Iraq Oil Report

Iraq on Wednesday opened up some of its most prized oil and gas fields to international firms that have been excluded for decades, part of new deals that could more than double its output within a few years, Ahmed Rasheed reports for Reuters. In a second bid round, following on from one earlier this year, Iraq has put forward 11 fields.

Rasheed reports three fields are on the borders with either Iran or Kuwait, and the countries will have to create a plan to jointly develop them.

Supergiant oil fields Majnoon and West Qurna Phase 2 topped the list, along with Halfaya, East Baghdad, Gharrafa, Qayara, Najmah, Badrah, Kifil/West, Kifil/Mirjan and a group in Diyala (Qamar, Gullabat and Naudman) province, as well as Basra’s Siba gas field.

The holder of the world’s third-largest oil reserves, has opened nearly 90 percent of its reserves to international oil companies for development in two major postwar bidding rounds through 2008, Sinan Salaheddin reports for The Associated Press.

Thousands of protesters in Iraq’s southern oil city of Basra demanded their own federal region on Saturday, akin to minority Kurds’ peaceful, prosperous enclave in the country’s north, Aref Mohammed reports for Reuters. Some three thousand people took to the streets in mainly Shi’ite Basra, demanding a referendum on whether the city and surrounding province might become a semi-autonomous state.

Alive in Baghdad: After Saddam, Building Amarah

Deep in the southeast of Iraq along the border with Iran lies the Governorate of Maysan. Approximately 800,000 Iraqis live there, most followers of the Shi’ite Islamic sect. During the war between Iraq and Iran in the 1980s Maysan province was the site of some of the biggest battle fields. Because of the high Shi’ite population and their relation to Iran, the regime of Saddam Hussein viewed the people of Maysan as a threat. Saddam had the Ahwar, or marshlands, a major food source and the crux of many local livelihoods, completely drained. In addition, much of the local population was forcefully relocated to other areas of Iraq. Most of the people in Maysan live in the capital of Amarah. The city’s infrastructure is especially poor, receiving negligible care and attention during the reign of Saddam Hussein, who viewed it as vengeance for the Shi’ite uprisings following the first Gulf War in 1991.

Plus:
*Confusion remains over first bidding round as round 2 announced
*Heritage spuds in KRG
*U.S. pressing for extension of immunity for Iraq oil revenue
*Paris Club makes good on forgiving last 20 percent
*Basra: U.S. troops in, elections coming, federal state fight looms
*Women’s rights leader beheaded in Kirkuk
*Alive in Baghdad: Journalists Still at Risk in Iraq
*Shoe-throwing Zaidi update
*Much, much more…

Iraqi oil exports increased last month to 1.76 million barrels per day as the price for oil continued to fall, according to data from the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Oil exported from the southern terminals in the Persian Gulf shouldered the output boost, Ben Lando reports for United Press International.

The uptick in exports is needed more than ever. Iraq’s oil fetched an average $43.54 per barrel in November — a 26-percent drop since October and a long way from June’s $122 per barrel price tag. Despite increasing output month-on-month, Iraqi oil sales were $2.29 billion in November and $3.11 billion in October.

While Iraq is readying to outline a second round of bidding giving international oil firms a chance to develop oil and gas fields, concerns remain over the first round, which commenced in full this October.

Development deals for two undeveloped gas fields and six of Iraq’s largest operating oil fields are to be signed by mid 2009, according to the Oil Ministry’s plans. But with information still trickling in from the ministry to interested oil companies, many questions remain.

Executives told Iraq Oil Report on condition of anonymity that they aren’t convinced the terms will be worth the risk and investment, and they have many questions to fully understand the investment strategy pursued by the ministry.

“Iraq’s latest draft model contract for its first postwar bid round, recently made available to participating firms, has failed to bridge the gap between the oil ministry and international oil companies,” Ruba Husari writes for Energy Intelligence. “The two sides may struggle to narrow their differences in the short time frame announced by Baghdad, which aims to publish the final technical service contract by April 2009 and award contracts by the summer.”

The Oil Ministry sees this route as the way to meeting goals of 6 million barrels per day production in 10 years. On Dec. 29 the Oil Ministry will host a conference at its Baghdad headquarters to announce details of the second round, Ahmed Rasheed reports for Reuters. It is expected to include another 13 or 14 oil fields.

This is a statement from the Oil Ministry:

The Ministry of Oil
Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate
The Second Bidding Round Announcement Conference
With the attendance of H.E. the Minister of Oil, Dr. Hussain Al-Shahristani, the Ministry of Oil will hold a media conference to announce the second Bidding Round, where the petroleum fields, that the Ministry intends to develop in cooperation with the pre-qualified International Oil Companies, will be announced. The conference will be held in The Ministry of Oil building at: 11:00 AM on Wednesday, Dec.31th, 2008.
The Ministry of Oil invites the authorized representatives of the International Oil Companies in Iraq to attend this conference after being registered. The International, Arab and Iraqi media representatives are welcomed to cover this conference.

Heritage Oil Limited has commenced drilling the Miran West-1 well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This is the first exploration well to be drilled on the highly prospective Miran license, according to a company statement.

The United States circulated a U.N. resolution that would shield billions of dollars of Iraqi assets from legal actions after the mandate for the U.S.-led multinational force ends, U.N. diplomats said, Edith M. Lederer reports for The Associated Press. The draft resolution would extend for one year the arrangements under the U.N. mandate for the American-led multinational force in Iraq, which expires Dec. 31. Similar legal protection under an executive order signed by President George W. Bush expires in May, and Iraq is expected to seek an extension of that order as well.

The Paris Club group of Iraq creditors – i.e. those who helped fund Saddam Hussein – forgave the new Iraq government a final 20 percent of its debt, worth $7.8 billion. In all, the creditors forgave 80 percent of the combined debt, with only 20 percent for Iraq to pay, according to a PC statement.

Paris Club creditors consider that the Government of Iraq has made its best efforts to seek comparable treatment from all its other external creditors, with the conclusion of comparable debt treatments with 58 out of 73 Iraq’s sovereign creditors. Paris Club creditors urge the remaining 15 creditors of Iraq to follow suit.

American troops will move into southern Iraq early next year to replace departing British forces, the top U.S. general in Iraq said. Britain says its 4,000 troops will withdraw from the southern city of Basra by the end of May. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the overall commander of U.S. and allied forces in Iraq, said in an interview with The Associated Press’ Chelsea J. Carter late Saturday that he is considering moving either a brigade or division headquarters — about 100 personnel — as well as an undetermined number of combat troops to Iraq’s second-largest city.

With provincial elections six weeks away, the electoral – and assumed physical – fight over the oil capital Basra, among other places, will be key to watch. Reidar Visser writes in historiae.org that the names of individual candidates for provincial elections have finally been released, and he takes an in-depth look at Basra.

Basil Adas reporting for Gulf News has the latest on the Basra federalism debate.

Nahla Hussein al-Shaly – the latest victim of Iraq’s increasingly anti-women culture. Shaly worked for the Kurdistan Women’s League until Dec. 18, when she was attacked in her Kirkuk home and beheaded.

The story has received little attention. Yahya Barzanji reported it in The Associated Press. This has been followed by a condemnation from the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, Staffan de Mistura, and details of her work in an Indy Media recap.

For the situation of women in Iraq, see this two items from earlier this year, which are unfortunately still timely:

July 6: Rise of Islamic extremism erodes women’s rights: Winning (and losing) in Iraq, by Ben Lando in The Washington Times

March 14: Iraq progress missing women, by Ben Lando for United Press International.

Iraqi officials say they intend to expel members of an Iranian exile group living in a camp north of Baghdad that is protected by the U.S. military. The expulsion, which the Shiite-led government has long sought, is expected to become feasible once the U.N. mandate that regulates the presence of U.S. troops — and which gave the Iranian opposition group protected status — expires at the end of the year, Ernesto Londoño reports for The Washington Post.

Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie on Saturday traveled to the camp with several other government officials to deliver the message to members of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group that was closely aligned with deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein but has been under U.S. military protection since shortly after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

At Iraqi border outpost, signs of improving ties with Iran: As US forces pull back, Iran is expected to widen its influence in Iraq, despite the two countries’ history of war and mistrust, Scott Peterson reports for The Christian Science Monitor. Iraq’s Shiite-led government has close ties with the rulers of Iran, where many current leaders spent years living in exile. And despite a war between Iran and Iraq that left 1 million dead or wounded, Iran’s influence here is only growing and set to increase as US forces begin to pull back.

Major businesses have lined up billions of dollars for investment in southern Iraq, where oil riches and long-term opportunities beckon, preparing to move in even as Britain prepares to pull its troops out, Luke Baker reports for Reuters. Foreign investors have earmarked more than $9 billion for the oil-hub of Basra and the region around it in the next three years, according to Michael Wareing, the co-chair of the Basra Development Commission, a British-Iraqi group, and up to three times as much could be invested in the next five to 10 years.

Alive in Baghdad: Journalists Still At Risk in Iraq

Just over a year ago, Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi, a journalist and correspondent for Alive in Baghdad, received a knock at his door. It was just after 11:30 at night, outside Ali was greeted with an Iraqi National Guard convoy. Hearing gunshots, Ali’s neighbors frantically tried to reach him by phone, to no avail. When his cousin Amar finally arrived a few hours later, Ali was dead, shot to death in his own living room. Horace Greeley once wrote that “journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you’re at it.” No one understands this twisted fate more than the journalists of Iraq.

The Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush and called him a “dog” will stand trial on December 31, a court official said, Ahmed Rasheed reports for Reuters. TV journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi is charged with “assaulting a foreign head of state visiting Iraq,” said Abdul Satar Birqadr, spokesman for Iraq’s High Judicial Council.

Zaidi was burned by a cigarette in the hours after his arrest on Dec. 14 and was beaten so badly by Iraqi security personnel that one of his teeth was knocked out, the reporter’s brother said Sunday after a visit to the jail, Timothy Williams reports for The New York Times.

Obama should worry about Iraqi shoes, too: When Iraq’s violence escalates, President Obama better not be caught on his heels when he’s blamed for losing Bush’s “win,” Ben Lando writes for Alternet.

Iraqi farmers are back in business, and Iraqis love local produce, Adam Ashton reports for McClatchy Newspapers.

Mansour Abdul Khadim’s mix of winter crops gives every impression of abundance, despite the double threat of drought and violence that has plagued Iraqi agriculture since Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003.

Rows of red potatoes and green beans grow together in one lot. Winter wheat sprouts in adjacent fields. Tomatoes for the spring already are incubating in mounds of fertilizer. … “I am not restrained by any government condition. I am free to use the land the way I want it,” said Khadim, 37, whose family has farmed in this rural area south of Baghdad for decades.

Khadim’s taking advantage of a drop in violence to rebuild decrepit canals and boost his farm’s production as part of a 700-member agricultural cooperative. He’s part of a trend that many hope will increase across the country, bolster employment and restore Iraq’s status as an historic breadbasket for the Middle East.

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Plus:
*2011 given as Oil Police readiness
*Cabinet approves GE and Siemens deal
*U.S.’s Iraq reconstruction effort criticized in draft report
*Zebari at U.N. for oil funds protection
*Much more

Basrawis will be asked to allow a vote on the future governance structure of their province beginning today. Proponents of the plan to create a strong, Kurdistan Regional Government-like region of Basra province have a month to collect the required nearly 141,000 signatures, Reidar Visser writes at Historiae.org.

Iraq allows one or more provinces to form a region, which would allow it some added powers and privileges (though its uncertain the extent, and how like the semi-autonomous KRG another region would be).

The single province federal region plan for Basra is in competition with other ideas, from keeping the current centralized federal system intact, to a three or even nine-province region.

Visser, also research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and member of the Gulf Research Unit at the University of Oslo, explains the implication on the oil sector:

Since the scheme was formally launched last month, there have been certain important clarifications about its aims. In particular, Wail Abd al-Latif, the chief pro-federal architect, has commented on oil and Basra’s claims to it. …

According to Abd al-Latif’s most recent statements, the federalists do not seek to interfere with the central government when it comes to the administration of the oil sector and the signing of contracts. At the same time, though, Abd al-Latif has hinted at demands for a special share for Basra of the oil income generated locally. This is mostly consistent with proposals for constitutional revision which he presented back in 2005, and also echoes ideas put forward by his ally in the federalism question – the Fadila party – which last year came up with the idea of a one-dollar deduction from each barrel of oil from Basra to be placed in a special development fund for the area.

Saleem al-Wazzan reports for Niqash of a possible Dawa Party-Sadrist alliance to rally the nationalist sentiment in Basra: ““We are appraising, rather than negotiating, directly and indirectly the relations between the two parties,” said Abu Hazim, a Sadr official. “We, as well as the government, want to achieve the national interest of the country by including the Sadrist movement in the political process.” As of yet the Sadr movement have not declared their intention for the election and may compete on different lists.”

Iraq’s oil security apparatus is transitioning from ministries of oil and defense to interior responsibility, but will require U.S. security assistance until 2011. Lieutenant General Frank Helmick, the U.S. official in charge of training Iraqi forces, said the transition won’t be completed until 2010, Missy Ryan reports for Reuters. Iraqi officials have given a 2012 timeline, and that’s if they can get enough training and equipment.

Security of the infrastructure has been hampered by attacks in the north that were mitigated starting late last year by paying insurgents to stand guard, and the entire oil chain has been vulnerable to smuggling, which at times implicated the security force, especially in the south.

Siemens and GE will provide an estimated $7 billion worth of equipment to increase electricity production in Iraq. Reuters reports Siemens will provide “16 gas units and secondary electric equipment” and GE “56 gas units.” No details have been released, including where the equipment will be installed, and how they will receive the needed fuel supply. Natural gas is currently being flared for lack of infrastructure or undeveloped altogether. If the Oil Ministry is able to develop the needed sources, it will conflict with any near-term potential exports being eyed by Europe, Turkey. or Royal Dutch Shell.

A draft version of a comprehensive report by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction was obtained by The New York Times and ProPublica and offers a scathing critique of U.S. efforts.

Iraq’s Finance Ministry is directing fellow ministries to find ways to make cuts in their budgets as the drop in oil prices since records earlier this year is forcing a relook at the 2009 budget. Kareem Abedzair reports for Azzaman “Finance Minister Bayn Jabr is reported to have asked Iraqi ministries to slash spending and adopt belt-tightening measures. There are fears that the government may not be able to cover the payrolls of its civil servants and pay for imports of food. … The government which had earlier drawn a budget depending on an oil price of nearly $80 a barrel is now reworking the budget on an estimated price of $26 a barrel. Oil prices have dropped to nearly $45 dollars a barrel from highs hovering at $150.”

Meanwhile, a top U.S. spokesperson says this year’s oil revenues exceeded budget expectations and will buffer next year’s expected downturn of income, Emily Meredith reports for The Khaleej Times. ““2008 oil revenues exceeded expectation,” said a spokesperson for Major General David Perkins, the US official in charge of strategic effects for the Multi-National Forces in Iraq. “Surpluses will be used to mitigate the expected ‘09 challenges and they’ll continue to as the market adjusts.””

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari is at the U.N. Security Council attempting to configure a way for Iraq to be removed from Chapter 7 — i.e. Iraq is a threat and U.N. authorizes military action — without losing the immunities that kept Saddam-era creditors away from the oil revenues, Iraq’s National Media Center says. An extension of the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) and the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (the auditors) is likely, if asked, according to the Security Council Report.

For more information about what Iraq is looking for, read the interview of Iraq’s Ambassador to the U.N. Hamid Bayati, by United Press International’s Ben Lando.

Iraq’s Oil Ministry says it will begin work with blacklisted SK Energy following word the South Korean firm has pulled out from a KRG oil development consortium, Iraq Directory reports.

Iran is to invest $32.25 million in drilling nine Iraqi oil wells north of Baghdad, according to a vaguely worded piece in Iraq Directory.

Britain will be out of Iraq by mid-2009 as part of a post-U.S. SOFA deal. This puts the second-largest U.S. ally in the coalition forces in Iraq in the same categories as countries like Estonia and its 36 soldiers, Deborah Haynes reports for The Times of London:

The deal for Britain and the others was described by Muwafaq al-Rubaie, Iraq’s National Security Adviser, as a “mini-agreement for the six entities”.

The proposed legislation states that all duties performed by the contingents, which include 42 Australian officers and 200 troops from 15 Nato countries, as well as the larger British presence, must stop by the end of May. “There will be two months’ grace for the forces to leave Iraq by July 31,” Fawzi Hariri, the Iraqi Industry Minister, said. “There was no way we could have done a security agreement to the same level of detail that we had with the Americans in such a short period.”

The Iraqi Government has the option to ask certain elements to remain beyond July to help with specific tasks, such as training the small Iraqi Navy. “We believe this is a workable document and we discussed it at the Cabinet level,” Mr Hariri told The Times.

Ministers vote on the deal tomorrow. If passed, it will go before the Iraqi parliament later in the week.

The Quality of Justice: Failings of Iraq’s Central Criminal Court, a new report by Human Rights Watch says the Central Criminal Court of Iraq “is seriously failing to meet international standards of due process and fair trials. Defendants often endure long periods of pretrial detention without judicial review, and are not able to pursue a meaningful defense or challenge evidence against them. Abuse in detention, typically with the aim of extracting confessions, appears common, thus tainting court proceedings in those cases.”

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Plus:
*PKK announces Eid ceasefire, rapprochement
*Basra to begin regionalism signature campaign
*Peshmerga rep in Baghdad for talks
*New life at Anbar university

It’s been 50 years since Peter Redman drilled wells on Iraq’s Zubair and Rumaila fields on behalf of British Petroleum, a major stakeholder of the Iraq Petroleum Co., which controlled Iraq’s oil until it was kicked out in the 1970s in the nationalization campaign. Now he’s back.

Ben Lando reports for United Press International on Sunday, Mesopotamian Petroleum Co., of which Redman is deputy chairman, was announced by the state-run Iraq Drilling Co. as a partner in a joint venture aimed at bringing technology, expertise and new-age drilling to an Iraqi sector hurting from three decades of war, mismanagement and sanctions.

Iraq-based Oil Serv is close to signing a service contract as well. …

“We are going to sign a deal in this regard,” he said, pointing out Redman and Mesopotamia’s Executive Chairman Stephen Remp, who stood up to applause at the Iraq Energy Expo & Conference. “It’s going to be fruitful for this country.”

Read the entire story: Click Here.

The PKK announced a temporary cease fire to mark the Eid holiday, and offers it as “a first step toward peace,” Yahya Barzanji reports for The Associated Press. It comes days after Turkey’s latest bombing campaign against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, with camps in northern Iraqi mountains where the labeled terrorist group is accused of planning attacks on Turkish territory.

Basra province will begin next week to collect signatures that would enable a vote to turn Iraq’s southern oil hub into a semi-autonomous province. Press TV reports the measure needs 141,000 signatures to be valid for a referendum. Signatures will be collected Dec. 15-Jan. 14. Meanwhile, nationalist opponents of the move will be jockeying for support not only from the signature collectors, but proponents of a mid size region and even one encompassing the entire southern Iraq. Supporters of the various regionalization schemes largely fall along party lines of those who would come to rule the oil capital of Iraq.

Rethinking the Political Future: An Alternative to the Ethno-Sectarian Division of Iraq, just published in the American University International Law Review by Paul R. Williams and Matthew T. Simpson of the Public International Law & Policy Group.

The spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government security forces, the peshmerga, will be in Baghdad after the Eid holiday to follow up on agreed negotiations of one key issue between the central and regional governments, Voices of Iraq reports. There’s a dispute as to how much control the national Ministry of Defense has over the KRG forces, as well as how much of the federal budget should be directly spent on the Pesh, versus the funding come from within KRG’s allotted percent of redistributed money.

New Life at Anbar University: On arrival at Ramadi University in Anbar province, professors, students and visitors are all required to park their cars at least one kilometer away from the university and walk the rest of the distance. Cars have been banned from the premises for fear that they may contain bombs or other security threats.

Even, however, as security threats remain, Anbar province has seen a significant improvement in security conditions over the last year and Ramadi University is now seeing new life, Nirmeen Hamid reports for Niqash. Having been abandoned by professors and students alike as a result of the violence of recent years, many are now returning and the academic centre which was founded in 1987 is seeking to revive former achievements.

Twenty-one year old Ahmed Alwan is one student who has returned. The computer studies student, who used to have to carry computer programming CDs under his clothes in fear of fundamentalist groups, fled the university two years ago when the risks became too great.

“I used to hide the CDs as if I was hiding a dangerous weapon. Al-Qaeda banned the sale of CDs and burned all shops selling them claiming that these shops were destroying the Muslim community,” he said.
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*Oil and money flow remain to be decided
*Oil law, constitution among other related roadblocks
Plus:
*Highlights of the first ever Baghdad-based Iraq oil conference
*Shahristani pitches 10-year plan to global oil industry
*Refugees feel brunt of oil price drop
* Alive in Baghdad: Still No Electricity Surge
*Iraq Press Roundup
*Much more

While two companies are technically prepping their northern Iraq oil fields for exports to Turkey, political disputes between the central Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government remain.

Eleven days after the Iraqi oil minister traveled to the KRG capital, Erbil, for meetings with the region’s prime minister and oil minister, both sides have continued firing warning shots in the debate that has continued for more than a year on Kurdish oil contracts with international oil companies, Ben Lando reports for United Press International.

During the visit, the ministers announced an agreement to allow oil from two deals to be exported and to continue dialogue over the rest. Baghdad says only the central government has the right to sign oil deals, in a difference of interpretation of the 2005 constitution with the KRG, the semiautonomous three-province region in northernmost Iraq.

“We are in serious discussion with the KRG about several issues,” Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told reporters Friday following a speech at an oil and gas conference, “but the position vis-a-vis the contracts the Kurds sign without going through the central government remains unchanged. Those contracts have no standing with the Iraq government.”

One day earlier KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told a news conference, “Let Shahristani say what he wants to, since all the oil contracts of the Regional Government are legal and signed according to the law and Constitution,” the Kurdish Globe reports.

Ashti Hawrami, the KRG natural resources minister, told United Press International by phone Friday opponents should take the issue to the Constitutional Court if they wanted.

“We have a contractual right, a constitutional right, a legal right. Anybody has a complaint about that, they can … take us to court,” he said. “Kurdistan oil is Iraqi oil.” …

Abdul-Hadi al-Hasani, the deputy chairman of the Iraqi Parliament’s Oil and Gas Committee and a member of Maliki’s party, said on the sidelines of an oil conference this week in London that five Kurdish and federal government leaders have formed a new committee to find a solution to a number of ongoing disputes.

The committee includes Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, a Kurd, and Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, once a strong ally to Maliki’s Dawa Party but recently siding with the Kurdish Coalition.

Hasani said the new committee will look at the two KRG deals producing oil and could find a resolution to the controversy over the other KRG deals, which will face a serious problem if they ever produce oil.
The committee has its hands full in tackling other key issues, including the percentage of Iraq’s federal budget the KRG should receive and the disputed oil law.

Despite the rhetoric, there is progress in putting disputes to rest. Hasani said he expects a quick decision on the oil law and hopes the multi-partisan Parliament Oil and Gas Committee will begin an open debate this month.

In the meeting last week between Shahristani and KRG leaders, they decided to jointly develop the Khormala Dome of the massive Kirkuk oil field. The Iraqi army and KRG’s peshmerga military have nearly come to blows twice in the 14 months over rights to do the work and produce oil. Among issues yet to be determined: how much of the oil from Khormala Dome will be sent to Turkey, and how much to a refinery in Erbil, the KRG capital.

Read the entire story: CLICK HERE.

Get more from:

Ahmed Rasheed of Reuters

Kim Gamel and Sinan Salaheddin of The Associated Press

Gina Chon of The Wall Street Journal has a nice first person narrative of the proceedings as well.

SK Energy, the largest Korean oil refining firm, with a stake in a KRG oil deal consortium, said it may withdraw from Kurdistan for a chance at oil in the rest of the country, Reuters reports.

Iraq’s oil minister called on the global oil industry to assist Iraq in an ambitious plan to increase the ability to produce, utilize and export oil and gas,” Ben Lando reports in a separate article for UPI.

Shahristani said investment of international oil companies could help Iraq free itself from being “imprisoned in a 1970s time capsule,” a reference to the start of Saddam Hussein’s rule that brought three wars, mismanagement and U.N. sanctions, and resulting degradation of infrastructure, loss of new technology and Iraqi expertise.

Big Oil was represented at the Iraq Energy Expo only by ConocoPhillips and Marathon, with the rest too concerned with security, according to officials. Attendees included Russia’s LUKoil, Rosneft and Gazprom Neft and exploration and service companies from Pakistan, Japan and elsewhere.

Low world oil prices could exacerbate the plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs), according to the U.N. humanitarian assistance office. The government, which relies on oil revenues for over 90 percent of its income, will have to cut financial assistance to IDPs in next year’s budget, an Iraqi lawmaker has said. “There is no doubt the current economic crisis… will affect Iraq’s income and living standards, especially those of the miserable displaced families,” Abdul-Khaliq Zankana said.

An Iraqi transport ministry delegation is discussing in Rome a project to build a giant port on the coast of the Persian Gulf, RIA Novosti reports. Iraq, which has a Persian Gulf coastline of less than 100 kilometers (60 miles), has so far only one deep sea commercial port, Umm Qasr.

Alive in Baghdad: Still No Electricity Surge

The electricity is the second greatest concern for the Iraqi people after security. Iraqis have suffered from a lack of electricity before the war and have been angry to see it continue after. The excuse most often given by Saddam’s regime was the impact of the sanctions and the lack of spare parts. The new Iraqi government blames the security situation and the lack of funding for new electricity providers. Iraqi citizens have developed new ways to provide electricity to support their daily life.

Security, Society & Politics

Developments over the past week in Iraq have offered an operational opportunity to al-Qaida, and it will be interesting to see if it can grasp it, William S. Lind writes for UPI. However, last week the Iraqi Parliament sitting in Baghdad passed the new Status of Forces Agreement that would keep American combat troops in their country at least through the year 2011. The U.S. government regards that outcome as a success, which it is not. What the United States needs most is to get out of Iraq before the next round in the Iraqi civil war starts.

Blocked roads, traffic jams and long waits stretching out for kilometers are disrupting the life of workers across Baghdad’s public and private sectors. From early morning to evening the capital’s streets are clogged with traffic, Hayder Najm writes for Niqash.

Ahmed Sallum, a taxi driver says that “the checkpoints deployed all over Baghdad are responsible for the jams,” claiming that if one policeman is not in a good mood, he can cause traffic and make a huge number of cars wait.” Not only are cars obliged to wait, but their drivers are also ill-treated. “Sometimes police at check points stop taxi drivers for long hours and oblige them to take a different route and this causes us great losses,” he added.

Read what Iraqis read: the Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Alaa Majeed.

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s coordinator to the U.N. said that part of the report issued by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on human rights abuses in the country is “incorrect,” Voices of Iraq reports.
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