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Iraqi refugees start to regain home
Friday, February 08, 2008 11:53 GMT
Immigration and Displaced Minister Abdul Samad Sultan announced that Iraqi refugees who were forced to flee their homes on account of sectarian violence have started to return in light of security improvement, noting that it’s hard to determine the overall number of Iraqis who have returned home. In an interview with Reuters, Sultan asserted that there are major signs on the return of families to Iraq as flows are noticed in airports and at border points. He added that a scan will be carried out with the cooperation of international medical contingents to reach detailed statistics. While noting that some of the Iraqis who returned need money to reform their houses or at least rent others houses, Sultan stated that the worst is when people return to find their houses occupied as there are 100 similar cases before competent authorities while the government has started taking necessary measures thereof.
http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-13780-Iraqi-refugees-start-to-regain-home.html
US: Iranian-backed attacks increase in Iraq
Friday, February 08, 2008 09:58 GMT
David Satterfield, the State Department’s Iraq coordinator, affirmed that attacks by Iranian-backed groups in Iraq have increased in recent months, saying that he believes Iran still wants US forces out of Iraq to increase its own local and regional influence.
“Iran remains lethally engaged in terms of providing training and equipment to the most radical and the most violent forces in Iraq. Attacks by those forces continue,” Satterfield added.
He noted that US President George W Bush hopes to leave his successor a more stable Iraq and the time to weigh options on how to deal with the country that holds the world’s third largest oil reserves.
uh oh...Iran gonna get flat soon...lol
lol nice huh?
Bush rallies conservatives for campaign
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080208/...ervatives_bush
by By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 28 minutes ago
Without naming John McCain, President Bush marshaled the conservative wing of the Republican Party on Friday to back the presumed GOP presidential nominee for the upcoming battle against the Democratic Party. "The stakes in November are high. This is an important election. Prosperity and peace are in the balance," Bush told about 2,000 people attending the Conservative Political Action Conference. "So with confidence in our vision and faith in our values, let us go forward, fight for victory and keep the White House in 2008."
Bush spoke to a boisterous crowd shortly after 7 a.m. EST. The ballroom erupted in cheers when someone shouted "Are there conservatives in the house?" When the president walked on stage, they clapped and chanted "Four more years! Four more years!"
Bush reached his lowest approval rating in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday as only 30 percent said they like the job he is doing, including an all-time low in his support by Republicans. Still, the crowd gave him standing ovations, cheering his comments on tax relief, the military buildup in Iraq, the Reagan years and his opposition to abortion. They booed when Bush said his critics want to expand the size and scope of the federal government.
Conservatives are resigned to seeing McCain lead the Republican ticket in November, but they are concerned that he has a long history of disputes over economic and social issues with the party's right flank. And it remains unclear how many conservative voters will stay at home in November or try to influence McCain's positions — and his choice of a running mate.
Bush is not ready to weigh in formally on the election, even though Mitt Romney announced on Thursday that he was suspending his campaign, virtually sealing the nomination for McCain. The president is, however, priming the GOP's conservative base to get ready to back McCain.
"We have had good debates and soon we will have a nominee who will carry a conservative banner into this election and beyond," Bush said.
"I'm absolutely confident that with your help, we will elect a person who shares our principles," the president said.
McCain claims he is a true conservative and has lined up the endorsements of many conservative political leaders. But James Dobson, one of the nation's most prominent evangelical Christian leaders, backed Mike Huckabee's presidential bid Thursday night. Dobson reiterated his declaration on Super Tuesday that he could not in good conscience vote for McCain because of concerns over the Arizona senator's conservative credentials.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was straightforward in expressing his support for McCain. "I've had some disagreements with John McCain over the years, but he's my friend," McConnell said. "More importantly for this race, he's a conservative. And he has my full support.
"When Americans see what the liberals are offering this year, we'll win again," McConnell said, adding that eight years ago, Bush "showed the Clintons the door." "With the help of you all, we're going to make sure they stay out," he said. Bush used his speech to the conservative gathering as a venue for comparing and contrasting Republican philosophies with those of GOP critics.
He defended his record on the economy, saying tax cuts contributed to a record 52 months of job creation, which just ended. Bush backed his decision to twice veto legislation to pave the way for taxpayer-funded embryo research, and he lauded medical advances in stem cell research that would yield good results without destroying embryos.
On Iraq, the president defended his decision to send thousands more U.S. troops there.
"Our critics had a different view," he said. "They looked at rising violence in Iraq and declared the war was lost. Some concluded the surge had failed before it had even fully begun. ... We stood our ground and we are seeing the results. ... I recognize that the progress in Iraq is fragile and there are tough days ahead, yet even the enemy recognizes that they are on the wrong side of events."
Bush said his administration stayed on the offense against extremists in Afghanistan because it recognized that the threat was not just a matter of law enforcement. "One commentator said most Afghans would oppose an American invasion and fight the foreign occupiers," he said.
Instead, Bush said, the hardline Taliban regime was ousted, the Afghan people elected a new president and parliament, roads and hospitals are being built and girls are now going to school. While Afghanistan has a long recovery ahead, he said, the United States, NATO and other allies are working to secure the country. Last year was the bloodiest year in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led toppling of the Taliban in 2001.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered 2,200 Marines to go to southern Afghanistan this spring. And on Thursday in the Afghan capital of Kabul, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, made a renewed push to portray the war as winnable and worthy of international support despite a so-far-unsuccessful struggle to get more allies to commit frontline forces.
___
On the Net:
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) has won court orders freezing up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets around the world as it fights for compensation for operations lost to President Hugo Chavez's nationalization drive.
if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object();window.yzq_d['lx2_m9GDJGQ-']='&U=13b2un1ci%2fN%3dlx2_m9GDJGQ-%2fC%3d635877.12017484.12446430.1442997%2fD%3dLREC %2fB%3d5153670';
The largest U.S. company sought the asset freeze to guarantee repayment should it win arbitration over the Cerro Negro heavy oil project.
The move is the boldest challenge yet by an international oil major against any of the governments around the world that have moved to increase their holds on natural resources as energy and commodity prices have soared.
"To me it sounds like a very aggressive tactic," said Stephen Zamora, professor of international law at the University of Houston Law Center.
"I can't really say that I'm aware this has been used in other investment disputes. They may be trying to get the government to settle."
Exxon -- which last week posted the largest ever year's profit by a U.S. company -- said on Thursday it has received court orders in Britain, the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles each freezing up to $12 billion in assets of Venezuela state oil firm PDVSA. An Exxon spokeswoman said the total that could be frozen worldwide was $12 billion.
Exxon also won a court order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in December freezing more than $300 million belonging to PDVSA, seeking to guarantee repayment should it win the arbitration.
PDVSA, one of the largest suppliers of crude oil to the United States, was not immediately available for comment. The White House and the U.S. State Department also declined to comment.
Venezuela's sovereign bonds sold off after the court orders surfaced.
Left-winger Chavez, who regularly clashes with the Bush administration, took over Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips (COP.N) stakes in multibillion-dollar heavy oil projects in Venezuela's oil region last June.
The move was part of the left-wing leader's drive to nationalize key industries including utilities and telecommunications companies owned by private companies.
CHALLENGE TO CHAVEZ
The news comes as a tough blow to Chavez, who suffered a stinging defeat in a December referendum that would have let him run indefinitely for reelection and enshrine socialism as the OPEC nation's economic system.
PDVSA is already facing growing debt and increasing operational problems that analysts attribute to underinvestment caused by the company's massive contributions to Chavez's social programs.
But the near-term effect of the Exxon legal maneuver on PDVSA's day-to-day operations was not immediately clear.
The South American nation has an extensive overseas refining network, including the Citgo refining and marketing branch in the United States.
Exxon said in court filings that recent estimates have placed PDVSA's global asset value -- including its operations in Venezuela -- at over $62 billion
PDVSA's European refining assets, principally a 50 percent share in the German refining joint venture Ruhr Oel, were held through a Netherlands Company PDV Europa BV, according to filings PDVSA made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2006.
Exxon filed for arbitration in September with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Exxon has not specified how much it wants for the 41.7 percent stake in the Cerro Negro project, but it has said its remaining book investment in the project was about $750 million at the time the assets were expropriated.
The move underscores Exxon's reputation for toughness in dealing with foes as varied as governments and fishermen, as it has been willing to wage prolonged legal battles to defend its interests around the world.
Amy Meyers Jaffe, energy policy researcher at Rice's Baker Institute, said the case could have far-reaching implications.
"These are precedents that are going to be important for what people can and cannot do in the oil industry," she said.
ConocoPhillips spokesman William Tanner said his company "continues to discuss an amicable resolution regarding the assets that were expropriated in Venezuela."
Conoco filed for arbitration over the dispute in November.
Venezuela's benchmark global bond due 2027 lost 2.375 points in price to be bid 98.938, while total returns offered by the country's debt slipped 1.52 percent according to the JP Morgan EMBI+ index. (Additional reporting by Robert Campbell, Matt Daily and Matthew Robinson in New York; Anna Driver in Houston; and Brian Ellsworth in Caracas; Editing by Gary Hill)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080208/...on_venezula_dc
LGYH come on you muthaaaaaa
LGYH got 2 emails this am....looks ok
LGYH looking better...got .44's this am
thanks...I appreciate it
ok that'll be great
Iraq in joint venture offer to foreign investors
Last Updated: 1:03am GMT 08/02/2008
By Roland Gribben
FOREIGN investors are being offered joint venture and production-sharing agreements in 400 state-owned factories and plants in Iraq in an effort to break the industrial reconstruction log jam.
A US soldier in the ruins of a bombed Iraqi factory.
Rebuilding has been slow amid bribery allegations
Forty contracts, described as the "most productive and lucrative", are being offered in an initial programme that Fawzi Hariri, minister of industry and minerals, hopes will yield $2bn in foreign investment. Priority is being given to cement plants crucial to rebuilding and modernising factories in a war-ravaged economy.
Mr Hariri is gambling that the joint venture package, along with freedom to run the factories on a long-term basis, will allay the fears of foreign companies about the risks of operating in Iraq. State businesses range from petrochemicals to food and pharmaceutical operations, construction and engineering industries, industrial services and textile plants.
Mr Hariri is breaking with Iraq's "big bang" approach where large-scale projects have been dangled before international constructors, often with disastrous results amid allegations of bribery.
Iraq has been accused of wasting billions of pounds in western aid while foreign contractors have faced criticism about their performance in tackling important power and water infrastructure programmes.
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Iraq has no privatisation legislation but the Hariri project is seen as akin to backdoor privatisation. The joint venture programme will be launched at a conference in Dubai on April 19-20 where about 40 officials heading state-owned enterprises along with government officials have been lined up to meet foreign businesses.
John Lyons, a US consultant who has been providing advice to the Iraqi government for four years, said: "Yes, security is a concern, but things are improving and there are many factories in areas free of terrorist activity."
Iraq in joint venture offer to foreign investors
Last Updated: 1:03am GMT 08/02/2008
By Roland Gribben
FOREIGN investors are being offered joint venture and production-sharing agreements in 400 state-owned factories and plants in Iraq in an effort to break the industrial reconstruction log jam.
A US soldier in the ruins of a bombed Iraqi factory.
Rebuilding has been slow amid bribery allegations
Forty contracts, described as the "most productive and lucrative", are being offered in an initial programme that Fawzi Hariri, minister of industry and minerals, hopes will yield $2bn in foreign investment. Priority is being given to cement plants crucial to rebuilding and modernising factories in a war-ravaged economy.
Mr Hariri is gambling that the joint venture package, along with freedom to run the factories on a long-term basis, will allay the fears of foreign companies about the risks of operating in Iraq. State businesses range from petrochemicals to food and pharmaceutical operations, construction and engineering industries, industrial services and textile plants.
Mr Hariri is breaking with Iraq's "big bang" approach where large-scale projects have been dangled before international constructors, often with disastrous results amid allegations of bribery.
Iraq has been accused of wasting billions of pounds in western aid while foreign contractors have faced criticism about their performance in tackling important power and water infrastructure programmes.
advertisement
Iraq has no privatisation legislation but the Hariri project is seen as akin to backdoor privatisation. The joint venture programme will be launched at a conference in Dubai on April 19-20 where about 40 officials heading state-owned enterprises along with government officials have been lined up to meet foreign businesses.
John Lyons, a US consultant who has been providing advice to the Iraqi government for four years, said: "Yes, security is a concern, but things are improving and there are many factories in areas free of terrorist activity."
Iraq in joint venture offer to foreign investors
Last Updated: 1:03am GMT 08/02/2008
By Roland Gribben
FOREIGN investors are being offered joint venture and production-sharing agreements in 400 state-owned factories and plants in Iraq in an effort to break the industrial reconstruction log jam.
A US soldier in the ruins of a bombed Iraqi factory.
Rebuilding has been slow amid bribery allegations
Forty contracts, described as the "most productive and lucrative", are being offered in an initial programme that Fawzi Hariri, minister of industry and minerals, hopes will yield $2bn in foreign investment. Priority is being given to cement plants crucial to rebuilding and modernising factories in a war-ravaged economy.
Mr Hariri is gambling that the joint venture package, along with freedom to run the factories on a long-term basis, will allay the fears of foreign companies about the risks of operating in Iraq. State businesses range from petrochemicals to food and pharmaceutical operations, construction and engineering industries, industrial services and textile plants.
Mr Hariri is breaking with Iraq's "big bang" approach where large-scale projects have been dangled before international constructors, often with disastrous results amid allegations of bribery.
Iraq has been accused of wasting billions of pounds in western aid while foreign contractors have faced criticism about their performance in tackling important power and water infrastructure programmes.
advertisement
Iraq has no privatisation legislation but the Hariri project is seen as akin to backdoor privatisation. The joint venture programme will be launched at a conference in Dubai on April 19-20 where about 40 officials heading state-owned enterprises along with government officials have been lined up to meet foreign businesses.
John Lyons, a US consultant who has been providing advice to the Iraqi government for four years, said: "Yes, security is a concern, but things are improving and there are many factories in areas free of terrorist activity."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/02/08/cniraq108.xml
http://www.investorsiraq.com/showthread.php?t=67235
What do you think it meant strong?
so far nothing nice from you..therefore NOOOOOOO
ya...did you see that about the currency clause with them? strange
Parliament revolt freezes bill on Iraq elections; U.S. sweeps Shiite stronghold
57 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Dozens of Iraqi legislators walked out of parliament Thursday to protest parts of a draft law that would lay out rules for provincial elections later this year, marking another potential setback for U.S.-backed proposals to ease Iraq's sectarian rifts.
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, meanwhile, warned his fighters to stick with his ceasefire order after U.S. and Iraqi raids in Baghdad's Sadr City, the main Shiite district and bastion of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. The sweeps detained 15 suspected militants and left one person dead.
The U.S. military said troops targeted "criminal elements" responsible for attacks with mortars and powerful roadside bombs that the Pentagon links to Iranian aid.
In parliament, the walkout postponed a planned vote on the measure on redistributing power in Iraq.
The last time Iraqis voted for local officials was January 2005, when countrywide elections ushered in representational government across Iraq for the first time in modern history.
But many Sunni Arabs boycotted the polls, giving Iraq's majority Shiites and minority Kurds a much bigger share of power. The U.S. hopes the new elections will empower the Sunni minority and blunt support for the insurgency.
The draft law, if approved, would set an Oct. 1 date for provincial elections, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press. It is among 18 U.S.-endorsed "benchmarks" seeking to promote reconciliation among Iraq's main groups.
The main sticking point Thursday was a dispute over whether the authority to fire provincial governors should rest with the prime minister or with the councils that govern Iraq's 18 provinces.
Nearly 90 members of the largest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, and its Kurdish allies stormed out of the session after legislators approved giving the power to the prime minister. Voting on the rest of the 56-point package was scheduled to resume Saturday.
The Kurds also were upset about a proposal that would only allot about 14.5 per cent of the 2008 budget to their semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, instead of the 17 per cent they had demanded.
Only one of the U.S.-backed benchmarks have made it into law: a measure that allows lower-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to reclaim government jobs. Sunnis, however, have demanded amendments and the future of the measure is unclear.
Other proposals, including divvying up the country's vast oil wealth and amending the constitution, also remain stalled.
The U.S. military and Iraqi witnesses offered conflicting details about the raid in Sadr City.
U.S. navy Cmdr. Scott Rye, a military spokesman, said a man who fired on the troops died after he was shot and taken into custody. He said an Iraqi woman also was shot but was treated on the site and released.
Local police said two women and an elderly man also were wounded and taken to the hospital, where one of them died. Rye said the military had no information about those claims.
Sadr City has been the frequent site of U.S. raids over the past several months.
Al-Sadr's office in the Shiite holy city of Najaf released a statement threatening to expel militiamen who break his six-month ceasefire, which expires at the end of this month.
The ceasefire order is credited with helping tamp down violence dramatically in Baghdad, along with the arrival of about 30,000 U.S. reinforcements last summer.
Al-Sadr has threatened not to extend the ceasefire unless the government purges rival Shiite militiamen he alleges have infiltrated the security forces and are targeting his followers.
The military also announced the death of a U.S. soldier killed by a roadside bomb Wednesday in western Baghdad. At least 3,950 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
North of Baghdad, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq said he did not want to see the remainder of U.S. forces cut back too quickly after the withdrawal of an extra 30,000 troops by summer.
"Everything beyond that (reduction of the surge force) we would very much want to make conditions-based. And again, that has been the guidance from the president on down," Gen. David Petraeus said at Balad Air Base, 80 kilometres north of Baghdad, where he opened the first USO facility in Iraq.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates declined to endorse Petraeus' call for a pause before further troop reductions.
"It's clear that Gen. Petraeus' views will have a very strong impact on this, but I think the president will need to hear other points of view as well," Gates said.
Iraq Taq Taq well shows promising oil tests
By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 4 -- A fifth appraisal-development well in Taq Taq field in northern Iraq's Kurdistan area flowed on test at a combined rate of 16,170 b/d of oil.
Taq Taq Operating Co., the joint venture of Genel Enerji AS and Addax Petroleum Corp., drilled the TT-09 well. Two intervals were tested, producing 48° gravity oil.
A 231-m completion interval in Shiranish flowed at 2,580 b/d, and a 104-m interval in Kometan formation flowed at 13,590 b/d. Rates were restricted by 40/64-in. and 128/64-in. chokes, respectively.
TT-09, a stepout well 1.7 km southwest of the TT-04 well, was drilled to 2,444 m TD. It's the first of two wells designed to appraise the flanks of Taq Taq.
A development plan involves a $1 billion-plus capital investment and a production plateau of more than 200,000 b/d. Full development could begin in 2008.
Oil in place has been estimated at 1.2-2.7 billion bbl, and reserves are expected to exceed 250 million bbl (OGJ, Sept. 17, 2007, Newsletter).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oil Minister: Government determined to issue Oil Law
Thursday, February 07, 2008 11:10 GMT
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Al Shahritsani affirmed that it’s soon to know whether OPEC will change its oil production in its ministerial meeting on March 5. In an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of London conference, Al Shahristani noted that OPEC decision will be based on market and demand figures. He renewed the government’s determination to accelerate the issuance of Oil Law and increase daily production to about 3 million barrels a day before the end of the current year. Al Shahristani affirmed that Iraq plans to increase its production three times within five years to reaching 6 million barrels a day.
On the other hand, Iraq Kurdistan’s regional government affirmed that it will pursue signing contracts with oil companies despite threats of cutting off exports due to the debate over the validity of these contracts. Kurdistan’s regional government Oil Minister Ashti Hourami said on the sidelines of an oil conference in London that Kurdistan did not stop yet signing new contracts and will pursue talks with oil companies. He warned that Baghdad threats will only draw away investments. He added that if there were differences between the regional and the central governments, they should be solved between he concerned parties as third parties should not be dragged into this debate.
Better ports for stronger economy
Basra - Voices of Iraq
Thursday , 07 /02 /2008 Time 1:28:13
Basra, Feb. 4, (VOI) – Ports are crucial for any developed polity. Rebuilding the infrastructure in a country like Iraq requires active ports that can respond to the massive demands of an expanded open economy.
Basra is the most important Iraqi province (550 km to the south of Baghdad – capital of Iraq), not only because of its oil and gas resources, but because it also lies, with all its ports, at the northern edge of the Arabian Gulf.
On 1919, the General Company of Iraq Ports started operating, but within a limited level of authorities, because at that time, the only port of Iraq, Al-Maaqal, was dominated by the British forces that occupied Iraq after World War I. Iraq officially received that port from the Brits on1937.
The naval expert, and resident of Basra city, Kadhom Al-Hamami, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) "From 2003 to 2005, revenues of Iraqi ports peaked, and those harbors were able to compete with other ports in the landscape of the region, despite the pressures that were imposed by some lobbies of the substitute ports in Syria, Jordan, and some Gulf countries, such as UAE."
After the Iraqi invasion to Kuwait on August 1990, the international community represented by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) imposed sanctions on Iraq, and Iraqi ports became part of the governmental agenda of smuggling oil as an approach to break the embargo down.
Between 1990 and 2003, Iraqi ports dealt with suspected ships, small carriers of oil that belong to oil mafias, and a new mentality emerged in the behavior of the staff of those ports, corruption.
Iraq continued using alternative ports of Al-Aqaba – Jordan, Lathqiya – Syria, and Jehan – Turkey, even after the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, on 1996, that was signed by the Iraqi government and the United Nations Security Council, which came as a response to the humanitarian needs of Iraq.
DG of the General Company of Iraq Ports (Based in Basra Province, Al-Maaqal), Salah Khdhayier Abod, pictured how Iraqi ports suffered a lot saying "Infrastructure of my company was heavily damaged during the past decades, as a result of wars, embargo, and negligence."
Abod said to VOI "Ports' rebuilding process started in early 2005, and efforts now concentrate on rehabilitating, in fact recomposing this company. 70% of ports' incomes are devoted to rebuild the Iraqi ports and to pay the salaries of the working staff, while the rest (30%) goes to the Ministry of Finance in Baghdad," emphasizing that the Japanese government donated $250 million to develop harbors of Iraq.
Qualitative changes in ports of Iraq began after the military coup of 1958 that put an end for the monarchy in Iraq. During the period from July-1958 to February-1963, Iraqi ports had been widely improved, and become distinguished among other ports in the world to the extent that Iraqi harbors, in that era, were the consultant reference for other ports in the Gulf.
Ports of Iraq delegated many young Iraqis to Britain in early 1960s, where they were highly trained and became able to handle the different aspects associated with ships and harbors.
In 1963, there was another coup in Iraq, but Iraqi ports continued to move on the same previous path of hardworking and seriousness.
Early 1970s, and after the Baathist coup on 1968, Umm Qasr port was constructed, and on 1974, Khor Al-Zubair port, and Abu Floos small harbor (Very busy nowadays, because it is devoted to the Iraqi private sector) started working.
Trips started to appear on the motion curve of Iraqi ports on 1980, the performance slope of those harbors went sharply down, due to the Iraqi – Iranian war. The infrastructures of ports in Iraq, which were closed because of that war, were severely destructed due to the Iranian airstrikes. Iraq started using alternative harbors, for both import and export purposes, like Al-Aqaba in Jordan, Al-Dammam in KSA, and Ceyhan in Turkey.
As the Iraqi – Iranian war lasted 8 years, until August 1988, experts of Iraqi ports were killed, retired, or preferred to leave Iraq to join a new career at one of the ports in the Gulf States or elsewhere.
In addition to the current four harbors, the General Company of Iraq Ports is planning to construct two more ports; Al-Faw Port and the Larger Port; preparations to establish the former started in 2006, while the later is still in the design phase.
The first stage of the larger Port requires at least $13 billion, but according to Abod, it deserves this budget, "In case that it would be constructed, the Big Port will make Basra a major active trading center in the region that brings enormous incomes."
MH/SK
WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The United States will not promise to defend Iraq nor seek permanent bases there under a planned agreement on future relations between the two states, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday.
"The status-of-forces agreement that is being discussed will not contain a commitment to defend Iraq and neither will any strategic framework agreement," Gates told a U.S. Senate panel.
"We do not want, nor will we seek, permanent bases in Iraq," he later told a U.S. House of Representatives committee.
The United States and Iraq have agreed to start formal negotiations about their future relationship with the goal of finishing an accord by the end of July.
The agreement will set the rules and legal protections under which U.S. forces operate in Iraq. The size of the long-term U.S. presence in Iraq also will be part of the negotiations, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the White House deputy national security adviser, has said.
But Democrats in Congress worry the Bush administration could use the agreement to lock in a long-term U.S. military presence before the next president is elected on Nov. 4. They say the administration could use it to bind future presidents to Bush's current Iraq policy.
On Wednesday, some Democrats argued any agreement that includes a promise to defend Iraq would require Senate approval.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Gates Congress should have opportunity to approve the agreement because U.S. troops and U.S. security are involved.
"Obviously, the stakes are extremely high," he said at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
"Congress, I believe, must have the opportunity to approve or disapprove any security commitment, agreement or assurance, pledge or guarantee, regardless of what it is called, that affects our troops and our national security."
Gates told the Senate panel the Bush administration would share information with lawmakers as the agreement with Iraq is negotiated. But he stopped short of agreeing to submit the pact to the Senate for approval.
"My view is that there ought to be a great deal of openness and transparency to the Congress as we negotiate this status-of-forces agreement so that you can satisfy yourselves that those kinds of commitments are not being made and that there are no surprises in this," he said.
The United States has 158,000 troops in Iraq to maintain security nearly five years after the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
By about mid-July, the U.S. troop level is expected to stand about 130,000. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
__________________
http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS7773
Jordan and Iraq start today settle debts "outstanding" since 2003
بزنس واقتصاد - 04/02/2008 Business and Economics - 04/02/2008
بغداد / الملف برس Baghdad / file Press
بدأت في عمان المباحثات المالية النهائية بين الاردن والعراق لتسوية ملف الديون العالقة بينهما منذ عام 2003. Started talks in Amman financial final between Jordan and Iraq to settle the file of debt outstanding between them since in 2003.
وقال السفير العراقي في عمان سعد جاسم الحياني في تصريح صحافي، ان وزيري مالية البلدين العراقي بيان جبر الزبيدي ونظيره الاردني حمد الكساسبة سيستعرضان المطالبات المالية لكلا البلدين، لكن مصادر مصرفية قدرتها بزهاء 1,2 مليار دينار. He said the Iraqi ambassador in Amman Saad Jasim Alehiani said in a statement, the ministers of the two Iraqi financial statement Jabr Al-Zubaidi and his Jordanian Hamad Alexasabh reviewing financial claims of both countries, but banking sources about their 1.2 billion dinars.
وكان البلدان اتفقا قبل نحو اسبوعين على تسوية الملف بينهما بشكل "مبدئي" من خلال لجان فنية، اذ قدم الاردن ما لديه من وثائق بقيمة الودائع العراقية المجمدة في المصارف الاردنية، فضلا عن تقديمه لكشوفات تشتمل على مطالبات الى جهات اردنية كانت تتعامل مع الحكومة العراقية السابقة، الى جانب كشوفات القرض الاردني المقدم للعراق وفوائده المتراكمة. , The two countries agreed two weeks ago to settle the issue between them is "tentative" through technical committees, as Jordan submitted its own document of the value of frozen Iraqi deposits in Jordanian banks, as well as introducing the disclosures involving claims with the views of the Jordanian deal with the former Iraqi government , in addition to the loan disclosures of Iraq's Jordanian and benefits accrued.
وبين ان وفد بلاده اكد على ضرورة ان يتقدم التجار الاردنيون بوثائق تثبت أن لهم دينا في ذمة الحكومة العراقية جراء تعاملاتهم التجارية مع العراق. He said his delegation stressed the need to make traders Jordanians documents proving that they have in custody by the Iraqi government business dealings with Iraq.
GO to Bloomberg...
MMIO got email and bids building here
MMIO bids building again
Taking numbers from documents.....copy of post****
jan 2004 3.8 T in circulation
Currently, 5.6 trillion new Iraqi dinars- 89 percent of the total of 6.3 trillion — are in country, and 3.8 trillion-88 percent of the total goal of 4.36 trillion-are in circulation
http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/165
Currency in circulation increased at a slower rate (at 75 percent for the year)http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/...06/cr06301.pdf page 4
Currency in circulation grew by 27.9 percent in 2005, and by a
further 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2006
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/...06/cr06301.pdf page 4
Dinar currency in circulation expanded by 20½ percent between November 2006 and April 2007,
The same period the dinar appreciated by 12.5%
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/...07/cr07301.pdf page 12
Original money supply in circulation X money supply increases
3.8T x 75%(2004)= 2.85 T= new total 6.65T
6.65T x 27.9%(2005)= 1.855T = 8.50 T
8.5T x 6%(2006 1 q) = 510B = 9T
missing 2006 2Q &3Q
9T x 20.5%=1.845T = new total 10.84 T thru April 2007
Even if you add 3T for missing timeframes , still under 15T
If my numbers are correct ,it shows the money supply is nowhere near 23Trillion in circulation
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OPEC crude oil basket drops to USD 84.87 on Wednesday
Power & Materials 2/7/2008 12:55:00 PM
VIENNA, Feb 7 (KUNA) -- The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) basket of 12 crudes dropped USD 1.34 on Wednesday to reach USD 84.87 per barrel, compared to USD 86.21 the day before, the cartel said on Thursday.
According to an OPEC bulletin, the average price of the basket of 12 crudes was USD 69.10 during 2007.
OPEC Reference Basket (ORB), implemented as of 10 September 2007, is currently made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and BCF 17 (Venezuela).
OPEC oil ministers, in their meeting on Friday, had agreed to maintain the production ceiling at 26.9 million barrels per day, with the exception of Iraq on which the quota system did not apply. (end) amg.ema KUNA 071255 Feb 08NNNN
'Iraq Energy' launched as independent think-tank on Iraqi energy policy
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http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/27074
'Iraq Energy' launched as independent think-tank on Iraqi energy policy
07 February 2008 (AME Info FZ LLC)
The establishment of 'Iraq Energy' has been announced today, with the aim to be the leading independent think-tank and research organisation for Iraq on energy policy and related issues.
The institute has been registered as a non-profit organization in London, where it will be headquartered, with further offices in both Baghdad and Dubai.
The main objective of Iraq Energy is to positively contribute to the discourse on Iraqi energy policy in a non-political manner and at a professional level, in order to produce actionable policy recommendations for the optimum development of Iraq's energy sector. The institute plans to be a reliable source of information and research on all Iraq energy issues, for both policy-makers and companies, and to better educate the wider audience interested in the development of Iraq's energy sector.
'Good petroleum and energy policies and practices will be critical for the health of the Iraqi economy and the prosperity of the people of Iraq,' said Mr. Ali Allawi, Chairman of the founding Board of Trustees of Iraq Energy and formerly Iraqi Minister of Trade, Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance, all since 2003.
'The goal of Iraq Energy is to add a professional and objective perspective as an independent policy institute, by producing timely reports and studies, sponsoring conferences and seminars, and hosting industry, government and academic experts. Iraq Energy will be an independent source of policy recommendations that will add real value to Iraq and its economy,' he added.
The members of the institute's founding Board of Trustees are all Iraqi, and include senior former politicians and diplomats as well academics and public and private sector industry professionals. In addition, Iraq Energy benefits from an Advisory Board as an additional resource of advice and knowledge, and will be run by a full-time staff led by an Executive Director of the institute.
Iraq Energy funds will be generated from gifts and private donations, multilateral organizations, sponsorships from international companies and membership and subscriptions. The annual report of the institute will include a fully transparent financial statement of all income sources in a detailed manner.
The inaugural meeting of the Board of Trustees focused on the institute's plans and objectives for the short-term and the long-term, as per the agreed Charter, including plans for the first annual conference by the institute, to be held at a Middle East location later this year. The meeting was followed by a dinner attended by guests and representatives of the international and Iraqi media.
funny post! Subject: George Bush's Resignation Speech
, this is what his speech would be.....
Normally, I start these things out by saying 'My Fellow Americans', not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.
I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution, let me assure you: There's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.
The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.
Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners, including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't sink in.
Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.
We face real threats in the world.
Don't give me this 'blood for oil' crap. If I were trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq 's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied; People Died' crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty.
Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Clinton established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you?
You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to out spend and out-tech them.
That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you, and the bastards are all over the globe. You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement, and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor.'
Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.
Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.
In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet, it just isn't on the pages of the New York Times or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol.
I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a Cat 5 hurricane approaching.
I could say more about your idiotic belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.
So, I quit. I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream of) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.
Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too.
That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it - you can have her. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.
So that's it.
God bless what's left of America . Some of you know what I mean. The rest of you - kiss my
Iraqi businessmen import loans
Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Thursday , 07 /02 /2008 Time 1:28:13
Baghdad, Feb 7, (VOI) – High profit tariffs imposed by state-owned and private banks have led Iraqi businessmen to import loans from other countries.
Loans are considered the trump of economic growth in any developed country. Fewer terms to get a loan render the intention of a government to ultimately boost the economy of a polity.
Due to the high profit tariffs, Iraqi businessmen abandoned the bureaucratic, parsimonious and out of fashion banks in Iraq, and they diverted to other funding-houses in different countries, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Dubai became the best place for Iraqi businessmen to get loans and join investment partnerships. Banks in Dubai offer loans with profit margins of (3-4) % on commercial investments, and (6-8) % on industrial funding.
On the other hand, some Iraqi businessmen are not credible and reliable; they didn't repay their debts to the Iraqi banks. It wasn't a fortuitous opportunity for some Iraqi accidental businessmen that they got loans from the Iraqi government, and then they fled the country. They deliberately planned for this; however, the financial policy in Iraq should have the criterion that distinguishes between an apple and an egg.
In Iraq, there are around 700 businessmen and 36 thousand private companies that seek to subdue the current process of getting loans and to have suitable mechanisms in that concern that revive the economy of Iraq.
Jaafar Al-Hamdani, head of the League of the Iraqi Commercial Chambers, explained to Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) "Bureaucracy of the Central Bank of Iraq and other Iraqi banks, in addition to the high profit tariffs that might reach 23%, are the most crucial obstacles that face Iraqi investors nowadays."
Iraqi capitalists have huge funds, but like their counterparts elsewhere, they always look for a safe place for their investments. These days, Iraqi investments in the Stocks Market of Amman (capital of Jordan) reached 3 billion U.S. dollar, according to al-Hamdani.
He added "Iraq needs to corroborate the Investment Law. Iraqis should be able to invest in their own country before encouraging foreign investors to do so."
"We are unable to invest, because profit tariffs on loans, within four years, can approach 100% of the total amount invested in a project, while the cycle of investment might require a longer period to fructify," said al-Hamdani and argued "This is a problem that we recognized in the partnership contracts with foreign investors. Those investors have privileges over Iraqi businessmen."
Head of the League of Iraqi Banks, Fuad Al-Husseini, perceives "Iraqi businessmen are blamed, because they don't know from which Iraqi bank they can get the desired loan, while Iraqi banks are also blamed, because they are unable to identify the trustworthy client that deserves to get a loan."
Iraqi businessmen, as Al-Husseini described them, "are not organized." They don't know how much money they want for their projects, and they have no elaborate plans of how to pay back these debts. Al-Husseini asserted "Most of the Iraqi investors that got loans from Iraqi banks, after 2003, purchased real-estates in neighboring countries, and now, they are unable to repay these debts," and he proceeded "This is a problem, because Iraqi banks are not stratifying Iraqi businessmen as reliable customers anymore."
Al-Rafidain Bank, the first bank in Iraq (state owned), agrees with part of this portrait.
Hanaa Abdul-Baqi, a representative of that bank, told VOI "We know that the loan that we offer is a drop in a sea, but the profit margin is less than other loans of other banks. It's only 6%."
Sister-bank of Al-Rafidain in Iraq, Al-Rasheed Bank (state owned), has a different vision.
Intisar Ali, a representative of Al-Rasheed Bank clarified to VOI, referring to Iraqi businessmen, "They all blame the banks, while they should blame the Central Bank of Iraq, because it issued an order that all loans should be in Iraqi dinar, not U.S. dollars. Iraqi investors didn't like that idea."
Both Al-Rafidain and al-Rasheed Banks operate under the supervision of the Central Bank of Iraq that has a strategy that sacrifices an aim for the sake of another. In order to preserve the stability of the Iraqi dinar with respect to the U.S. dollar in the domestic level, the Central Bank of Iraq adopts a shrinkage in funding, specifically investments.
The profit margin identified by the Central Bank of Iraq is a guide-light for private banks in Iraq regarding their profit tariffs and investments.
Because of these two reasons, in addition to the disturbed security situation, and the difficulties in prosecuting Iraqi businessmen, that live out of Iraq, in case that they decline to repay the loans that they got, private banks in Iraq currently reject to make loans, as they prefer guaranteed investments via the Central Bank of Iraq.
In order to solve the problem of pending loans so as to help Iraqi banks to get their funds back, and in an attempt to re-activate the investing process in Iraq, the League of Iraqi Banks suggested to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance to cover these loans, but this ministry made no serious steps in that direction.
MH/SK
Baghdad's Stock Market Goes Modern
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Located behind a series of concrete and barbed wire barricades in a Christian enclave of Baghdad, two things distinguish the Iraq Stock Exchange, the ISX, from its counterparts in New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London: the trading is done manually, and two cordial plainclothes guards at the white plastic table in the courtyard are happy to check your guns for you.
Inside the fortified converted hotel about a hundred middle-aged men in dark jackets jostle and speculate between 10 a.m. and noon three days a week. Since 2004, trading has been done the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper. Buyers shout at or call into their brokers, who stand around a series of white dry-erase boards that list each company's share buy and sell price. A man in the back takes out a pair of opera classes to read the writing on the wall. Once a sale is final, buyers wait 15 to 20 days for the stock certificate to be issued.
But all of that is about to change. Intrepid investors will not have to brave car bombs, checkpoints or interminable traffic jams much longer. In the next two months, all investors — foreign and Iraqi — will be able to buy and sell in a matter of minutes, once the ISX's computers and servers are switched on. Servers, computers and electronic boards have arrived but are not yet operational. Three back-up generators will make sure the market will be running non-stop, despite widespread electrical brownouts across the Iraqi capital.
"You will be able to buy at 10:00 in the morning and sell at 10:05," says CEO Taha Abdul-Salam, a short man with a buzz cut and a pistol holster under his jacket. The ISX is a private venture regulated by the Iraqi Securities Commission. It opened in 2004 with 15 companies. I hope to have thousands by the end of the year," says Taha. Realistically he expects maybe 20 more companies to sign on.
Currently the ISX represents 94 companies and works with 49 licensed brokerages. The total trading volume for 2007 was $354 million, a 250% increase over 2006. The ISX has a helpful website, with regular updates; Taha says the ISX has received 17 billion Iraqi Dinars, or $14 million in the past five months from investors in the region. Banks are 80% of the volume, followed by services, manufacturing, hotels and agriculture.
He expects some growing pains and adjustments when the automated system comes online. "It is an Iraqi tradition to see everything — we will not have a physical [stock] certificate anymore," says Taha, who expects that market capitalization of the index will increase 25% to 50% in the next year.
Down on the trading floor, eight hands suddenly reach for the whiteboard to trade shares of the al-Basra Bank, and then a moment later pull back. A female trader has just walked along the front of the room in elegant black boots and gold necklaces, chatting into her cell phone, pausing momentarily to scribble numbers in black marker on the wall.
In spite of the impending modernization, there is a cloud of gloom over the crowd of investors and spectators anxiously watching the board. Iraq is still adjusting to a free market economy from one where state-run socialism reigned supreme. Today the government doesn't protect industry; furthermore, goods coming from abroad undercut local manufacturing. This all happened suddenly and swiftly. "To be honest, the war destroyed us," says one elderly gentleman in a yellow scarf and round spectacles.
"Business is no good — the security affects the Iraqi economy and there is no management in the Iraqi companies. They are all raising capital but not increasing production," says Mohammad Ismail, who comes to the ISX three times a week. He gives the example of an electronics company that manufactures television sets that might have been competitive in the 1980s but have long since gone out of fashion. "These companies in Iraq cannot compete with these goods coming from China because the costs are very low for them and for us very high," says Haitham N. Elias, a broker.
At the same time he points out that share prices of many companies are undervalued, citing examples like al-Hilal Company — which manufactures air conditioning units — the Bicycle and Tube Company and Baghdad Hotels. "The prices for the shares of these companies are very low," says Elias. However he cautions against buying into the ISX to make a quick buck. The Iraqi market, he says, is a long-term investment.
http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...710321,00.html
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Iraq: Request for Stand-By Arrangement and Cancellation of Current
Arrangement—Staff Report; Staff Supplement; Press Release on the Executive Board
Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Iraq
In the context of Iraq’s request for a Stand-By Arrangement and Cancellation of Current
Arrangement, the following documents have been released and are included in this package:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2008/cr0817.pdf
Giants sign on Iraq line
By Upstream staff
Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell and Spanish energy company Repsol-YPF have both registered to compete for contracts to develop Iraq's huge oil reserves, company sources said.
Big oil companies have been positioning themselves for years to gain access to the world's third-largest reserves, among the cheapest oil to produce in the world.
Iraq has given companies until 18 February to submit documents that will qualify them to compete in tenders for service contracts to help develop its oil infrastructure. The deadline was extended from 31 January.
"Shell has submitted its prequalification documents, as per the original deadline," a Shell company source said.
A spokesman for Repsol in Madrid confirmed that Repsol had also submitted its documents.
Shell and Repsol join BP on the register. BP chief Executive Tony Hayward said on Tuesday that his company had signed up.
UK supermajor BP has no plans to send personnel into Iraq until the security situation improves, but would be interested in service agreements and cooperation with the country, a BP spokesman said yesterday.
ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company not controlled by a state, said yesterday it is interested in helping to develop Iraq's oil reserves. Still, it declined to comment on whether it has registered yet to compete for contracts there.
"If the Iraqi government decides it wants international oil companies to partner with them in developing their resources, ExxonMobil would be interested in participating," spokesman Len D'Eramo said in an e-mailed statement, Reuters reported.
D'Eramo said ExxonMobil would pursue profitable business opportunities as they arise in Iraq, just as it would in other countries in which it is permitted to operate. He said it was premature to discuss specific opportunities in Iraq.
French energy group Total was also interested in participating in the tenders, company spokeswoman Patricia Marie said today. She was unable to confirm if the company had already submitted its documents.
Norway's StatoilHydro said last month that it would register, but a spokeswoman was unable to confirm yesterday if it had already done so.
BP has undertaken a study of the Rumaila oilfield, one of Iraq's largest. It has also studied possibilities at other fields and in gas and alternative energy.
Shell has studied the giant Kirkuk oilfield in the north and the Missan area of southern Iraq. Shell has also worked on a masterplan for development of Iraq's gas reserves.
Total had exclusive negotiating rights for the huge Majnoon and Bin Umar fields under Saddam Hussein.
Interesting comparison( from another room)
I was recently researching some numbers on M2, GDP, population, and exchange rates on other countries to compare with Iraq, these currencies are all available and floating on the open Fx Market to the best of my knowledge, thought some of you might also like to see the info. Please note almost all data is based on DEC 2006 info other than Chile..
CHILE(2005)
GDP..........64.631 Trillion Pesos (CLP)
M2............36.843 Trillion Pesos (CLP)
FX Res......19.2 Billion USD
Gold Res.... .01 Million Troy ozs.
Population....16.3 Million
Current Ex. Rate...1 USD=470 CLP or .002USD=1 CLP
RUSSIA(2006)
GDP............26.606 Trillion Rubles
M2...............8.986 Trillion Rubles
FX Res............295 Billion (USD)
GOLD Res.......12.92 Million Troy ozs
Population....145 Million
Current Ex. Rate....1 USD=24.59 Rubles or .04USD=1 Ruble
MEXICO(2006)
GDP...............9.157 Trillion Pesos
M2.................4.925 Trillion Pesos
FX Res...........75.4 Billion (USD)
Gold Res........ .09 Million Troy ozs
Population......107 Million
Current Ex. Rate....1 USD=10.81 Pesos or .09 USD = 1 Peso
SOUTH AFRICA(2006)
GDP......................1.725 Trillion Rand
M2........................1.157 Trillion Rand
FX Res...................22.7 Billion (USD)
GOLD Res.............. 4 Million Troy ozs
Population(2005)...47.4 Million
Current Ex Rate......1 USD=7.5 Rand or .13USD = 1 Rand
CANADA(2006)
GDP.....................1.439 Trillion CAD
M2.......................739 Billion CAD
FX Res..................33 Billion (USD)
Gold Res............... .11Million Troy ozs
Population.............33 Million(est)
Current Ex Rate......1 USD=.999CAD
IRAQ( DEC 2006)from CBI Financials (ex was 1391IQD=1 USD)
GDP............................. 124.9 Trillion IQD or 89.8 Billion(USD)
M2............................... 21 Trillion IQD or 15.1 Billion (USD)
Gross For. Assets...........26.5 Trillion IQD or 19 Billion (USD)
Gold and SDR................. 1.08 Trillion or 719 Million (USD)
Population.....................26.8 Million
Current Ex Rate.....1 USD=1211 IQD or .0008 USD = 1 IQD
Please note: the info I got for IRAQ GDP was off WIKI, and was based in USD or 89.8 Billion USD, I used the exchange rate of DEC 2006 for my calculations that was 1391IQD=1 USD to come to 124.9 Trillion if we use todays rate of 1211IQD = 1 USD we get 108 Trillion IQD.
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Deal to slash Iraq's debt to Russia to be signed Feb. 11
***** check out the currency clause statement...hmmmmmmmm
14:30|07/ 02/ 2008
MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - An agreement to write off most of Iraq's debt to Russia will be signed in Moscow on February 11, the Iraqi Embassy said on Thursday.
The agreement is a follow-up to a decision by the Russian government to clear 80% of Baghdad's Soviet-era debt in line with accords reached through the Paris Club of creditor nations.
"During a visit by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to Russia on February 11, a memorandum on developing trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and Iraq will be signed alongside a bilateral financial agreement to write off the debt in line with Paris Club accords," the embassy said in a news release.
A Russian Finance Ministry source confirmed the plans, saying the total debt was estimated at $13 billion following recalculations.
"The sum was initially lower, but it was later reassessed considering the peculiarities of the original agreements, which include a currency clause," the source said.
The Finance Ministry earlier said the debt was some $10 billion.
The Iraqi government expected the intergovernmental deal to be signed before the end of 2007. Some media said the delay was due to Iraq's cancelation of a 1997 contract with Russian oil company LUKoil on the West Qurna-2 oil field, one of Iraq's richest. But both countries' authorities dismissed the allegations. Hoshyar Zebari said last September that his country could offer Russian oil and gas companies considerable advantages to operate in Iraq, but ruled out that this could be linked to the debt settlement issue.
United Nations shift millions of dollars from Iraq's oil
الأمم المتحدة تحوّل ملايين الدولارات للعراق من برنامج النفط United Nations shift millions of dollars from Iraq's oil
حوّلت الأمم المتحدة 161 مليون دولار من برنامج "النفط مقابل الغذاء" الذي أوقف العمل به- وكانت فرضته المنظمة الدولية بهدف تأمين بيع النفط العراقي مقابل الإمدادات الغذائية في حقبة الرئيس الراحل صدام حسين- إلى العراق ليكون ضمن موازنة برنامج للتنمية، وفق ما أعلنه الاثنين أمين عام الأمم المتحدة بان كي مون. United Nations diverted $ 161 million from the "oil-for-food" programme, which was suspended by - were imposed by the international organization aimed at securing the sale of Iraqi oil-for-food supplies in an era of the late President Saddam Hussein - to Iraq to be within budget development programme, as announced Monday Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon.
وفي رسالة إلى مجلس الأمن الدولي، قال الأمين العام إن الأمم المتحدة بان كي مون ستواصل تحويل الأموال إلى صندوق التنمية في العراق فيما تواصل المنظمة إجراءات إنهاء العمل بالبرنامج الذي طغى عليه الفساد. In a letter to the UN Security Council, the Secretary-General said that the United Nations Ban Ki-moon will transfer the funds to Development Fund in Iraq while continuing to terminate the Organization action programme, which was dominated by corruption.
يُذكر أن برنامج "النفط مقابل الغذاء" الذي أقامته المنظمة بين الأعوام 1996 و2003 جاء لتخفيف المعاناة عن الشعب العراقي بعد العقوبات التي فرضت على النظام السابق بعد غزو الرئيس الراحل صدام حسين دولة الكويت المجاورة في عام 1990. It is noteworthy that the "oil for food" established by the organization between 1996 and 2003 came to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people after the sanctions imposed on the former regime after the invasion of the late President Saddam Hussein in neighbouring Kuwait in 1990.
رسالة بان كي مون إلى مجلس الأمن تضمنت إيجازاً لاجتماع عقد في المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية الشهر الفائت بين ممثلين عن المنظمة الدولية وآخرين من وزارة الخارجية العراقية والمصرف المركزي العراقي، بهدف تقليص عدد تحويلات الائتمان غير المدفوعة بموجب برنامج "النفط مقابل الغذاء." Ban Ki-moon letter to the Security Council included briefer to a meeting held in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan last month between representatives of the international organization and others from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and the Central Bank of Iraq, with the aim of reducing the number of transfers of credit outstanding under the "oil-for-food program."
وقال أمين عام الأمم المتحدة إن هناك 210 تحويلات ائتمان غير مدفوعة منذ نهاية العام 2007 تقدر قيمتها بأكثر من 656 مليون دولار، حاثا الوزارات العراقية العمل على تصفية حساباتها قبل نهاية مارس/آذار المقبل، بحيث يمكن لمجموعات عمل من الطرفين عقد جلساتها، وفق وكالة أسوشيتد برس. He said the UN Secretary General that there are 210 credit transfers unpaid since the end of 2007 valued at more than 656 million dollars, urging Iraqi ministries to liquidate their accounts before the end of March next, so that the working groups of the two parties holding its meetings, according to the Associated Press.
وقال بان كي مون إن المنظمة ستتحفظ على مبلغ احتياطي يبلغ 187 مليون دولار بالإضافة إلى رصيد 225 مليون دولار ضمن حسابات البرنامج، لحين حل جميع المسائل العالقة في هذا الشأن. And Ban Ki-moon said that the organization reserve the amount of reserve of $ 187 million in addition to the balance of $ 225 million in the accounts of the programme, pending resolution of all outstanding issues in this regard.
يُذكر أن لجنة التحقيق المستقلة التابعة للأمم المتحدة، التي يرأسها رئيس الاحتياط الفيدرالي الأمريكي السابق بول فولكر، اتهمت في 27 أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 2005 ما يربو عن 2200 شركة، من 40 دولة، بالتآمر مع النظام العراقي السابق، وجني قرابة 1.8 مليار دولار من البرنامج بصورة غير مشروعة. It is noteworthy that the Independent Inquiry Committee of the United Nations, headed by the American Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker former accused in October 27, 2005, over 2200 companies from 40 countries, of conspiring with the former Iraqi regime, and reap approximately 1.8 billion dollars from the programme illegally.
Substantial decline in the demand for dollar buying ERA CBE
Baghdad - Iraq votes 07 / 02 / 2008 at 14:08:59
Demand declined significantly to buy the dollar at the end of meetings this week, on Thursday, auction of the Central Bank of Iraq, the body size of the request was totally 32 million and 870 thousand dollars, compared to 90 million and 55 thousand dollars on Wednesday.
The special bulletin ERA Iraqi Central Bank to sell the dollar, issued (Thursday), that the request be distributed by 18 million and 700 thousand dollars in cash and 13 million and 870 thousand dollars in the form of remittances outside the country, and fully covered the bank exchange rate stable for the second meeting of the ability dinars (1210). While he did not make the ten banks participating in the auction offers to sell the dollar to auction.
He says the Yasiri, one dealing with the auction, the Independent News Agency (Voices of Iraq) that the request "drop largely on remittances only .. at a time when demand cash rose significantly, the fact that today (Thursday) is the day of payment for traders and need .. large amounts of foreign exchange to cover their needs. "
Over Yasiri believed that the demand for remittances "retreat .. that meeting yesterday (Wednesday), which witnessed a decline unexpectedly to the exchange rate futures .. drained remittances and remittances, which was precipitated by the planned dispatch today."
However, the economic expert, Dr. Juma Ani warned that such a step "Introduction to the crisis is artificial, similar to what happened three months ago by a group of speculators and investors, which had caused great losses to small savers."
The Al-Ani (Voices of Iraq) that the Central Bank "to return to normal monetary policy to close the road on speculators is hunting for any additional actions aimed at improving the exchange rates of dinar."
He pointed out that the lack of offers to sell auction "is a supporter of the auction, provided that not be a prelude to offers for sale and a large decline in the demand for dollar buying."
For his part, an economic expert and industrial Abdul Razzaq Abaiji that "fabricating a crisis in the currency market speculators will not serve even at the present time, the fact that the real capacity of the market to Atstoab new crisis, and that it might harm the speculators before anyone else."
He told Abaiji (Voices of Iraq) that currency trading "became aware of the fact that the crisis is artificial, and refrain from selling to speculators at prices lower than the official rate .. which is a strike against them in the event if there was talk of crisis, but if the quarters of decline expected to return to the high levels of applications mid next week for circulation. "
He described Uday Rustum Shabib, the banking office in Baghdad, the dollar exchange rate as "fixed at the end of this week, by (1210) dinars for buying and (1220) for the sale of small transactions."
Shabib said that the movement in the bourses struggle and Kazimiya "was significantly high, while the habitual Exchange Harthiya", a reference broad movement to "high demand by traders on the dollar on Thursday of each week."
Z RB (falling) - k m
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BP talks explore potential of Iraqi oil assets
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From The Times
February 6, 2008
BP talks explore potential of Iraqi oil assets
Robin Pagnamenta
BP is in talks with the Iraqi Government about a plan to boost oil production at the huge Rumaila field on the border with Kuwait.
Tony Hayward, chief executive, said that he had met Hussain al-Shahristani, the Iraqi Oil Minister, “in the last few weeks” to discuss opportunities in the country.
Among other potential projects in Iraq, BP's interest is understood to include the Rumaila field, one of Iraq's largest, which is believed to contain about 18billion barrels of oil, according to figures from Wood Mackenzie.
BP undertook a study of the field for the Iraqi Government two years ago. It already has a small Iraq team based in the Middle East and is one of a number of big oil companies discussing agreements designed to increase rapidly the country's output to 2.6million barrels per day by the end of this year.
These effectively would be service contracts to provide training, expertise and equipment, for which the companies would be paid in oil.
BP, Total, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips attended talks with the Iraqi Government in Amman, Jordan, last month to help to fix the terms of the contracts. Shell is interested in a gasfield in western Iraq.
A spokesman said that it was too early to consider putting in expatriate staff because of the security situation.
BP was involved in Iraq until 1975, when the country's oil industry was nationalised.
Speaking at the group's results presentation yesterday, Mr Hayward said that as well as the Iraqi Oil Minister he was also involved in talks with Gazprom, of Russia, over a proposed asset swap that would involve BP's Kovykta gas project.
He admitted that talks had been taking longer than planned, mainly because of the scale of the assets and the number of parties involved.
Creating a “balanced structure” that would be acceptable to BP, TNK-BP and Gazprom had been “difficult and complicated”.
“The constructive dialogue continues,” he said, but there was no certainty that an agreement could be reached soon.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle3315476.ece