parties needed to agree on some legal wording of the draft contract and they had done so.

The Iraqi cabinet last month delayed the finalization of the project with Shell and Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. to capture gas from Basra's oilfields because of legal issues related to the joint venture. The cabinet already had approved the planned investment in June, but it is now waiting to sign the final draft once it is resubmitted by the oil ministry.

Production of the 25-year venture--in which Baghdad has 51%, Shell 44% and Mitsubishi Corp. (8058.TO) 5%--is expected to reach 2.5 billion cubic feet a day, officials said.
The project calls for the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal, to be built by Shell and Mitsubishi, to handle the export of 600 million cubic feet a day of gas.

Shell had said one option would be to create a floating LNG facility off the coast of Basra in southern Iraq, which would be particularly attractive from a security standpoint.

The joint venture initially would deliver gas to Iraq's domestic market, mainly for electricity generation, but would export the extra gas after meeting local need in the form of LNG.

Iraq, which has natural gas reserves totaling 112.6 trillion cubic feet, produces only around 1.6 billion cubic feet a day, half of which is being flared. However, the country has ambitions to become one of the world's biggest LNG exporters, Mousa said.

Shell in January signed two Iraqi supergiant southern oil fields--a lead role in Majnoon and a minority stake in West Qurna Phase 1. The project will also invest in gas produced from the Rumaila and Zubair oil fields.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...26-713781.html

Iraq awards $28 m contract to Alstom

French engineering group Alstom has won a contract worth $27.8 million with Iraq to repair a power plant unit in Najaf, to be signed before the end of October, Reuters reported.

Alstom commented that the unit, which has been damaged for five years is expected to be reconnected to Iraq's electricity grid by summer of next year.

An initial agreement was signed by the French firm last july to repair the power station. It was understood that there would be another power plant that could be valued at $2 billion near Basra that would supply substations in various locations of Iraq.

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, said the country?s electricity consumption is expected to rise by 10 percent every year over the coming 20 years.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_...yId=1093373775

Dispute over Iraqi gas licences

Al Iraqiya, the political bloc that won the most seats in Iraq's national election, believes the country's recently awarded gas development contracts are "illegal", suggesting it may cancel the deals if it forms the next government.

The statement highlights the potential pitfalls faced by the companies that last Wednesday won licences to develop gas fields in Iraq in an auction held by the country's oil ministry.

While most international oil companies stayed away from the bidding round, the rights to pump gas for 20 years from three fields that between them contain more than 11 trillion cubic feet of reserves went to teams of companies from South Korea, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Kuwait.

The four companies involved in various combinations in the winning consortiums are the state-controlled Korea Gas Corporation, Turkish Petroleum Corporation, KazMunaiGaz and the privately held Kuwait Energy Company. All are newcomers to Iraq and none except the five-year-old Kuwait Energy has any notable experience of Middle East oil and gas projects.

In rejecting the gas auction sponsored by the government of the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al Maliki, the Sunni-backed al Iraqiyaalliance led by Mr al Maliki's chief political rival, the former prime minister Ayad Allawi, has added further uncertainty to the deals and to Iraq's immediate prospects for developing its most important source of fuel for domestic power generation. On Sunday, the bloc issued a statement saying it "strongly condemns the outgoing government's actions to offer licence rounds with long-term contracts" and accused the government of "overstepping its constitutional mandates".

The oil ministry's actions were "illegal in light of the current constitutional and political vacuum engulfing the country, which exposes the oil ministry and all parties concerned to legal questioning and which may also lead to the cancellation of these contracts", it alleged.

Al Iraqiyaalso claimed that the licences did not comply with existing Iraqi laws, dating from the era of Saddam Hussein, and required parliamentary approval for oil and gas contracts. The same claims have been applied to the oil development contracts Iraq's oil ministry previously awarded in a move to boost the country's crude exports. The oil contracts, however, are less controversial due to their extremely tough terms and because whoever forms Iraq's next government will need strong oil revenues to finance the country's reconstruction.

Moreover, the biggest Iraqi oil projects have lured the world's largest international petroleum groups, such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, bringing access to advanced oil field technology. Less is immediately at stake if the gas contracts fall through, since no gas could be produced without significant infrastructure upgrades first. Such investment might be pointless until security in Iraq improves substantially.

The gas deals have angered many Iraqis who oppose any gas exports until the country's chronic electricity woes have been fixed. Foreign firms, however, were unwilling to bid on gas projects without export potential. Al Iraqiya's strongly worded objections to last week's deals come as Mr Allawi mounts a new push to form a government against fierce resistance from an alliance between Mr al Maliki's State of Law Coalition with conservative Shiite groups. On Wednesday, the bloc announced it had formed a new axis of 130 members of parliament to compete with the 132-member alliance currently backing Mr al Malikiand his allies. Mr Allawi has since held talks with Kurdish members of Iraq's parliament and has proposed an alliance between al Iraqiyaand the Kurds. Iraq's March 7 parliamentary elections produced no clear winner and the main political blocs have been unable to form a government in the ensuing seven and a half months.

http://www.thenational.ae/business/e...i-gas-licences