Kidnappings, bombings hit Basra; IA Aviation Mil Mi-35 and IA Bell 407 helicopters downed by #IS with FN-6 MANPADS

IA Aviation Mil Mi-35 and IA Bell 407 helicopters downed by #IS with FN-6 MANPADS in the vicinity of Bayji: pic.twitter.com/9CTKHZqDW7

— MemlikPasha (@MemlikPasha) October 9, 2014 Basra federalists still have only 20K signatures demanding referendum for new federal region. Need more than 100K, goal not reached in 2009. #Basra federalist leader promises constitution for new federal region in oil-rich south of #Iraq before referendum #BREAKING Rosneft scraps purchase of Morgan Stanley's oil trading business IA Aviation Mil Mi-35 and IA Bell 407 helicopters downed by #IS with FN-6 MANPADS in the vicinity of Bayji: The Chinese FN-6 is an updated version of the Russian 9K38 Igla-S MANPADS. FN-6 send by Saudi for FSA... Now we are sure that no further advanced weapons will be sent to them. I wait for the TOW Missille in the hand of ISIS...US aircraft at Kobane operate well over the maximum range of the MANPADS. ISIS need SA-3(S125PechoraM)available in Latakia/Tartous/Damascus &othr #ASAAD basis,accordng to IISS(2010) #Kweris had some but was not taken by #ISIS. These have a ceiling of 59k feet,FN6 are based on SA16/18(9K38)not on SA24 and have 12kfeet ceiling hat could be the reason for the absence of manpads at kobane?? Limited no.s only or kept for something big? A family photo of sorts for #MANPADS, good for comparison: http://imgur.com/gallery/KFH6b04 @MemlikPasha 2013-06-01 Panorama of Alasala Watanmia Front in Aleppo Syria by jurassicbark Background on this group and their MANPADS: "9K338 Igla-S (SA-24) and other MANPADS in Syria" via armsresearch.org by N.R. Jenzen-Jones I made this panorama from video after seeing the group deploy one of the MANPADS today. Most notable is the various anti-air missile systems displayed: 9K32M Strela-2M , Chinese FN-6, 9K338 Igla-S, 9K310 Igla-1. =========== To stem extremists, Iraq to reduce Baghdad's power By SAMEER N. YACOUB and VIVIAN SALAMA Oct. 10, 2014 3:26 AM EDT Mideast Iraq Decentralization In this Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014 photo,Basra residents chant slogans supporting the creation of... BAGHDAD (AP) — To get a home or an office built in the central Iraqi province of Salahuddin, contractors have usually had to pay hefty bribes to corrupt officials in Baghdad to clear away the red tape. It was just one example of the heavy hand that the central government holds over even the smallest details of life in Iraq's provinces. That hand was often corrupt as well. Around 70 percent of the projects that the government committed to fund in Salahuddin existed only on paper, according to Najih al-Mizan, a Sunni lawmaker from the province. "Some of the funds allocated to the province go missing in Baghdad," said al-Mizan. The combination of interference and neglect from the Shiite-led government in Baghdad was one reason why many among the predominantly Sunni population of Salahuddin saw the Islamic State group as a possible alternative when its extremist fighters swept into the province the past month, al-Mizan said. People there were so fed up with Baghdad, they were desperate for something new. Now, Iraq's new government, beleaguered by the Sunni militant onslaught over much of the country, is making a concerted effort to empower local and provincial governments. The aim is in part to draw Sunni support away from the extremists. But it is also a calculation that it is better to have a controlled decentralization of power than to see the country outright fall apart into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish fragments, as many fear. Until recently in Iraq, getting anything done on a provincial level — even routine business like hiring a street cleaner — required approval from Baghdad. Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish populations alike have long complained that the central government monopolized power and horded resources, leaving outlying regions to fend for themselves. Provinces that are home to the Sunni minority have long felt the brunt of discrimination from Shiite authorities in Baghdad, who the Sunnis say would often either neglect their needs or exploit them through corruption. But Shiite provinces were neglected as well, particularly those dominated by Shiite parties not in favor in the capital. The exclusion intensified feelings of resentment toward the government of then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, even among one-time loyalists. That resentment finally led to al-Maliki's replacement last month. The Islamic State group, which now holds territory stretching from northern Syria across Sunni regions of northern and western Iraq down to the edges of Baghdad, has intentionally sought to benefit from the Sunni resentments of Baghdad. Part of its core strategy has been to establish administration over the land that it controls to win over the population. The group administers courts, cleans streets, fixes roads and even polices traffic. Haider al-Abadi, named Iraq's prime minister on Sept. 8, has made decentralization a paramount theme in his platform. He plans to give greater autonomy to provincial governments and construct a national guard in which recruits and leadership are conscripted from local populations. "We have to move away from governing from the center, which is Baghdad, and having to decide all the details for the different governorates — that's important for us," al-Abadi said in a Sept. 17 interview with The Associated Press. "We want to have a real federal state according to the constitution," by giving provinces more power and involving them more in the central government's decision-making for the whole of Iraq. Decentralization has failed to take off in the past. In 2013, parliament revised a law on provincial powers to spread authorities but the changes were never carried out. The constitution itself — written under heavy U.S. influence after the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein — has strong provisions for decentralization. It allows several provinces to vote to form a region together that would have a large degree of autonomy. That raises the possibility of a Sunni-dominated region in the center and a Shiite-dominated one in the south, similar to the already existing semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north. No individual province has tried to officially start the process to create a region, but there have been calls. This week, protesters in the southern city of Basra held demonstrations demanding greater decentralization. But decentralization also gets lost in the thicket of disputes between Baghdad and the provinces over issues ranging from annual budgets, investment, security, sharing of resources and balance of powers. The Shiite-majority city of Basra, for example, has everything and nothing. It has little access to drinking water, systematic garbage collection or decent health care — ironic, since Basra is the biggest contributor to Iraq's annual budget with its robust oil reserves. "We are not even able to build houses for poor people because we have no control over most of Basra's land," said Sabah al-Bazaouni, a member of Basra's provincial council. "The Oil Ministry has the upper hand in this issue (and) does not care whether our people are living in houses or on the sidewalk." Iraq has had a long history of autocratic rule since gaining independence from the British in 1932, with the central government in Baghdad maintaining a tight grip on all provincial matters. At the time, only the Kurds fought the centralized model of governance as it stymied their ambitions for an independent Kurdish state. But in the decades that followed, Shiites clashed with the Sunni-led government claiming that they were treated like second-class citizens, persecuted, arrested, and denied basic rights. When the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam in 2003, tables turned and Sunnis expressed similar grievances about the Shiites who came to power. One complaint voiced particularly by Sunnis and Kurds is over abuses by the security forces and Shiite militias. Al-Maliki inflamed tensions in the military by dismissing some Sunni officers and replacing them with Shiite officers loyal to him. Al-Abadi cited the problem of indiscriminate shelling of urban areas by the military as a source of bitterness toward the central government, and within days of taking office he banned the armed forces from such shelling. The national guard plan also aims to reduce the resentments by bringing locals more into security duties. But the fear over decentralization has always been that empowering provinces will only get the ball rolling faster toward the disintegration of the war-torn nation. "There is the risk that federalism may eventually lead to secessionism," said Ramzy Mardini, an Iraq expert at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. "It has already taken root in Iraqi Kurdistan, and once the territorial integrity of Iraq is compromised, there's no assurance that things won't unravel further." ========================================== Islamic State seizes large areas of Syrian town despite air strikes Thu, Oct 09 18:43 PM EDT image 1 of 7 By Daren Butler and Oliver Holmes MURSITPINAR Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters seized more than a third of the Syrian border town of Kobani, a monitoring group said on Thursday, as U.S.-led air strikes failed to halt their advance and Turkish forces looked on without intervening. With Washington ruling out a ground operation in Syria, Turkey said it was unrealistic to expect it to mount a cross-border operation alone to relieve the mainly Kurdish town. The U.S. military said Kurdish forces appeared to be holding out in the town, which lies within sight of Turkish territory, following new air strikes in the area against a militant training camp and fighters. Washington said U.S. forces launched nine air strikes on Thursday against Islamic State militants north and south of Kobani, striking some fighting units and destroying four buildings held by the group. U.S. forces also conducted two air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State, still widely known by its former acronym of ISIS, had pushed forward on Thursday. "ISIS control more than a third of Kobani - all eastern areas, a small part of the northeast and an area in the southeast," said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Observatory, which monitors the Syrian civil war. The commander of Kobani's heavily outgunned Kurdish defenders confirmed that the militants had made major gains, after a three-week battle that has also caused the worst street clashes in years between Turkish police and Kurdish protesters. In Turkey's eastern province of Bingol, two police officers were killed and a police chief was seriously wounded in an attack, CNN Turk television reported, while clashes elsewhere killed four protesters. Militia chief Esmat al-Sheikh put the area controlled by Islamic State, which controls large amounts of territory in Syria and neighboring Iraq, at about a quarter of the town. "The clashes are ongoing, street battles," he said by telephone from the town. Explosions rocked Kobani throughout the day, with black smoke visible from the Turkish border a few km (miles) away. Islamic State hoisted its black flag in the town overnight and a stray projectile landed 3 km (2 miles) inside Turkey. The town's defenders say the United States is giving only token support with its air strikes, while Turkish tanks sent to the frontier look on but do nothing to defend the town, where the United Nations says only a few hundred remain. Over 180,000 people from the city and surrounding area have fled into Turkey. UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, played down the chances of its forces going to the aid of Kobani. "It is not realistic to expect Turkey to conduct a ground operation on its own," he told a news conference with visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. He added: "We are holding talks ... Once there is a common decision, Turkey will not hold back from playing its part." Ankara resents suggestions from Washington it is not pulling its weight, and wants broader joint action that also targets the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We strongly reject allegations of Turkish responsibility for the ISIS advance," said a senior Ankara government source. "Our allies, especially the U.S. administration, dragged their feet for a very long time before deciding to take action against the catastrophic events happening in Syria," he added.

Turkey has long advocated action against Assad during the civil war, which grew out of a popular uprising in 2011. But the United States called off air strikes on Damascus government forces at the last minute last year when Assad agreed to give up his chemical weapons. It has also managed so far to fly sorties across Syria with tacit consent from Assad. Kerry said Islamic State's advance on Kobani was a tragedy but would not deter the U.S. coalition from its long-term strategy in the region. "Kobani is a tragedy because it represents the evil of ISIS, but it is not the definition either of the strategy or the full measure of what is happening with response to ISIS," he told reporters in Boston. "We are only a few weeks into building the coalition," Kerry said. "The primary goal of this effort has been to provide the space for Iraq to be able to get its government in place and to begin to push back and to begin to be able to deprive them (Islamic State militants) of their command and control, their supply centers and their training. That is taking place." Retired U.S. General John Allen, asked by President Barack Obama to oversee the creation and work of the anti-Islamic State coalition, was in Ankara on Thursday for two days of talks with Turkey's leaders. President Tayyip Erdogan wants the U.S.-led alliance to enforce a "no-fly zone" to prevent Assad's air force flying over Syrian territory near the Turkish border, and to create a safe area for around 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to return. Stoltenberg said neither had been discussed by NATO. TURKISH CLASHES The anger felt by Turkey's Kurds over Ankara's failure to help their brethren in Syria threatens to unravel a fragile peace process that Erdogan hoped would end a 30-year armed struggle for autonomy by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). At least 25 people died in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey on Wednesday during clashes between security forces and Kurds demanding that the government do more to help Kobani. On Thursday, two policemen came under attack in Bingol's city center while they were inspecting shops damaged in demonstrations earlier this week. No group claimed responsibility for the killings. Four people were killed and 20 were wounded in the southern border province of Gaziantep when armed clashes broke out between protesters demonstrating in solidarity with Kobani and groups opposing them. The violence had prompted curfews to be imposed in five southeastern provinces, restrictions unseen since the height of the PKK's war against Turkish forces in the 1990s, and streets were calmer as a result. Erdogan said protesters had exploited the events in Kobani as an excuse to sabotage the peace process. Selahattin Demirtas, head of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which had urged Turkish Kurds to take to the streets this week, denied that they had provoked violence. He appealed for calm and said jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan had called for talks with the government to be stepped up. Kurdish leaders in Syria have asked Ankara, so far in vain, to establish a corridor through Turkey to allow aid and possibly arms and fighters to reach Kobani. Ankara is suspicious of Syria's Kurds for having achieved self-rule by tacit agreement with Assad after he lost control of the region to anti-government rebels, and fears this could revive secessionist aspirations among its own Kurds. Turkish police fired tear gas against Kurdish protesters in the town of Suruc near the border overnight, and the shutters of most shops remained closed in a traditional mark of protest. Ferdi, a 21-year-old Turkish Kurd watching the smoke rising from Kobani, said if the town fell, the conflict would spread to Turkey. "In fact," he said, "it already has spread here." (Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul and Orhan Coskun, Tulay Karadeniz and Jonny Hogg in Ankara, Scott Malone in Boston and Peter Cooney in Washington; Editing by David Stamp, Kevin Liffey and Ken Wills) ============= Iraqi soldiers man a checkpoint in Basra, in December 2007. (ATEF HASSAN/Reuters) By Ali Abu Iraq and Ben Lando of Iraq Oil Report Published Thursday, October 9th, 2014 Four people were kidnapped Wednesday in Basra, including an Iraqi oil worker – the latest in a series of violent incidents that have prompted provincial leaders to revise security plans.Iraq's oil capital is far south of the territory controlled by militants of the so-called Islamic State (IS), whose war against the Iraqi state has effectively shut down the country's northern oil sector. To counter that threat, many Basra security force regulars have been called up north, leaving something. ========== Iraq’s north export infrastructure destroyed Iraq’s north export infrastructure destroyed Iraq’s Oil Police secure the site of a burning oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk on July 3, 2006, after it was bombed by insurgents. (MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images) By Ben Lando, Ben Van Heuvelen, Patrick Osgood, Rawaz Tahir and Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published Thursday, September 11th, 2014 Key infrastructure along the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) corridor that has been fully controlled by insurgents since June has been damaged so badly that, even if security were restored, it would take years to repair.The long-term incapacitation of Iraq's northern export pipeline deprives the country of a major revenue stream and creates an added incentive for Baghdad to pursue political reconciliation with the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has built pipelines that cou... ================= Shootout between ‘allies’ underscores Iraq divisions Shootout between ‘allies’ underscores Iraq divisions Shia militiamen brandish their weapons in the town of Tuz Khurmatu on Aug. 31, 2014. (STRINGER/Reuters) By By Christine van den Toorn, Shwan Lacky and Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 Ethnic and sectarian tensions are approaching a breaking point in the volatile northern city of Tuz Khurmatu, following an Oct. 3 gun battle between Shia militia and Kurdish fighters.The shootout, which injured at least four people, highlighted not only a rivalry between Kurds and Shia, but also the widespread mistrust and mistreatment of Sunnis. It was another worrying sign that violence and sectarianism will continue to plague Iraq even after the extremist militants of the so-called Islam... ================ UPDATE 1-Iraq cuts output targets in revised oil deals with BP, CNPC Thu, Sep 04 08:21 AM EDT (Adds BP comment, details, quotes, background) By Aref Mohammed BASRA, Iraq, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Iraq signed revised contracts with foreign oil companies for two southern oilfields on Thursday that reduced their production targets and extended the life of the deals, Iraqi oil officials said. The revised deal with oil major BP for Iraq's giant Rumaila oilfield cut the planned plateau level to 2.1 million barrels per day from 2.85 million bpd, Salah Mohammad, general manager of the Rumaila Operating Organisation, told Reuters. Iraq also agreed with China's CNPC to slash the final output target from the Halfaya oilfield to 400,000 bpd from 535,000 bpd, Adnan Noshi, head of state-run Maysan Oil Co, said. Iraq had set an overall production capacity target of 12 million bpd by 2020, which would rival that of top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, after it signed service contracts in 2009-2010 to develop its southern oilfields. Oil majors working in Iraq include BP, leader at Rumaila; ExxonMobil, in charge of West Qurna 1; and Royal Dutch Shell, operator of Majnoon. But crumbling infrastructure, red tape and a lack of clear oil legislation have stunted investor interest. Iraq has repeatedly failed to reach its ambitious targets, and current output from the southern fields is around 3 million bpd. Baghdad has reduced the overall capacity target to 8.5-9 million bpd and returned to the negotiating table to discuss revised plateau production rates with oil companies. NEW GOALS Rumaila, the workhorse of Iraq's oil industry which BP operates with CNPC, has estimated reserves of 17 billion barrels. It currently produces around 1.3 million bpd, Salah said, adding he expected that output level to remain steady for the rest of the year. Officials from BP and Iraq's oil ministry signed the amendment to the existing contract, originally agreed in 2009, in a closed-door meeting at Rumaila on Thursday. "Iraq and BP have reached an agreement to cut Rumaila's production target to 2.1 million bpd," Salah said. "It was (also) agreed to extend the timeframe to reach the new final production of 2.1 million bpd to 10 years from seven years that had been agreed upon before," he added. A BP spokesman said that under the amendment to the existing technical service agreement, the partners "plan to raise plateau production by about 800,000 b/d within the next decade to some 2.1 million b/d". CNPC, operator of Halfaya, is developing the field with France's Total and Malaysian state company Petronas . Maysan's Noshi said Halfaya's amended contract had been extended to 30 years from 20. Halfaya currently produces 200,000 bpd and it is expected to boost output to 230,000 bpd by the end of this year, he added. Iraq's giant southern fields have not been affected by Baghdad's fighting with Islamist insurgents. (Reporting by Aref Mohammed; Additional reporting and writing by Rania El Gamal; editing by Jane Baird) ========= Siege of Kobani: Insider video shows ISIS militants advance Published time: October 11, 2014 18:54 Conflict, Military, Syria, Terrorism, Turkey, War As fierce fighting continues for the Kurdish city of Kobani near the Turkish-Syrian border, a video was posted online showing the advance of the jihadists. There are widespread fears the town’s capture may result in a bloody massacre. The video was posted online on Friday by a group connected to ISIS to show militants using rocket propelled grenades and sledgehammers while advancing inside the besieged city of Kobani. As of Friday, the jihadists controlled 40 percent of the area. ISIS now controls 40% of Kobani – top US official The two-minute long clip shows the scenes of fight in the streets, militants changing dispositions and aiming fire. The jihadists are equipped with different kinds of weapons including tommy-guns and shotguns. AP reported that the video has been authenticated against known locations and events by regional experts. AP cites a Kurdish official as saying that fighting was mainly taking place in the southern and eastern parts of the city. READ MORE: Battle for Baghdad: ISIS now within 8 miles of airport, armed with MANPADS Many Kurds in neighboring Turkey took part in protests appealing to the government to intervene and to let Turkish Kurds cross the border and participate in defense of the town. Despite airstrikes by the US-led coalition, the IS fighters advanced this week. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the town's Kurdish fighters are being outgunned by the militants. UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura warned Friday that if Kobani falls to ISIS, thousands of civilians there would “most likely be massacred.” He urged Turkey to prevent the slaughter. "Do you remember Srebrenica? We do. We never forgot and probably we never forgave ourselves," de Mistura told journalists. READ MORE: 1.8 million fleeing ISIS in deadly, life-threatening situation - UN At least 500 people have been killed and more than 200,000 forced to flee into Turkey since the IS jihadists started an assault on Kobani in mid-September. =========

Baker Hughes Declares Force Majeure in Iraq

Angry Shi'ites storm Schlumberger camp at Iraq's Rumaila oilfield Mon, Nov 11 18:53 PM EST By Aref Mohammed BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Dozens of angry Shi'ite Muslim workers and tribesmen stormed a Schlumberger Ltd camp at one of Iraq's main oilfields and wrecked offices early on Monday after accusing a foreign security adviser of insulting their religion, police and employees at the field said. Oil officials and workers at the Schlumberger drilling site in Rumaila North said the problem started when a security adviser they identified as British asked Iraqi workers to take down a flag and banners depicting a figure revered by Shi'ites. Schlumberger was not immediately available for comment late on Monday. According to workers and officials, when the workers refused to remove the banners, the security adviser went to do so himself and tore one portraying Imam Hussein, whose death more than 1,000 years ago is currently being commemorated by Shi'ites across the world in rituals known as Ashura. In the ensuing row, the security adviser pulled out a gun and fired several shots, wounding an Iraqi worker and drawing dozens of people from a nearby village to join the workers in storming the Schlumberger drilling camp. Officials of the state-run Southern Oil Company said production from the field was not affected by the incident, but oil officials said Schlumberger had suspended its operations in response, not only in Rumaila but at the other oilfields in Basra province. "We received an order from the main administration to stop work until further notice," said an Iraqi engineer working at a Schlumberger project in Zubair oilfield in the south. The protestors smashed up offices and severely beat the foreign security adviser, oil officials and workers said. A photograph taken by a worker at the scene showed a man with blood streaming down his face. He said it was the adviser. Security officials said the man was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Police and the army intervened to restore order and expelled the protesters from the site. "We advised the British security contractor to step back and leave this issue as it is very sensitive for the workers, but instead ... he went himself and removed the banners and tore one of Imam Hussein," said an Iraqi worker, who witnessed the incident. "Workers were provoked and squabbled with the British guy, but he suddenly pulled out a pistol and started shooting, and wounded one Iraqi worker," the man said. On Saturday, an Egyptian worker hired by Baker Hughes Inc to work at a drilling rig in Rumaila removed and tore a flag also depicting a holy Shi'ite figure, prompting Iraqi authorities to terminate his residency and expel him from the country, oil officials said. The workhorse of Iraq's oil industry, Rumaila is operated by BP with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) [CNPET.UL}. It has estimated reserves of 17 billion barrels and currently produces around 1.4 million bpd, more than a third of Iraq's total output of over 3 million bpd. "The workers and villagers went on a rampage. It was a fatal mistake from the foreign security guy to provoke local workers," said an oil ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "When you operate in a mainly Shi'ite community you have to respect their traditions and norms: it's the A B C of how to work in any environment." (Additional reporting and Writing by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Isabel Coles, Toni Reinhold) ======================== HOUSTON, Nov. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE: BHI) today announced that a protest incident by local residents occurred last Saturday at a subsidiary's facility near Basrah, Iraq. No injuries were suffered and the facility was secured. The incident is currently under investigation. Due to the significant disruption of business, Baker Hughes has suspended operations in Iraq, and has issued force majeure notices to its customers. "Baker Hughes supports the Iraqi oil industry," commented Martin Craighead, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Baker Hughes. "And the safety and welfare of our employees are our top priorities. While we investigate this incident, and until the work environment has stabilized, we are halting activities in Iraq. We hope to resolve this issue in a timely manner, and resume operations in support of our customers and the country of Iraq, as soon as it is safe to do so." Baker Hughes is a leading supplier of oilfield services, products, technology and systems to the worldwide oil and natural gas industry. The company's 60,000-plus employees today work in more than 80 countries helping customers find, evaluate, drill, produce, transport and process hydrocarbon resources. For more information on Baker Hughes' century-long history, visit: www.bakerhughes.com. CONTACTS: Media Relations: Christine Mathers, +1.713.439.8738, christine.mathers@bakerhughes.com Investor Relations: Trey Clark, +1.713.439.8039, trey.clark@bakerhughes.com Eric Holcomb, +1.713.439.8822, eric.s.holcomb@bakerhughes.com SOURCE Baker Hughes Incorporated ======================================= Foreigners flee Iraq oil flare-ups: Workers leave after Shia fury erupts 1 / 1he giant Rumaila oilfield, near Basra, produces a third of Iraq's oil output. The British security man allegedly at the centre of religious unrest works at a camp run by oil services group Schlumberger AP At a time of tremendous religious significance for the Shia, the insensitive actions of a British security man appear to have sparked a major crisis Patrick Cockburn Author Biography Thursday 14 November 2013 63 Print Your friend's email address Your email address Note: We do not store your email address(es) but your IP address will be logged to prevent abuse of this feature. Please read our Legal Terms & Policies A A A Email Ads by Google British Expat In Qatar? £100k+ In UK Pensions? Download A Free Guide To QROPS & Expert Advice Your.QROPSchoices.com/HMRC-listedInvest in Student Rooms Prime Location in Canterbury, UK 9% NET p.a. Assured for 5 years. buystudentaccommodation.orgUSA, Detroit Investment Pre-tenanted Houses from $24K, 22% - 28% NET Yields, Finance Avl. Detroit-Property.co.uk/bmv-houses/Hundreds of foreign workers are being hurriedly evacuated from Basra in southern Iraq following violent protests by Iraqi oil workers and villagers over two incidents. In one of them, a British security man tore down a poster or flag bearing the image of Imam Hussein, a figure highly revered by Shia Muslims. The violence may make international oil companies more nervous about operating in Iraq, which is at the centre of the largest oil development boom in the world. The fighting started on Monday when oil workers refused to remove Shia banners and flags when asked to do so by a British security adviser who then took them down himself – by one account, tearing a poster of Imam Hussein. This happened just before Ashura, the Shia day of mourning for the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed by the Caliph Yazid at the battle of Kerbala in 680, the anniversary of which falls today. An Iraqi witness was reported as saying: “Workers were provoked and squabbled with the British guy, but he suddenly pulled a pistol and started shooting and wounded one Iraqi worker.” The man was later removed to hospital bleeding heavily. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has called for the deportation of the unnamed British security man. Iraqi officials in Basra said he worked for the security firm G4S at a camp run by Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services company. The camp is near the giant Rumaila field, close to the border with Kuwait, which produces a third of Iraq’s oil output. BP and China’s CNPC have been seeking rapidly to raise production at the field. Accounts differ on exactly what happened, but there appear to have been at least two incidents when Shia oil workers and people living in nearby villages believed that images of their most venerated religious figures had been desecrated. “A British employee took down a flag for Hussein and a picture of Imam Ali from the cars of the security company, and tore them down with a knife,” Ali Shaddad, a member of Basra’s provincial council, told Agence France-Presse. “This provoked a group of workers and they went and hit him repeatedly.” At least part of this incident was caught on a video uploaded to YouTube, It shows a man in a flak jacket being dragged from a white vehicle and hit repeatedly by men in dark blue T-shirts, who carry long sticks and spades. He falls occasionally but generally manages to stay on his feet before he is rescued by Iraqi soldiers. In the background is the wall of a Schlumberger camp, topped with barbed wire. An Iraqi field engineer employed by Schlumberger describes the incident, saying it started at 10am on Monday when an Iraqi driver working for the security team attached a Shia holy flag to the antenna of one of the vehicles. He was asked to remove it by the head of security and refused, so “the team leader jumped up on the car and he tear up [sic] which made the Iraqi driver and his colleagues [all Shia] to be angry”. They reportedly called in protesters from outside the company to join the attack. The days leading up to Ashura are always a particularly sensitive time in Iraq, with millions of Shia involved in the mourning ceremonies. The Iraqi Oil Report website said that BP, the main operator at Rumaila, was scaling back its workforce and that employees of Baker Hughes and Schlumberger “were massed at Basra airport”. There were conflicting reports about whether the oil services companies were shutting down their operations. In an earlier incident affecting Baker Hughes, an Egyptian worker had removed the flags commemorating Imam Ali and Imam Hussein from company vehicles. Protests prompted Iraqi authorities to arrest the Egyptian on charges of insulting a religion, while Baker Hughes suspended its operations in the country and declared force majeure because of “a significant disruption of business”. In general, the international oil companies that have poured into Iraq in recent years are barely affected by the violence which is killing about 1,000 civilians a month. Most are Shia caught by blasts from car bombs and suicide bombers driving vehicles packed with explosives. The number of incidents and casualties has reached a level not seen since 2008, at the end of the last round of the Shia-Sunni civil war in which tens of thousands were killed. The deaths are mostly in the cities and towns of central and northern Iraq, while the oil companies are developing fields around Basra in the far south. Their foreign workers live in fortified camps, protected by security companies, and move in well-protected convoys. At this time of year, Shia-dominated districts in Iraq are a forest of banners and flags, and walls are covered with portraits of revered religious leaders past and present. Some 41 people, mostly Shia pilgrims, have been killed so far during the Ashura festival by bombings that bear the hallmarks of al-Qa’ida. In one attack, 17 pilgrims died and 65 were wounded by a suicide bomber who targeted a procession of pilgrims north of Baquba, near Baghdad, in a mixed Sunni-Shia province notorious for its violence. Two million Shia are expected to make pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Hussein in Kerbala today, protected by 35,000 soldiers. As part of the ritual, the mourners beat and cut their heads and chests and whip themselves with chains to emphasise their grief and as a sign of remorse for failing to defend Imam Hussein. The quality of security firms in Iraq varies enormously. Some are highly disciplined and discreet, while others have been trigger-happy – making them extremely unpopular. ============================== Hi manu19, hope all is well with you. You wrote that I have not posted for some time "because of the banality, emptiness,shallowness, and macho sad point scoring of the last few months", where as,. I have actually posted a few times. My last post was on Friday though it was on an O/T subject and in response to a post by TRINDERM. You say ,"after today's RNS re the December 13 court hearing it is IMO important to have your opinions on what may happen re the appeal and the time scales." . I believe earlier Hub also made a similar request of me and or SK. As you and others know, I have been posting on this bb for a long time and tried to help others with any legal opinions, explanations relevant to the Excalibur case. Indeed I was very active whilst the trial was in progress. I have also posted generally on GKP and participated in OT discussions when the bb was quiet. What distinguishes me from most other posters, is that I post on this www under my own real name and am easily identified. I made this decision when I first joined the iii forum, because I wanted people to know, that what i wrote was always genuiune, that I have nothing to hide and I would never be personally / gratuitously offensive in any of my responses to anyone. The fact that I could be identified helped me to focus on the wording of everything I wrote, so that I would never regret my statements. Equally I expected others to respect that in their responses to me in my real name they would be a litle more sensitive in their choice of words. However, after Friday I decided I would never post on the GKP bb again although I did not originally intend to say anything about it. I simply decided that I would not post again. My only reason for giving my reasons now is because you have specifically asked me. With the constant, bickering, personally offensive atacks, etc the quality of this bb has sadly deteriorated to a level beyond recognition. You are right,that it has driven off many good posters, and the bb has now been successfully hijacked by many negative and offensive individuals who either deliberately set out to disrupt and stifle good discussion / debate or through their short sighted offensive responses to others have contributed to this bb's downfall. I had been toying with the idea of giving up with this bb for some time but what finally made up my mind was a personally offensive (to me) post by Zoso75 titled "The Prize" on Friday, at 10.11. It was obviously a source of some amusement to 4 others including mrgreystone, The Bully, geejay13, and The Golden vision who voted it up. The view that I take, is that whilst I am willing to help others in any way I can, I do not expect to be subjected to offensive language using my real name with which to do so. There are many inadequate and bitter people hiding behind their keyboards using pseudonymes who dont mind trading insults with each other. In real life I wouldn't give any of them the time of day, so I'll be dam ned, if I help them out here with my legal opinion. And in case anyone suggests that my position is a bit harsh on other genuine posters, let me say that whilst doubless there are still many genuine people posting and reading this bb, there was not even ONE single poster who spoke out (on my behalf) against the offensive nature of the post. Everyone bears some degree of responsibility for the deterioration and inevitable eventual downfall of this bb even if that responibility is merely passive. This is the reason why I have spoken out against others like pilchard9, Trinderm etc for using offensive language. However, quite clearly my view is not shared. I have herefore decided that I will henceforth not contribute any further to this bb. My genuine best wishes to all decent readers and posters. Elikkos =============== After alleged offenses against Shiite religious observances, two separate mob attacks at the Rumaila field left a British contractor hospitalized and forced Baker Hughes and Schlumberger to shut down operations. Turmoil in Basra oil sector after violent religious controversy Flares burn at the Rumaila oil field. (REUTERS/Atef Hassan) By Ali Abu Iraq, Ben Lando and Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published Wednesday, November 13th, 2013Two international oil services companies have suspended operations in southern Iraq following two different altercations between western contractors and Iraqi workers at the Rumaila oil field.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has issued stern warnings to both oil sector contractors and Iraqi workers, who came into conflict when foreigners working for Baker Hughes and security officers working for Schlumberger allegedly tore down posters and iconography of Imam Hussein, an act considered i... =============== Oil expats evacuate Basra, lasting impact of unrest unclear Flares burn at the Rumaila oil field. (BEN VAN HEUVELEN/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography) By Ali Abu Iraq, Ben Lando and Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published Thursday, November 14th, 2013Hundreds of expatriate workers were evacuating Basra on chartered flights Wednesday and Thursday following violent protests that sent one British national to the hospital.Rumaila operator BP has begun temporarily scaling down its foreign workforce, and expatriate workers of at least two oil service and drilling firms, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger, were massed at the Basra airport."Baker and Schlumberger are evacuating and will shut down operations for the time being, declaring force maj... =============== BP extends olive branch to Kirkuk over field development Iraqi Oil Minister Abdel Karim Luaibi (second from right) introduces Kirkuk province governor Najmaldin Karim (right) to BP CEO Bob Dudley (left) before a meeting on Nov. 6, 2013. (MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images) By Kamaran al-Najar and Ben Lando of Iraq Oil Report Published Thursday, November 7th, 2013BP CEO Bob Dudley met with the Kirkuk governor on Wednesday in an attempt to remove local opposition to developing the field that has been a key flashpoint of Iraq's territorial disputes.Dudley and Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi met with Governor Najmaldin Karim and other Kirkuk provincial government officials in Kirkuk, and went to the state-run North Oil Company's (NOC) headquarters for a briefing on Kirkuk field development plans. The delegation then traveled to Baghdad to meet with Prim... ============ Nassiriya project bid postponed to Jan. 23 The Nassiriya oil field in Dhi Qar province. (STAFF/Iraq Oil Report) By Ben Lando of Iraq Oil Report Published Friday, November 22nd, 2013Iraq has pushed back its joint oil field and refinery bidding round for Nassiriya to Jan. 23 - a month-long delay to give the Oil Ministry time to create improved contract terms in response to investors' demands. ============== UPDATE: Exxon splits West Qurna 1 stake with CNPC and Pertamina A worker adjusts the valve of an oil pipe at the West Qurna 1 oilfield in Basra on Nov. 28, 2010. (ATEF HASSAN/Reuters) By Ben Lando and Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published Thursday, November 28th, 2013ExxonMobil has reduced its stake in the 9.1 billion barrel West Qurna 1 field from 60 percent to 25 percent – but will still be the operator – following a signing ceremony in Baghdad on Thursday.The move is part of ExxonMobil's plan to de-risk its Iraq assets."The final process … has been completed and the agreement has been signed," said Assem Jihad, the Oil Ministry spokesperson.PetroChina, the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) subsidiary, now has 25 percent. Indonesia's ... ================ So, here's what I got up to during my first day in Erbil, Iraq. Firstly, I'm in Erbil to attend the Kurdistan Oil and Gas conference, and to meet with potential clients. I have some contacts here already, through a local services supplier (Oilserv) but also from work we have done globally, and in the UAE. I flew in on the Qatar airways flight from Doha, landing at about 15.00. I struck up a conversation with the late 20's gent sat next to me. As with everybody I have met thus far, he was delighted to openly and honestly tell me his story. He was a Kurd who has lived many years in North London. The fates conspired to have him give up his job in The City, gather some investment and open a machine shop in Erbil, about 3 or 4 years ago. The first 18 months were tough, as they worked to build their brand and reputation, with a mix of marketing and adherence to quality regulations. They supply light to medium machining and repairs to the drilling sector, and their level of operations is directly related to drilling activity - so a steady rise. They struggle to meet demand. I've been in that situation (and still am now) and I mentioned that the challenge is growth whilst maintaining quality and on time delivery. He noted that the labour market here is tough, as the locals lack the skills required and so he has many migrant workers from India and Pakistan. There's a lot of expense in that with flights, housing, visas, etc. He has a training program in place now, and is taking on local people. He says that this is looked on favourably by the KRG, but the benefits are not that tangible just yet. The youth here are keen to have an education, and to learn vocations, but the work ethic doesn't match western expectations. He's a great contact to have, offered his help, if needed. He has the sort of business, and attitude, that my company may well need in the future. As Kurdistan in visa on arrival, once off the flight I went to the window market "Visas" but one of the staff saw my UK passport and told me I could go directly to the passport control window. There my passport was given the usual once over, but no perticular interest, was stamped and handed back. In. No drama, no fuss, and free. I had arranged a car from the Rotana Hotel to pick me up at the airport. The Rotana has a large desk at the exit from customs, and I was met by a friendly young chap with a handshake and a smile. He drove me to the hotel. He's a Syrian Kurd, and on hearing I'm Scottish he made some comparisons and contrasts with the Scottish vote on independence, and the Syrian Kurdish desire for separation. These were, of course, more contrasts than comparisons. He's studying English, as he sees it as an essential skill to have. He's right. He speak Arabic and Kurdish, too. At the hotel, my bags went through an airport type scanner, and I had to walk through a metal detector. The car park had a few big (I think) Cadillac hotel cars and a bunch of Land Cruisers kitted out for off road use. There was the usual mix of oilfield guys, business types and security folk dandering about. I checked in ($235 per night, room only - higher from Sunday as the conference is on) and was told that wifi is $30 extra per day. I wasn't having any of that, as for my stay it would be $210 extra, so I asked what local sim cards were available. I'll get back to that. After checking in, I headed up to the 7th floor, which it turns out I'm sharing with the UK embassy. There's a desk as you come out of the lifts, and you can't go right, unless you wish to mess with the jeans and t-shirt wearing Brits sat there shooting the breeze. You can figure out who they might be. Room is like any other 4/5 star business hotel: Immaculate, everything you need. European sockets were a surprise, as most of the region takes UK plugs. So, I decide I need to go get myself some data. The concierge arranged a local cab for me, as the hotel cars are silly money. I'm told that I should pay no more than 5000 for the trip (it's about 1000 Dinars = £1). The driver (in Arabic) declares it'll be 7000 as it's Friday. That much I understood, but I don't speak Arabic. I know "sabbah" is 7, though. I have a laugh and say that makes me feel at home, which is translated by one of the hotel staff. He grins, but shrugs in a a "that's the deal, mate" sort of way. Anyhoo, I jump in and off we go. I'm not sure what the taxi was, but it had a Volvo steering wheel. It wasn't no Volvo. I'll pay more attention next time, as I was busier looking out the windows. Rather than describe the streets (reminded me of Romania) I'll take some pics. You can see on Google, in any case. What initially seemed like a driving free for all, does seem to have some rules. I don't know what they are, but somebody seems to. The scariest thing are all the central gaps in the 3/4 lane main roads through the town. These are all made use of, and it's a "nudge out until you're so in the way someone slams on the brakes" system. We were hurtling along at, maybe, 60mph, but it felt like 90 in whatever this shaky jalopy was. Terrifying, but I sort of got used to it. It's not as aggressive as Qatar driving, anyway. So, I get to the Family Mall, where people seem to be arriving from work. There's a queue to get in, as people go through 2 metal detectors. Once in, there's all the familiar names, such as Nokia, Timberland, Merrel, Mothercare, Carrefour (French origin supermarket - popular in the middle east) and I think I saw a Baskin Robins. There are some little local concessions, too. The biggest surprise were a Hublot store, right opposite a Vertu shop. These are high Dollar items. My mission, however, was data. I had a wander around, and noticed that there were a mix of Arabs and Kurds and a few others, too. Predominantly men, with a few ladies, too. The local women are beautiful: dark and fierce looking, very Turkish. The men are also dark, with a bit of menace (but that's solely from my perspective, though: they are the friendliest bunch). After trying to find the "Fast Link" Chinese made wifi dongle in a couple of electronic stores, I was pointed to a local shop, next to Nokia. There, the 2 staff were great. They talked me through how it worked (sim card goes into a 4G enabled bit of hardware, which then converts the data into a wifi signal for your laptop/iphone/whatever. It's about the size of a cell phone; I use one in Doha, too) and one of them nipped round to the exchange place round the corner, to change my Dollars, as they don't take cards. They took a scan of my passport, and filled in a form for the network provider. Instead of noting down my Qatar phone number, he just laughed and made one up for the form. So, in about 3 minutes, I had 30gig of data, and a nice 4G router for about $150, versus the £210 on offer from the hotel for one week of data - only in the hotel. This means I'll have wifi when at the conference - so can make immediate updates if anything groovy happens. I celebrated with a coffee at a cafe in the mall. It cost me about $5 (i did think it was £6.50, but I had my sums wrong). In any case, I thought I was getting the special tourist rate, but no, it really was more expensive than London. I then headed back to the hotel with another local driver. Same thing: I offer "Hamsa", and he counters with "Sabbah". Hey ho. So, I get back to the hotel, check mail, etc, an notice I'm hungry. I've been hearing chatter about the German Bar from some Oilserv folks, so I jump in another car, and head there. This time my driver is a 21 yr old local guy, and he speaks English. This, he want s to improve, as he sees it as a route into one of the multinationals moving into town, be it a hotel, or any other business. He's friendly, and smart enough. He drops me at the place, and I'm taken with it immediately. It's a basic one story building, enclosed by a wall, with some trees, creating a courtyard out front. Everyone is sitting outside - about 60 folks, same sort of mix as the hotel - and there's a pallet burning on a big iron grate built between some long, German style tables. There's a stage to one side and, worryingly, a big, brightly lit Jaegermiester machine sat on the bar. As I'm only in a shirt and light sweater, I grab a seat near the fire (my hair is a bit smoky this morning) and order a draft beer (as good as you'll get anywhere) and a decent steak with mashed potatoes. I'm joined at the table by a long haired fellow from Syria, and we get chatting. We talk about all sorts, including the state of Syria, but many about globalisation and his views that humanity are cannon fodder for a very select few. Tough to argue with, to be fair. He's here building a hotel, and hopes to set up a jazz bar. He reckons that weapons and the like are too prevalent here to risk setting up a nightclub, as having that along with young, drunk people packed in together is asking for trouble. He says he sees fights over women every weekend, and they get nasty. He asks who I work for, and when I tell him says "no effing way!" It turns out he knows one of our UK engineers who's based in Abu Dhabi, and was at his wedding, recently. Sure enough, there's photos of the two goons grinning away. I think I need to get used to this sort of thing. We are joined by two of his friends. One is a local to Erbil, who has had a few failed start up restaurants, but who's main business is oilfield logistics (yes, I'll be grilling him about trucks) and the other is a Syrian studying Petroleum Engineering in Kirkuk (not as much "ook" sound as I've been making). Good guys, and we got into rounds of drinks - mainly beer, with the odd Glenfiddich (choice sorely lacking). It didn't get out of hand,as these guys had a 6am start. I also met a couple of Brits there towards the end, one of whom gave me his card. I noticed that they had their logo on a banner at the stage. I was given a lift back to the hotel in a gangster issue AudiA4. I fancied one more before bed, so mooched into the hotel bar. I took a seat there with a beer, and was almost immediately invited to join 2 young ladies and a burly local chap, who were drinking wine. The chap was very quiet, and I took him to be their minder. They were both Swedish Kurds, with looks to match (man, this place is cool) working in film. One is the producer of a new, local, TV show. They are doing the first Kurdish soap opera, and say it needs to be pretty "sexy" to be successful. They were passionate, outspoken (a little scary, but utterly superb with it) and proud. I was belly laughing for about an hour, until the bar closed. Hugs and goodbyes, and I hit the sack. It's foggy this morning. I'm heading to the citadel, and looking forward to the day. Later, Rob. PS. I don't read all the iii threads, so if you'd like to know something (like the chap who asked about Cassandra recycling) then do so on this thread. Also, I've had a load of requests to add people on facebook. Don't be upset if I don't. I just had a cull, and also I don't know which of you are people I don't much like on iii. I'll respond to messages, though. ================ Author Rcmacf View Profile Add to favourites Ignore Date posted Saturday 14:40 Subject Rob in Erbil - Day 2 Votes for this Posting Voted 134 times. Message Day 2. Underwear: Black So, the morning was a slow start, following the late evening. There must have been a change in the wind last night, as not only was it foggy, but there was the unmistakable scent of oil town in the air as I woke up. It's a dull smell of oil mixed with the faint pong of eggs, from the h2s. This comes in from the oilfields and Doha, Ploeisti, Cabinda, Taft, Fiere all smell the same when it does. I checked my mails, and pinged off a few to those who's cards I acquired. I skipped breakfast, and instead went round the corner to the Costa-Rica coffee joint. This was originally set up as an actual Costa branch, but the Baghdad govt removed the permission for the folk here to use the actual Costa name (for whatever reason, but jealousy is touted) and so the would-be franchisees slapped on the "-rica" bit on the end.I ordered a latte and an orange juice. The orange came from one of those machines that lops the oranges in half, then squeezes out the juice. I happily took it outside for a seat in the sun (next to a 6 lane road). The latte arrived, but was tea. Due to my accent the "tte" part was heard more then the "lat" part, and so tea it was. No biggie, life all good. I finished up and walked the few hundred yards back to the hotel. The taxi drivers at the front of the hotel are usually the same guys, so they recognised me. One agreed to take me to the citadel, or "Qalat" (which makes me think of Caliphet) for "Hamsa", which is only 5000 Dinars, as it was no longer Friday. Ha. So, off we went. It turns out that these drivers had had a pow-wow, and decided that I am, in fact, Italian. I accepted the compliment, but pointed out the error. It must be my shoes. Shoes are of great importance in Erbil, I was to see. Erbil has a system of roads running in rings around it, as seconds on google maps will show you. Unfortunately, the spokes aren't as good as the wheel, if you get me, so the routes can be circuitous. I try to put my misplaced fears aside as we drive down little back streets that look remarkably like something out of Black Hawk Down. I remind myself I'm safe, and that in any case I don't have my Leatherman with me. Not sure what I'd do with it, probably just hurt myself. I see the citadel up ahead, but the direct route goes through some sort of govt complex, hence the detour. There are a few AK-47 wielding dudes in army fatigues, and big steel barrier preventing entry onto the direct route to the citadel. The extra time gives the driver a chance to make a deal. Now, as I've already told these guys I'm Scottish, yet they reckon I'm Italian, I know there's a communication gap. The driver was offering me one of the following, but I can't be sure which... Either he was offering me his watch for $2, he was offering me $2 for my watch, or he was offering me his watch and $2 for my watch. In any case, I'm wearing an Oris, so it was no dice. As we came into the centre of town, I heard the call to prayer, and then I swear I heard jingle bells from some place. We arrive at the road which immediately encircles the Qalat, and I get out. If north is midday, I get out at about 10 o'clock, and start an anti-clockwise walk around the entire structure. It's dilapidated, and interesting, but my attention is more taken with the sprawling market on the Qalat ring road, and the back streets. Where I start it is mainly shops selling suits, shirts, menswear and leather bags. There are some money changing guys with odd perspex boxes full of notes. I see one of them has 100 x fake $100 bills for sale. I think about it, but then consider the consequences if stopped in Doha. I think they are sort of funny, and would use them to wrap xmas gifts or something, but Qataris may not see it that way... at all. The markets cover about 3/4 of the circumference of the citadel, and go fairly deep into the surrounds. If you can't buy it there, well, you just can't buy it. It felt like it was predominantly men there, but I came across the textile selling area, and that was full of women. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, there were shoes. If you were on a street with no shoes for sale, then you could have them repaired, or shined. I took a seat at a (sort of) cafe, which consisted of a bench, some little tables, and a stove, and had some Iraqi style tea - super strong and super sweet. Cost me 12p - that won't get you much mall coffee. As I sat there, a chap of about 10 walked past with a single pair of men's shoes, and offered them for sale to me, and all the others there. It's worth noting that nobody paid any great attention to me more than anyone else, and this kid didn't try to push his wares on me any harder. Certainly different to my experiences elsewhere, such as India or Greece. I put this down to the same looks that get me taken for Italian. I sort of blend in. Ok, I'm dressed like a European, but then the local guys have a sense of style, and if they can't find what they need at the souk, they have it fitted, or made for not much money. There's no excuse for not looking good in Erbil. So, shoes all over the place. Nobody took these from the kid. After my tea I wandered further into the markets. There were quite a few Arabic sweet stalls, and some spice shops. In one of these there was a kid cutting hair. Yep, in the spice shop. Dangling from the ceiling of many of the sweet shops were long, black ropes of shiny, plasticky somethings. I asked one chap what they were and he pointed to a bag of walnuts, and a bag of raisins. He sliced one open and gave me some to taste. They are walnuts coated with congealed raisin juice, I think. Tasted ok, not too sweet, but not my sort of thing. Each of the sweet shops have Turkish delight in them, but it is of a much firmer consistency than we would recognise, and comes in some pretty big lumps. I took some photos, but it's not a touristy place, and I didn't want people thinking that their lives are just a show for me, so I was careful with where and who I photographed. Not out of a sense of fear, just out of respect, and the understanding that I don't know how my actions would be perceived. The market wouldn't be considered clean in western terms, and I didn't feel all that comfy eating from some of the stalls, and I'm usually right into it. The hangover held me back. There are quite a few restaurants there - very basic, and I would be happy to eat at those, but they were all packed out. One thing I don't understand about the market dynamics here is how 6 stalls who all sell water pumps, of the same brand and model, and not much else, can all be next to each other and all be successful. It's a model you see throughout the middle east, and I've never really managed to get it. No matter. So, as you move round to about 3pm the shops become more hardware and building supplies, and eventually become carpentry workshops and the like. By this point the English has dropped off the shop signs, and things are a bit more falling apart. Just before I get round full circle I pass a private school, going by the signs, and a few govt buildings. It's round at about North that there is a road leading up to the citadel itself, and the Ahmady gate. I walk up, and see there's a lot of restoration and construction work going on, so it's not possible to get to the walls, and walk all the way around. I take a brief stroll inside, but there's not a great deal I can see besides some ruined walls and old buildings. The restoration is in full flow, though. I take some snaps of the big flag and pole in the centre, and head on back down. Keeping pace with me are some local kids. One is about 14, and has a big cigar in his fingers. Styling. I put a bunch of photos in the same dropbox folder as this. Hope it works: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62680872/Erbil/2013-11-30%2014.38.56.jpg At the bottom of the road I took up to the citadel, I found a guy with a kart of pastries. I bought one from him for about 80p (deffo skinned me). I started by asking him for one in Arabic. He broke into English, and we had a short chat about his wares - he had a queue so i didn't want to take too long. There's a photo of him wrapping a pastry for me. He couldn't really explain what was inside it, and having eaten it, I can't either. It was like filo pastry, dripping in sugary water and filled with a marshmallow/cream hybrid - but not Turkish delight. It weighed in somewhere between 6 and 8 million calories. I ate up, and went looking for a cab. One last thing on the citadel, as I walked down the hill, I noticed I was looking into a school courtyard below. The kids were in the courtyard, and a bell went to call them into the class. It was a jingle bells doorbell chime, played over the tannoy. Sanity restored, kinda. Nothing there today that's going to have much effect on our investment, but I'll tell you this much, if we need water pumps, we're sorted. I've got an early start tomorrow morning, so if there's anything to report from this evening, it'll be later in the day. That's also why today's stuff is being posted now. ================ UPDATE 1-Chevron lifts force majeure at Angolan oil platform Thu, Nov 29 13:30 PM EST * Follows major disruptions to exports in W. Africa * Kuito loadings resume after repair work GENEVA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - U.S. oil major Chevron's Angolan subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company lifted a month-long force majeure at the Kuito offshore oil terminal on Nov. 27, Chevron said on Thursday The end of force majeure will likely come as a relief to oil traders active in the west African market where theft and flooding in Nigeria has also caused disruptions to exports. A Chevron spokesman added that there was no impact on production at Kuito as the necessary repair work on a mooring line coincided with planned maintenance. Still, the repairs affected oil loadings at the terminal over the past month, although these resumed this week, Chevron added. Angola is Africa's second largest oil producer after Nigeria and the Kuito platform typically loads two 920,000 barrel tankers a month. Shell also lifted the last of three force majeures on its Nigerian oil and gas exports on Thursday, declaring production restored for Forcados crude. But force majeures, a clause that allows companies to suspend contractual obligations in the face of unexpected events, on Nigerian grades operated by Exxon Mobil and Eni remain in place. =================

Basra denies giving it the power of oil projects and emphasizes that al-Maliki did not "bless" them with anything

Basra denies giving it the power of oil projects and emphasizes that al-Maliki did not "bless" them with anything Thursday, 16 February 2012 09:21 Shafaq News The vice president of the provincial council in Basra Ahmed Sulaiti said to "Shafaq News" that "the news which appeared in some media on the delegating the provincial council in Basra, the power to signing contracts for oil projects by the federal government are unfounded." "all what made by the federal government during the recent visit of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to Basra is to increase the amount of investment projects from 50 billion dinars to one hundred billion, while the real need to maintain for their projects is 500 billion dinars, did not give any power to the province as rumored in the media " He explained. He stressed that "Article 110 of the Constitution of Iraq confirmed that the powers of the provinces is more than the power of the federal government that have not granted by the Constitution only 9 powers," noting that "the powers of the provinces constitutionally guaranteed and not" a gift " from Maliki he grants to this province or robs from another ". The parliamentary oil committee member for the province of Basra, Uday Awwad explained , earlier, that " Baghdad government decided to give us authorization to sign oil contracts, and we know very well it is not serious about it, because the contracts from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Oil, and the latter have the instructions and controls can not be for the owners force them to violate those controls, so as to not to adopt the law of oil and gas. " It is referred that The spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister for the energy-Shahristani, Faisal Abdullah, said, earlier, that "talking about giving the powers to Basra to sign oil contracts is groundless. Basra governorate is counted as most of Iraqi oil producer, and it has about 59% of Iraq's oil reserves increased by 67.9 billion barrels, and the largest five oil fields in the country which are the North Rumaila and South Rumaila, Majnoon and West Qurna and Zubair and its revenues of petrodollars amounted about $ 60 million per month, or $ 720 million annually. Despite the abundance of natural resources and many financial allocations that Basra gets every year, but the citizens in the province for years complain of the deterioration of services and their absence in some areas. ================ Agree with two US ports to work in units and receive a variety of cargo ships 22 Author: AAI Editor: BK, MO 13/01/09 23: 32 Press run/Basrah Iraqi ports co., announced Wednesday, for two US investment in units, docking at their ports ship loaded with 22 in quantities of sugar ration vocabulary specific and various other materials. Company Manager, said Imran rady, speaking to (run), "the two of us have entered investment in our ports by about a week, to provide services in accordance with the principle of partnership". Radi said that "the first company called Noi a company freely manage port stronghold in platform 13 and 14, and a remarkable company that works on transport organization in Umm Qasr", stating that "the two companies will contribute to activating the work of Iraqi ports of their accumulated experience and high technologies". The Governor of Basra behind Abdul Samad, he visited the United States, in December 2012, and called American investors and companies to work in the province, also met earlier in the day, the US Consul in Basra, William grant, and discussed means of activating the twinning agreement signed between Basra and the US city of Houston, and encourage us companies to work in the province, while "between grant, that several American companies will come to Basra to work in various fields such as health, sports, oil ports, according to US officials and the (range). On a related level, the Director tells the port company, Anmar, a (range), "22 different ship docked cargo, today, in the ports of Basra", pointing out that "six commercial vessels of different nationalities loaded with sugar, and various containers docked today at the port of Umm Qasr (60 km west of Basra)". NET, said that "six vessels were Panamanian nationality TRANS OKin load 20,500 tons of imported sugar for the Ministry of trade, and a Panamanian ship Normandy nationality also cargo container, ship 481 Rani Singaporean nationality with 127 container, and the ship Maersk Regency Hong Kong citizenship with 242 container, and steamer (thorboin) Malta nationality miscellaneous cargo, and the ship (BBC) sexual antako load variety." NET, explained that the "port of the commercial bastion (central Iraq) today, received seven commercial vessels loaded with Iranian nationality cement and materials". The Basra governorate, (its 590 km south of Baghdad), comprising five commercial ports near stronghold of the oldest port city center, which was created by the British army in 1914, and was used for military purposes and handed him over to the Iraqi authorities in 1937, and had the Czech company which holds the updated design basis for Basra, widely criticized for its proposed last year 2011, repeal the port which is located near the headquarters of the General company of ports. Other commercial ports are the port of Umm Qasr which established in 1965, the Ministry of transport has announced the 2010 we the southern and northern ports, while 1989 project at the port of Khawr al-Zubayr, and is the second generation of the ports it contains industrial docks and warehouses of iron ores, phosphates, urea fertilizer, and in 1976 was the establishment of Abu flous port on the West Bank of the Shatt al-Arab in Khasib district, is a small port with its inability to accommodate large vessels because of the deterioration of the deep channel The Shatt al-Arab and the large sunken naval pieces, while the port of FAO which would be the sixth

Iraq, Saudi on OPEC collision course over next oil curb

Iraq, Saudi on OPEC collision course over next oil curb

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Related NewsUPDATE 10-Oil up on more Fed stimulus, OPEC holds output target 4:08pm EST U.N. nuclear agency ready to go to Iran's Parchin site 1:33pm EST CORRECTED-UPDATE 2-IEA sees sluggish oil demand in 2013, good supply 9:47am EST UPDATE 9-Oil up on OPEC output decline, ahead of group's meeting Tue, Dec 11 2012 UPDATE 3-OPEC set for easy oil deal, secretary-general dispute Tue, Dec 11 2012Analysis & OpinionA local obstruction in the fracking pipeline Obama faces only hard choices in Mideast By Amena Bakr and Peg Mackey VIENNA | Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:52pm EST VIENNA (Reuters) - A new rivalry at the top of OPEC has emerged, pitting up-and-coming Iraq against undisputed oil cartel heavyweight Saudi Arabia. Having overtaken Iran as OPEC's second biggest producer, a rejuvenated Iraq is beginning to worry Riyadh. At Wednesday's meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries the opening salvos were fired in the struggle over who takes responsibility for cutting output if oil prices, comfortable for now at $109 a barrel, start falling. OPEC agreed to retain its 30-million barrel-a-day output target and meet next on May 31, but many market observers think supply restrictions will be needed sooner rather than later if producers want to prevent slow global growth and fast-growing inventories sending prices tumbling. After 20 years of war, sanctions and civil strife that left its oil industry in disarray, Iraq is no mood to consider curtailing output just as it starts to take off. "Iraq will never cut production," said Iraq's OPEC Governor Falah Alamri. "Some countries that have increased their production in the last two years - they should do so. This is a sovereign issue, not an OPEC issue." That was a clear reference to Saudi Arabia, which this summer lifted output to a 30-year high above 10 million barrels a day to prevent oil prices ballooning after Western sanctions on Iran halved its production. The view from Riyadh, said delegates at the meeting, is that Iraq should contribute to the next round of OPEC supply curbs. A senior Iraqi official warned that if Saudi pushed that line there would be "dark days ahead" for OPEC, saying Baghdad would not even consider output restraints until 2014. "Every additional barrel that Iraq produces reinforces its confidence and its expectations that higher production is achievable - and it will negotiate on that basis," said Iraqi expert Raad Alkadiri of Washington consultancy PFC Energy. "Now OPEC is dealing with a much more confident Iraq and Baghdad is looking at regional politics and is less willing to compromise." "Iraq is impervious to arguments. It says that it was subject to sanctions for so long that it has a free pass to rebuild its economy," said Neil Atkinson, director of energy research at Datamonitor. Output from OPEC is already down sharply from the highs of the summer when the Saudi surge took the 12-member group to nearly 32 million bpd. Production in November was down to 30.8 million with Saudi easing to 9.5 million. But OPEC may need to ease further to balance the market in the first half of next year when, demand depressed by a stagnant economy, its own forecasts indicate the requirement for OPEC crude will come in at only 29.25 million bpd. "We're concerned by the drop in demand and the high level of stocks," said Algerian Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi. "There is rising oil from places like the United States and Iraqi output is rising quite sharply. There's a risk that we see a sharp drop in price next year," said Atkinson. IRAQ RISES The world's fastest growing crude exporter, Iraq expects more gains next year as foreign companies push production towards the highest level ever, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi told reporters on Sunday ahead of the Vienna meeting. Output began to rise in earnest in 2010 after Baghdad secured service contracts with companies such as BP (BP.L), Eni (ENI.MI), Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L. Flows have now reached 3.4 million bpd - up nearly a million bpd from when companies got down to work three years ago. Luaibi said output in 2013 is expected to average 3.7 million bpd - just shy of an all-time high of 3.8 million, hit in 1979 with exports running at 2.9 million bpd, including 250,000 bpd contributed by the semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). While that may be ambitious, 3.5-3.6 million appears possible. The changing shape of Middle East politics after the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the 2011 Arab Spring plays into OPEC dynamics. "Political issues sit behind this rivalry," said PFC's Alkadiri. "Regional alliances are pitting Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran against each other." That was illustrated at Wednesday's meeting by a quarrel over the appointment of OPEC's next secretary-general, the group's public face and head of its Vienna headquarters. Iran dropped its nomination to back Iraq's candidate against Saudi Arabia but neither Riyadh or Baghdad would give way and Libya's Abdullah al-Badri was reappointed for another year. "It is clear that both sides view the issue in the context of growing sectarian and regional tension in the Middle East, making the issue even more difficult to resolve than usual," said PFC Energy. FRACKING HEAT ON OPEC Adding to the heat on OPEC is the dramatic rise in oil output from the United States, spurred by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of shale reserves. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday that U.S. output will increase 760,000 bpd in 2012, the fastest pace since commercial oil production began in 1859. "It is obviously something we are looking at very carefully because it is increasing and we expect it will have a major impact on OPEC producing countries," said Nigerian Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. After years outside OPEC's quota system because of low output, Iraq was brought into the fold a year ago when OPEC set its 30 million bpd target for all 12 producers. But unlike previous OPEC deals no individual quotas were assigned. That suited Saudi Arabia, leaving it free this year to balance the markets by using its spare capacity as it saw fit. But in the event of a build in inventories that hits prices, OPEC may need to restore quotas if it is to enforce a credible production cut. That is likely to prove very difficult, not just because of Iraq but because Iran is very unlikely to accept a quota anywhere near its sanctions-constrained production. Venezuela too could resist a lower quota after disputing independent estimates of its output for years. "Quotas would become a big issue if we see a price drop and then everyone would have to come to the table," said Datamonitor's Atkinson. "That would cause enormous problems for Iran and Venezuela." OPEC can only hope that a difficult decision is postponed by a continued stand-off between Western powers and Iran over Iran's nuclear program, and the threat of Israeli military action, keeping oil prices high. That could mean a repeat of 2012, with oil prices supported in 2013 for fear of an attack on Iran, even if demand is poor and market fundamentals weaken. "Lady luck has been a huge help for OPEC because the macro numbers do not add up to 2012 being a successful year," said oil brokers PVM. "She has come in the form of geopolitical tensions and supply uncertainties which have kept speculative interest in oil lively and stimulated stock building." (additional reporting by Alex Lawler, Reem Shamseddine, Emma Farge, editing by Richard Mably, William Hardy) =================== UPDATE 2-BP proposes cuts to Iraq's Rumaila target-sources inShare0Share this Email Print Related NewsUPDATE 5-Iraq, Saudi on OPEC collision course over next oil curb Wed, Dec 12 2012 UPDATE 10-Oil up on more Fed stimulus, OPEC holds output target Wed, Dec 12 2012 UPDATE 9-Oil up on OPEC output decline, ahead of group's meeting Tue, Dec 11 2012 UPDATE 9-Brent oil gains after Chinese oil imports grow Mon, Dec 10 2012 UPDATE 9-Oil falls after US gasoline inventories leap higher Wed, Dec 5 2012Analysis & OpinionBP’s other victims: shareholders shut out by Morrison Related TopicsEnergy » Industrials » Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:42am EST By Aref Mohammed and Ahmed Rasheed BASRA, Iraq Dec 13 (Reuters) - Oil major BP is close to reaching a deal with Iraq to cut the final production target for the supergiant Rumaila oilfield to between 1.8 million and 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd), oil ministry and industry sources said. Officials from BP, Iraq's state-run South Oil Co. (SOC) and its oil ministry have been in talks for the past four months, studying BP proposals to lower the target of 2.85 million bpd, which they agreed to in 2009. The negotiations are the latest sign of trouble in Iraq's southern oilfields, where logistical bottlenecks and weak infrastructure have eroded investor interest at the same time that the autonomous Kurdistan region in the north attracts oil majors. Soon after signing multi-billion service contracts with foreign oil majors, Iraq had said it aimed for an overall production capacity of 12 million bpd, but the OPEC member has reduced that target to 8.5-9 million bpd. "BP has submitted three figures to lower Rumaila production. Iraq has initially accepted to cut output, and a final deal is expected by year-end," a senior SOC official who is involved in the discussions said. "BP's offer included cutting Rumaila production to 1.8 million barrels per day and extending this final plateau until 2029," the official added. The final plateau period is the time during which peak production is sustained after it is first reached in 2017. "We aim to discuss and agree a full field development plan in 2013. Any discussions we have with the government are commercially confidential," a BP spokesman said in response to a request for details. Rumaila, the workhorse of Iraq's oil industry which BP operates with China's CNPC, has estimated reserves of 17 billion barrels and currently produces around 1.35 million bpd - more than a third of Iraq's total output of 3.4 million bpd. But crumbling infrastructure, red tape and a lack of clear oil legislation have stunted investor interest and made it difficult for Iraq to achieve its ambitious production plans. Royal Dutch Shell in March also started talks with Iraq to slash its production target at Majnoon oilfield, the first company to begin negotiations with the government to reduce unrealistic output goals. "We have to re-negotiate the final production target not only with BP or Shell, but with other companies also," an oil ministry official said. "We don't have suitable infrastructure to deal with future mega production." LOWER TARGETS A lower target suits Baghdad, officials say, because the government worries that adhering to existing agreements will result in large volumes of unused capacity and deplete more than half of its proven reserves over the life of the 20-year agreements. Cash is also a concern for the government, which had estimated an investment of some $180 billion would be needed to finance its original countrywide production targets. "Out of BP's three figures, the 1.8 and 2 million barrels per day have found their way onto the discussion table. We are weighing all economic and technical aspects and will decide on a single figure at the end of this month," said another oil official who helped draft the Rumaila service contract. Iraqi officials said the Rumaila oilfield had shown significant signs of fast-track production growth but also of a lack of adequate oil pipelines, storage and crude production facilities and that accepting the BP proposals made a target reduction necessary. Production from Rumaila is expected to hit 1.450 million barrels per day in 2013 from 1.350 mln bpd now. For 2013, a development program has been set to drill new 110 oil wells, including injection wells to help sustain production, an oil industry source close to Rumaila activities said. While negotiating to cut production targets for its southern oilfields, Baghdad has seen majors including Exxon and Chevron sign deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government in the north. Those agreements have increased tensions with the central government over control of Iraq's oil reserves. Exxon has told the Iraqi central government that it wants to pull out of a $50 billion oil project in the south, while it focuses on exploration deals with the Kurdish region. ========================= Iraq launching road show for Iraq-Aqaba oil export pipeline in London Friday. Cos registered to attend +100 including all major banks. Iraq, Jordan to Build Oil Pipeline Posted on 26 September 2012. Tags: Aqaba, Jordan, oil exports, pipelines Iraq and Jordan have agreed to build a pipeline to supply Jordan with crude oil and natural gas, according to Petra, the Jordan News Agency. Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi [Elaibi] said that the pipeline would carry crude oil to the Jordanian refinery in Zarqa for use in Jordan, and to the port of Aqaba for export. The agency quotes an Iraqi official as saying that authorities in Baghdad have already signed a contract with an international consultant company to prepare a report on the project, which has a planned capacity of 1 million bpd. Jordan and Iraq also agreed to increase the volumes of crude oil provided to the Kingdom from 10,000 barrels per day to 15,000. The Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Alaa Batayneh, said that Jordan has only received 25 per cent of the quantities the two countries agreed on due to logistic issues and technical reasons related to standards of oil requested by the refinery. He added that a joint committee, to be chaired by ministers from both countries, will convene every six months, while subcommittees, to be headed by secretaries general, will meet every three months to follow up on implementing the memorandum of understanding. ============== Iraq Boom Hands Naimi 2013 Oil-Supply Challenge By Grant Smith & Mark Shenk - Dec 15, 2012 3:47 AM GMT+1030. . Facebook Share LinkedIn Google +1 1 Comment Print QUEUE Q .. Iraq’s biggest jump in oil production since 1998 is increasing the burden on Saudi Arabia to lower crude exports to prevent price declines next year. The kingdom curbed crude output in November to a 13-month low, according to OPEC. Iraq plans next year to pump as much as it did when Saddam Hussein came to power three decades ago, its oil minister said Dec. 9. Supply will also rise in Libya and Nigeria while the U.S. experiences an oil shale bonanza. Enlarge image Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, needs to keep prices high enough to fund social spending plans without incurring the wrath of consumers for hurting the global economy. Photographer: Vladimir Weiss/Bloomberg Enlarge image Saudi Arabia reduced its output to 9.67 million barrels a day last month. Photographer: Phil Weymouth/Bloomberg . “Saudi Arabia’s dilemma is that while it is the key OPEC player willing to cut back oil production in order to sustain prices at desired levels, it is also accommodating Iraq’s rising output and market share,” said Julius Walker, global energy markets strategist at UBS Securities LLC in New York. “Ultimately, there will need to be an agreement between the two as how to balance these ambitions.” Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi needs to keep prices high enough to fund social spending plans without incurring the wrath of consumers for hurting the global economy. Iraq, now the second-biggest supplier in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has a different priority: to rebuild its industry after decades of war and sanctions. Arab states are spending billions of dollars on housing and local projects to allay popular unrest after uprisings toppled leaders in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia and sparked a civil war in Syria. Saudi Arabia has committed more than $600 billion in social and infrastructure projects in coming years. Iraq Surge Iraq’s production surged 650,000 barrels a day this year to 3.35 million, the biggest annual gain in 14 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, amid assistance from foreign oil companies that are paid a fixed amount per barrel produced, regardless of international price levels. The Middle Eastern state plans to boost output to an average 3.7 million barrels a day in 2013 and at some point in the year match the 1979 record of 3.8 million, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Al-Luaibi told reporters in Vienna on Dec. 9. The nation has been free of strict OPEC quotas since 1998 and the resumption of any allocation is a “sovereign issue” rather than a decision to be made by an organization, Falah al- Amri, Iraq’s governor on the OPEC board, said on Dec. 12. Brent crude traded as high as $109.48 a barrel today on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. It may sink to $88 by June if OPEC fails to rein back supply, according to Leo Drollas, chief economist at the London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies, which was founded by former Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani in 1990. Iran Sanctions Saudi Arabia’s task will become more difficult should Iran resolve its standoff with the international community over nuclear research and resume pumping oil at normal rates. Sanctions against the Islamic republic, once OPEC’s second- biggest producer, have cut its exports by 50 percent, according to the International Energy Agency. While acknowledging its output will exceed customer needs in 2013, OPEC refrained from cutting its group target at a meeting in Vienna two days ago, judging prices were high enough for now. Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia also failed to agree on the appointment of a new OPEC secretary-general, opting instead to keep Abdalla El-Badri in the role for a further year. Saudi Arabia reduced its output to 9.67 million barrels a day last month, according to a monthly report from OPEC that cited secondary sources for its data. In its own direct communication to OPEC, the kingdom said November production was even lower, at 9.49 million. Minimum Level The country can tolerate crude oil prices falling no lower than about $90 a barrel, according to Jamie Webster, a Singapore-based consultant at PFC Energy. The CGES estimates that Saudi Arabia’s budget-balancing price is $95 a barrel, more than $10 below current levels. Arab Light, Saudi Arabia’s largest export grade, was at $107.22 today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. National Commercial Bank, the nation’s largest lender by assets, said in a Nov. 27 report that the kingdom’s budgeted oil price for next year is $65. Demand for OPEC’s crude will shrink to 29.7 million barrels a day in 2013, the organization’s secretariat said in a statement at the end of its meeting in Vienna. That’s 300,000 barrels a day less than its official target and 1.1 million a day below November’s actual output, OPEC data show. Iran Slump Iranian oil production, which slumped to 2.65 million barrels a day in October, the lowest level since February 1990, may climb if a new government can come to an agreement with Western nations, according to JBC Energy GmbH. The country pumped as much as 6 million barrels a day in the 1970s before the Islamic revolution, which was followed by U.S. sanctions and the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. Iran’s insistence on atomic research led to a toughening of sanctions this year, including an embargo by the European Union and reduced insurance cover for supertankers carrying its oil. An Iranian presidential vote is scheduled for June. Libya, rebuilding its oil industry after last year’s uprising against Muammar Qaddafi, plans to raise output to 1.7 million barrels a day next year from about 1.5 million a day this month, Oil Minister Abdulbari Al-Arusi said in Vienna. Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer, expects output to reach normal levels in the first quarter, Oil Minister Diezani Alison- Madueke said after the Vienna meeting. Output was hampered in the past months by floods, theft and pipeline leaks that forced several producers, including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Total SA (FP) and Eni SpA (ENI), to halt pumping, curbing national production by as much as 500,000 barrels a day. Outside of OPEC, the U.S. is producing oil at the fastest rate in almost two decades, using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, to unlock shale resources in North Dakota, Texas and Oklahoma. The nation pumped 6.85 million barrels a day in the week to Dec. 7, the most since January 1994, and met 83 percent of its energy needs in the first eight months of 2012, the Energy Department said. Al-Naimi, Al-Luaibi and other OPEC ministers plan to meet next on May 31, by which time the group will have a better notion of how economic growth and supply are affecting 2013 prices. OPEC has “rolled over the whole discussion you need to have about the Iraqis, on how to bring in production,” PFC’s Webster said in Vienna. “The timing of the discussion is going to be dictated by the market.” To contact the reporters on this story: Grant Smith in Vienna at gsmith52@bloomberg.net Mark Shenk in Vienna at mshenk1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss on sev@bloomberg.net ================= The Governor's Solution: How Alaska’s Oil Dividend Could Work in Iraq and Other Oil-Rich Countries Todd Moss, editor 11/05/2012 #Oil2Cash Reliance on natural resource revenues, particularly oil, is often associated with bad governance, corruption, and poverty. Worried about the effect of oil on Alaska, Governor Jay Hammond had a simple yet revolutionary idea: let citizens have a direct stake. The Governor’s Solution features his firsthand account (PDF) that describes, with brutal honesty and piercing humor, the birth of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, which has been paid to each resident every year since 1982. Thirty years later, Hammond’s vision is still influencing oil policies throughout the world. This reader, part of the Center for Global Development’s Oil-to-Cash initiative, includes recent scholarly work examining Alaska’s experience and how other oil-rich societies, particularly Iraq, might apply some of the lessons. It is as a powerful reminder that the combination of new ideas and determined individuals can make a tremendous difference—even in issues as seemingly complex and intractable as fighting the oil curse. Contributors: Todd Moss (Center for Global Development), Jay Hammond (governor of Alaska 1974–1982 and creator of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend), Scott Goldsmith (University of Alaska-Anchorage), Nancy Birdsall (Center for Global Development), Arvind Subramanian (Peterson Institute for International Economics and Center for Global Development), and Johnny West (journalist and founder of Open Oil). 20% discount code: KCB2 The Governor’s Solution is available for purchase in paperback now. Free chapter: Diapering the Devil: How Alaska Helped Staunch Befouling by Mismanaged Oil Wealth by Governor Jay Hammond For review or exam copies, please send a note to publications@cgdev.org with details about the potential review or the course you are teaching. The Governor’s Solution: How Alaska’s Oil Dividend Could Work in Iraq and Other Oil-Rich Countries is available for purchase through Hopkins Fulfillment Service, P.O. Box 50370, Baltimore MD 21211-4370. Tel: 1-800-537-5487. 6 X 9, 135 pp. paper, 978-1-933286-70-9, $17.95 ======================= Reuters: Iraq ups its selling game on path to oil's top tier http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/12/21/iraq-oil-idUKL5E8NKD2B20121221 Fri Dec 21, 2012 11:46am GMT * Total, BP renew Basra Light crude volumes for 2013 * Not all sold yet; buyers wary on price, quality-sources * China to increase 2013 Iraqi purchases LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Iraq is sharpening a push to sell its swelling crude output and sit at oil's top table with Saudi Arabia, sweetening terms for contract buyers next year, its customers say. Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi held court to oil executives in Vienna's Hotel Imperial last week on the sidelines of an OPEC meeting. Some buyers have said they were concerned by higher prices and variable quality. "The Iraqis have become more active and serious in their marketing effort," said a Western oil executive from a firm that buys from Baghdad. "They're willing to be very competitive on pricing and want to solve existing problems." The world's fastest growing oil exporter is working to expand market share and is emerging as a rival to Saudi Arabia in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, as Iran's output is reduced by Western sanctions. Baghdad is targeting crude exports of 2.9 million barrels per day (bpd) next year, up from 2.62 million bpd in November, as investment by foreign oil companies pushes production towards its highest level ever. Some clients have complained of high official selling prices (OSPs) and variable quality of the Basra Light and Kirkuk grades, raising the prospect Baghdad could struggle to shift all the crude in 2013 term contracts. Initially, BP and Total wanted to reduce their 2013 volumes of Basra. However, both are expected to take similar volumes to 2012, about 135,000 bpd each, trade sources said. BP will also receive unspecified volumes as repayment for its investment in Iraq's upstream industry. "The Iraqis say they will stabilise the quality of Basra and understand they will need to be competitive on price," a second Western executive said. "They have to somehow place their additional production." The quality of Iraq's Basra and Kirkuk crudes has been variable due to the erratic flow of Kurdistan oil into the Kirkuk stream and the start-up of new fields in the south. These concerns persist, deterring some buyers. "I don't think Iraq has termed up all," a third executive said. "They know the prices are out of line mostly because the quality has been too variable for both Kirkuk and Basra. Until they resolve it, I don't think many will up their volume." Some companies have trimmed Kirkuk volumes for 2013. ENI and Total each plan to take 10,000 bpd less of Kirkuk in 2013, industry sources said. Less Basra will be heading to the United States, where Chevron has cut its volumes, a source added. "The issue is simply price. The OSP is too high, made worse by the variations in quality and unreliability in Basra deliveries," said a fourth executive. "Given there is some slack in the market, no one will pay over the odds." An Iraqi oil official declined to comment for this story, and BP, Total, Eni and Chevron declined to comment on their plans to buy Iraq oil. MORE TO CHINA Just two years into the oil expansion drive, which had been held back by decades of wars and sanctions, Iraq has vaulted past Iran to become OPEC's second-largest producer behind Saudi Arabia. That growth has not been lost on Riyadh, and a reinvigorated Iraq has led to a new rivalry at the top of OPEC, according to officials at last week's meeting of the producer group. "This was bound to happen. Iraq has to sell more crude and get a bigger market share," a Western oil company source said. "And they want to understand how to do it in a practical way." Opportunities for Iraq and Saudi Arabia to sell more into Asia - particularly China - were created after Iran's exports plunged by more than 50 percent, or over 1 million bpd, due to international sanctions aimed at halting its nuclear programme. Chinese state refiner Sinopec will nearly double the amount of term crude it buys from Iraq next year to 270,000 bpd as it looks to replace oil from Iran, trade sources said. But cuts by other refiners mean China's total volume under one-year contracts with Iraq will rise by just 8.2 percent to 568,000 bpd next year. That still leaves Iraq some distance behind Saudi Arabia in terms of market share. There are signs Baghdad may become more aggressive on pricing to the Far East - perhaps a concrete step it is delivering on officials' pledges over pricing. Despite an increasing supply, Basra Light has been more expensive for Asian buyers than a rival crude from Saudi Arabia, Arab Medium, prompting buyers to grumble. For January 2013, however, Iraq chose to leave its Basra Light price to Asia unchanged, while Saudi Arabia increased the prices of its Arab Light, Medium and Heavy crude to customers in the East. Concern about pricing is likely to linger nevertheless. "It's one thing to get the top people to say they want to fix it, but quite another to get the people who actually set the OSPs to fix it," an industry source said. "It looks like it won't happen overnight." (Additional reporting by Muriel Boselli and Giancarlo Navach; Editing by Jane Baird and William Hardy) ======