Iraq Oil Hope

**Merlin** · 13 May 09,, 04:42

Lets hope they can sort out the oil confusion. Iraq desperately needs the oil revenue.

Exports offer hope in Iraq oil share row

12 May [FT] The Kurdistan regional government has told oil companies working in the northern Iraqi province that they will be able to export oil using Iraq's main pipeline as early as next month, an apparent breakthrough in a longrunning dispute about sharing Iraq's oil wealth.

The oil ministry in Baghdad confirmed that crude extracted from some fields in Kurdistan could be exported. There remained significant confusion, however, and analysts warned this could be yet another false start. "We are absolutely certain oil will flow on [June 1]," Ashti Hawrami, the KRG's oil minister, told the Financial Times.

"Iraq desperately needs the oil revenues, and no one can deny that. The rest that needs to be worked out is just rough edges - I am talking about the oil law, the constitution, the legalities."

Oil has long been the subject of dispute between the Kurdish regional and Baghdad central governments. This has hindered passage of a national hydrocarbons law outlining foreign participation in the energy sector and sharing revenues between Iraq's provinces. ...

**Merlin** · 13 May 09,, 04:56

Iraq has to sort out legal obstacles to attract oil investors.

Iraq only for the brave..?

13 May [GulfDailyNews] Is it really possible to invest in Iraq now? Yes, but a lack of clear laws may be an even bigger obstacle than violence. The worry is that the Iraqi government may be keeping that uncertainty alive, desperately wanting investment but unwilling, when it comes to the crunch, to give away clear rights to assets.

Last week in 10 Downing Street, standing by the side of Nuri Al Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared that British combat operations had ended and that all troops would leave in a few weeks. ...

A mile north and an hour later, at the Invest in Iraq trade fair in Marylebone, "open for business" was also the boast from Hussein Al Urzi, president of the Trade Bank of Iraq.

Al Maliki, his oil minister and a dozen senior officials tried to make the case to 300 oil executives and financiers that Iraq was the next great investment chance of the emerging world.

Good luck to them. It's not the easiest case to make a day after two car bombs in Baghdad killed at least 41 people and when at least 200 have been killed in the past few days. The core of the ministers' pitch is that Iraq, with a well - educated population of nearly 30 million, and the world's third largest proven oil reserves, should be a magnet for funds that have been pulled out of other precarious markets.

Their motive in trying now is transparent, too: as the oil price has fallen by two thirds Iraq cannot easily find its own reconstruction and modernisation. They have had some initial success, particularly in getting funds from Iraqis abroad in Jordan, the UAE and Lebanon.

What is not clear is whether Al Maliki and his ministers are prepared to make the necessary concessions to investors. Judging by the government's reluctance so far to make important concessions to the Sunni and Kurdish minorities there is good reason to be sceptical.

Above all, it has failed for three years to pass a crucial oil law that shares the country's resources between its provinces. Without that clear title not only will oil investors stay away but minorities will keep fighting and the violence will continue. ...

**Merlin** · 15 May 09,, 02:04

Some more news about Iraq's attempt to produce more oil.

Iraq Expects To Award Nassiriyah Contract In June - Oil Min

14 May AMMAN (Dow Jones)--Iraq expects to award the contract to develop the giant Nassiriyah oil field in the southern part of the country to one of three competing international companies in June, Iraq's oil minister said Thursday. ....

"We hope that the contract would be signed next month," Hussein al-Shahristani told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview in the Jordanian capital.

He also said his ministry is planning to invite international companies to compete for developing the southern portion of the East Baghdad oil field near the Iraqi capital.

Italy's Eni SpA (E), Japan's Nippon Oil Corp. (5001.TO) and Spain's Repsol YPF SA (REP) have submitted bids to develop the Nassiriyah oil field, located in the Dhi Qar region. .....

The three would be invited by the ministry for negotiations in order to discuss the model contract, said Shahristani, who is in Amman to participate in the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, which will open near Jordan's Dead Sea on Friday. ...

Iraq has announced two rounds of bidding, offering 19 oil and gas fields for development to international oil companies with the aim of boosting crude oil output to 6 million barrels a day in five years, from about 2.4 million barrels a day currently. ......

**Merlin** · 15 May 09,, 03:34

This article analyses the issue much better. Maliki needs oil revenue to boost security and rebuild the country. But Iraq also has to bear in mind OPEC's role in controlling the oil price relative to the global economy.

Is Iraq on collision course with OPEC?

14 May [CalgaryHerald] OPEC has done a solid job of countering the global recession and resurrecting crude oil prices in recent months, but the successful implementation of Iraq's oil development plan could complicate the cartel's efforts for relatively high and stable prices in the coming years.

Iraq has huge, low-cost oil potential. It has the world's third-largest proven conventional oil reserves, at about 115 billion barrels, compared with 138 billion barrels for Iran and 264 billion barrels for Saudi Arabia. Of Iraq's 78 identified oil and gas fields (mostly oil), six are super-giant oil fields (at least five billion barrels of ultimately recoverable oil) and 17 are giants (between 500 million and five billion barrels); only 15 of the 78 fields are currently producing.

In addition, the Western Desert is virtually unexplored. Some geologists believe Iraq could hold as much as 350 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki needs to quickly develop Iraq's oil industry if he is to provide security and rebuild the country, especially with U.S. military forces withdrawing from Iraqi cities by the end of June and from Iraq as a whole by Dec. 31, 2011. Although Iraq's security situation is far better than it was two years ago, the insurgency is by no means over. Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia retains a foothold in Mosul, Iraq's largest northern city. In addition, the situation remains tense between Kurds and Arabs in the northern part of Diyala province, near the border with Kurdistan.

Two rounds of budget cuts, because of lower oil prices, have forced the Iraqi government to stop recruiting police, reduce weapons purchases, and slow down plans to incorporate former insurgents into Iraq's security forces. The latter is a concern because it could lead the "Sons of Iraq," the mainly Sunni tribal militias who turned the tide against al-Qaeda types in central Iraq in the past year or so, to rebel against the government again.

In addition, Maliki's Islamic Dawa party and his State of Law coalition won broad popular support in the Jan. 31 provincial elections — contested everywhere but the three Kurdish provinces and Kirkuk province — primarily due to the improving security situation in southern Iraq. In March 2008, Maliki lead the "Charge of the Knights" military campaign to clean out the Shia militias in and around Basra, followed by a similar campaign in the Shia slums of Baghdad, known as Sadr City.

But Maliki knows his government must begin producing tangible economic results, including basic services such as electricity, water and sanitation, if he is to win a second term as prime minister in the national elections at the end of the year.

While checked by wars over the past three decades, Iraq's oil ministry has polished and re-polished a development plan to increase crude oil production to six million barrels per day (bpd). Since the Iraqi government has been unable to pass a new hydrocarbon law in the post-Iraq war years, the international oil companies (IOCs) are being offered service contracts to develop Iraq's oil (and gas) fields, rather than production-sharing agreements. ....

The result of this development plan — assuming it is implemented and that other world oil fundamentals perform as they have in the past decade — is that Iraq is on a collision course with OPEC. ....

It is unlikely that the other OPEC members (such as Saudi Arabia) would allow Iraq to grab all the incremental demand or more for OPEC crude oil over the next three to five years without a fight, especially since OPEC-11 spare capacity already has increased to 6.5 million bpd and the Saudi's Khurais field is coming on line at the end of June (six months early) with production capacity of 1.2 million bpd.

**Big K** · 17 May 09,, 12:55

whats the percentage of US share in the oil revenue of Iraq?

**Merlin** · 17 May 09,, 14:09

Originally Posted by Big K

whats the percentage of US share in the oil revenue of Iraq?

I don't know. Ask Maliki or his Oil Minister.

**Shek** · 17 May 09,, 16:20

Originally Posted by Big K

whats the percentage of US share in the oil revenue of Iraq?

Are you asking how much of our imported oil originates from Iraq?

**Big K** · 17 May 09,, 23:36

Originally Posted by Shek

Are you asking how much of our imported oil originates from Iraq?

no Sir,

as far as i know US have a percentage of oil revenue in order to finance the whole Iraq operation.

**Parihaka** · 17 May 09,, 23:53

Originally Posted by Big K

no Sir,

as far as i know US have a percentage of oil revenue in order to finance the whole Iraq operation.

Big K, the US's share of Iraqi oil revenue is $0.00

**Merlin** · 18 May 09,, 01:55

Of course that does not rule out US oil and infrastructure contractors, arms manufacturers, etc. getting revenues from Iraq.

**Shek** · 18 May 09,, 02:09

Originally Posted by Big K

no Sir,

as far as i know US have a percentage of oil revenue in order to finance the whole Iraq operation.

This is incorrect. The Development Fund for Iraq was established to place oil revenues into as well as seized assets for use in Iraq. While the accounting was very poor, and so there are unaccounted for funds, none of this money was used to finance military operations. It has been used to finance reconstruction projects. However, the DFI went away when the CPA went away and there was a sovereign government to which the revenues went to. As you can from the Wiki link below, the US Congress allocated more funds for reconstruction between the original reconstruction bill and subsequent ones than what went into the DFI.

Development Fund for Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Big K** · 18 May 09,, 03:15

well thanks for correcting me sirs,

but once again this is the power of disinformation of people. the thing that you just corrected is widely believed around here...

**Merlin** · 01 Jun 09,, 04:49

The Iraq side of this oil pipeline from Syria was bombed by US force during the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein's regime. It has not been repaired since.

Iraq Seeks Bidders to Restart Syria Oil Pipeline

Iraq is seeking offers from foreign companies to rehabilitate an oil pipeline to Syria's Mediterranean terminal of Banias after a Russian firm did not begin the work, an Oil Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

A Russian company was signed up to fix the pipeline, which has not been used for exports since the 1980s, but has not taken up the task, ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said. ....

Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari arrived in Iraq on Tuesday on a visit and one of the subjects under discussion would be the pipeline, officials said.

During a visit to Russia this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he would like to revive contracts signed by Russian companies before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. ...

U.S. forces bombed the pipeline on the Iraqi side of the border during the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

**Merlin** · 28 Jun 09,, 16:03

This is a big contract.

Iraq to open up oil fields

27 June [Age] Iraq will this week unveil which foreign firms have won contracts to develop its oil and gas fields, nearly four decades after Saddam Hussein nationalised the country's energy infrastructure.

The deals, likely to be announced live on television on June 29 and 30, will provide the government with much-needed revenue as it struggles to rebuild the country after three wars and 20 years of debilitating economic sanctions.

Thirty-one companies have submitted bids to develop six giant oil fields and two gas fields. The oil deposits, holding known reserves of 43 billion barrels of crude, are in southern and northern Iraq while the gas concessions are west and northeast of Baghdad. ....

Increasing production to that level will, according to him, pump an extra $US1.7 trillion ($A2.11 trillion) into government coffers over the next 20 years.

Shahristani has said that only $US30 billion ($A37.31 billion) of that sum will go to the companies that have extracted the oil. ....

**Merlin** · 30 Jun 09,, 13:47

It is not smooth sailing getting international oil companies to bid for oil and gas fields.

Iraqi oil licensing round runs into trouble

30 June BAGHDAD (AP) â€” Iraq's long-awaited licensing round to develop some of its massive oil reserves stumbled Tuesday as oil and gas companies dug in their heals, demanding more money for their efforts than the government was willing to pay.

International oil companies were submitting bids for six oil and two gas fields more than 30 years after Saddam Hussein nationalized the oil sector and expelled foreign firms. The televised process coincided with Iraq assuming formal control over its cities â€” a step toward ending the U.S. combat role in the country.

But by midday, only one field had been awarded and several others drew limited to no interest. ....

The government was hoping that the high-profile licensing round â€” televised to prove its transparency â€” would result in companies flooding in, bringing their expertise as the country looks to boost output of a resource whose sales bring in 90 percent of the government's revenues.

Some analysts have said companies may be unwilling to commit to major ventures in Iraq, opting to wait and see how the security situation develops after the U.S. pullout from urban areas.