Iraq awards oil project to Australian firm

Iraq awards oil project to Australian firm
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From: AFP
October 05, 2011 8:05AM

New Work Project: Invent your perfect job

Iraq has awarded a $US518 million ($545.35 million) contract to expand oil export facilities in the south of the country to a subsidiary of Australian firm Leighton International, the Government said yesterday.
The project must be implemented within 16 months and will be funded by a Japanese government loan, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.

The total value of the contract is $US518,157,000 ($545.51 million) and was awarded to Leighton's Singapore-registered subsidiary, Leighton Offshore.

The project is to build a single point mooring loading buoy and a sea export pipeline "in order to increase the export capacities for the oil ports in the south to handle the increased crude oil production that will come after the oil auctions," Mr Dabbagh said.

He was referring to a series of public auctions held between mid-2009 and late 2010 by the Iraqi Government in which several contracts were awarded to foreign firms to ramp up production at oil and gas fields nationwide.

Having awarded those contracts, Baghdad is also seeking to improve its export infrastructure.

Yesterday's announcement follows the September 14 awarding of a $US468.5-million contract to expand oil export facilities in the southern port city of Basra to Italian firm Saipem.

Around 80 per cent of Iraq's oil exports are transported through its southern ports, with crude sales accounting for the lion's share of government revenues.

Iraq on Monday said that crude output was now 2.9 million barrels per day (bpd), and will rise to three million bpd by the end of the year.

It says it will be able to produce around 12 million bpd by 2017, although the International Monetary Fund has said these projections are too high.



Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/iraq-awards-oil-project-to-australian-firm/story-e6frfm1i-1226158751835#ixzz1ZsKfbp9a

===========

Iraq: The Coming Oil Boom
Posted on 08 October 2011. Tags: FDI, Foreign Direct Investment

Articles from the October/November issue of fDi Magazine, available free of charge to registered users:
Iraq begins building towards long-term prosperity
Security issues, corruption problems, processes bound up in bundles of red tape… The problems facing companies wanting to do business in Iraq are myriad, but the country’s promise – as one of the world’s leading oil and gas producers – makes such short-term hurdles a price worth paying.
Turning Iraq’s ‘oil curse’ into a blessing
Iraq’s abundance of oil has been blamed for much of its instability over the past few decades. However, its new government is vowing to use the country’s oil reserves to bring greater unity to the Middle East.
Abdul Karim al-Luaibi: showing the world Iraq’s potential
Iraq has made solid progress in developing its oil capabilities and has ambitious plans to increase production further, according to its minister of oil, Abdul Karim al-Luaibi.
Building a future: Iraq’s race for oil refineries
Iraq’s dated oil infrastructure desperately needs updating and expanding so it can meet increasing demands. The government has ambitious plans, but can it engage the international oil companies to invest in them?
Iraq braces itself for US security withdrawal
Insurgent attacks have been falling in Iraq over the past few years, but as US and allied troops prepare to exit the country later this year, security issues are again ====================



Iraq to Construct Two New Refineries to Meet Domestic Need

http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Iraq-to-Construct-Two-New-Refineries-to-Meet-Domestic-Need.html


Written by Charles Kennedy
Saturday, 08 October 2011 13:53

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Iraqi Oil Ministry, anxious to reduce the country's dependence on imported foreign oil refined products, intends to build two new refineries in the provinces of Karbala and Missan. The Karbala refinery will refine up to 140.000 barrels per day and the one in Missan up to 150,000 bpd.

On 3 October Iraq’s Oil Ministry reported that the country remains unable to produce enough oil and gas to meet indigenous demands. While Iraq produces 8 million liters of liquid gas per day, it consumes approximately 12 million liters. As regards oil, while Iraq produces 12 million liters of refined oil every day, another 12 million liters have to be imported from international markets to meet domestic demand.

Furthermore, while Iraq’s Oil Ministry has repeatedly announced plans to quintuple the country's oil production from 2009’s level of 2.5 million bpd to 12 million bpd within the next five years, there would still not be enough refineries to process the crude oil into usable fuel, AK News-Kurdistan News Agengy-Iraqi Independent News reported.

Before the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Iraq's daily oil production was 2.6 million bpd.

By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com

---

February 15, 2012, 9:08 a.m. ET

Iraq Says Too Early To Take Action Against Leighton - Official

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By Hassan Hafidh
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


AMMAN (Dow Jones)--A senior Iraqi oil official said Wednesday it is still too early to take any action against a subsidiary of Leighton Holdings Ltd. (LEI.AU) following a corruption investigation by Australian police into an alleged illegal payment.

Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, head of the Iraqi Oil Ministry's petroleum contracts and licensing directorate, also said the Iraqi government hasn't taken so far any measure against Leighton Holdings' subsidiary Leighton Offshore Pte Ltd. which signed a number of contracts with the Iraqi ministry to expand the crude-oil export facilities near Basra.

Leighton Holdings Ltd. Monday said Australian police launched an investigation after the construction company notified authorities of a possible illegal payment by one of its subsidiaries linked to work expanding Iraq's crude-oil export facilities. Leighton said it wasn't yet known if there had been any wrongful conduct or whether the company would suffer adverse financial consequences as a result.

"These are only allegations …We need to wait for the results of the investigation first," Ameedi, told Dow Jones Newswires in an exclusive interview.

"They could be false allegations … We have only heard it from the media and we haven't received anything official," he added.

The possible breach of the company's code of ethics and Australian laws relates to payments that may have been made by Leighton Offshore Pte. Ltd. in connection with work in Iraq, it said in a statement to the Australian securities exchange. Leighton Chairman Stephen Johns said the company volunteered the information to police after becoming aware of a possible breach.

In October 2010, Leighton Offshore said it had received a contract worth US$733 million to install three moorings and 120 kilometers of pipeline in the Persian Gulf for Iraq's South Oil Co., part of work to redevelop export facilities from the Fao Terminal near Al Basra.

A year later, the company said the subsidiary had received a US$79 million contract from South Oil for an additional mooring, plus a US$518 million contract from the Iraqi company for further work, including two offshore platforms and a 75-kilometer pipeline being financed through a development assistance loan with Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Iraq opened on Sunday the first Single-point Mooring, or SPM, sea terminal able to handle some 900,000 barrels a day built by Leighton.

News of the suspect payment came as Leighton said it expected a profit of between 600 million Australian dollars and A$650 million (US$642 million and US$695 million), excluding one-time items, for the financial year to June 30, and a similar range for the year through December. The company is moving to a calendar year for its results to bring them into line with majority owner Hochtief AG (HOT.XE) and its parent Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA. (ACS.MC).

-By Hassan Hafidh, Dow Jones Newswires; +962 799 831 831; hassan.hafidh@dowjones.com

(Robb M. Stewart in Melbourne contributed to this report)

---

Output stumbles early in record year-to-be
Employees of the state-run South Oil Company (SOC) work on a damaged pipeline, a day after bomb attacks occurred, in Rumaila oilfield in Basra province, December 14, 2011. (ATEF HASSAN/Reuters)
Employees of the state-run South Oil Company (SOC) work on a damaged pipeline, a day after bomb attacks occurred, in Rumaila oilfield in Basra province, December 14, 2011. (ATEF HASSAN/Reuters)
By Ben Lando of Iraq Oil Report
Published March 1, 2012

Iraq is on pace for another weak month for exports, officials say, and oil fields are being forced to curtail production. The problem stems from persistent infrastructure bottlenecks: a new export facility remains delayed and weather conditions have stymied tanker loading.

The Iraqi Oil Ministry's Inspector General is also intently watching an investigation by Australian authorities into the country's largest construction firm, which is accused of paying for bidding information in its success... ========= Leighton snares $200m Iraq contract for oil, gas by: LISA MACNAMARA From: The Australian September 29, 2012 12:00AM LEIGHTON Holdings has secured its first oil and gas contract in Iraq since a corruption scandal emerged earlier this year. Its Middle East joint venture Habtoor Leighton Group won the subcontract, worth more than $200 million, for engineering and construction work on a production facility in southern Iraq. ========

Sectarian attack continued: Gunmen kill 14 more people in Quetta

14 people gunned down in Quetta
By Hafeez Baloch - Oct 4th, 2011 (1 Comment)
4
Quetta: At least 14 people were killed and seven others injured when armed men opened fire on a bus in Akhtarabad area of Quetta here on Tuesday.
According to The News Tribe correspondent from Quetta, the incident took place in Akhtarabad area on Western bypass when some unidentified assailants, riding motorcycles, opened fire on a bus, leaving 14 people dead and seven others injured.
Police and rescue teams rushed to the spot and shifted the dead and injured to The Bolan Medical Hospital and The Combine Military Hospital. Law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and started search operation.
Police said that the bus was going to Hazar Gangi areas and all the victims were Shiite Muslim and belonged to Hazara community.The community has long been victim of sectarian violence in Baluchistan as dozens of its members have been killed last month in the province.
Violent protests erupted in parts of Baluchistan following the incident.

===


By AFP / Express / Reuters
Published: October 4, 2011

Pakistani Shiite Muslims mourn the killing of their community members in a hospital in Quetta on October 4, 2011.PHOTO: AFP

QUETTA: Fourteen people belonging to the Shia community were killed while seven injured in a firing incident near the Western Bypass in Quetta on Tuesday morning.
About 20 people were on board a bus when unidentified gunmen appeared on a motorcycle and opened fire at the vehicle enroute to Hazara Ganji.
Conflicting media reports stated that the passengers were lined up and subsequently shot by the assailants.
Express 24/7 correspondent Mohammad Kazim reported that the passengers were on their way to the fruit and vegetable market when the assailants opened fire.
“The bus was carrying people mostly from the Hazara
community who were returning from Quetta,” senior police Hamid
Shakeel told Reuters.
“Four gunmen riding two motorcycles opened fire on a bus in the outskirts of Quetta,” local police official Hamid Shakeel told AFP.
“The death toll has risen to 14. Two of the injured who were in critical condition died in hospital. Now 13 Shiite Muslims and one Pashtun have been killed in the attack,” he said after initially putting the death toll at 10.
Meanwhile, police have cordoned off the area and initial investigations of the incident is underway.
Sectarian violence is on the rise in Quetta as 26 Shia pilgrims were killed in a firing incident last month in Mastung, about 30 kilometres southeast of Quetta, when a group of armed men attacked a passenger bus carrying Shia pilgrims from Quetta to Iran.
The Mastung attack was claimed by banned militant outfit Laskar-e-Jhangvi.
Protesting violence
Up to 400 furious Hazaras demonstrated outside the Bolan Medical Complex where the wounded were taken for treatment, condemning the government for inaction over sectarian groups, said police official Wahid Bakhsh.
Angry protesters also reportedly set ablaze the bus that was attacked by the assailants.
“These are not random killings but demonstrate the deliberate targeting of the Shia by armed groups,” said Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific director Sam Zarifi.
“These attacks prove that without an urgent and comprehensive government response, no place is safe for the Shia,” Zarifi added.
The rights group said it had recorded details of at least 15 attacks specifically targeting Shiites across Pakistan.
“Continued failure to address sectarian violence will only exacerbate the general breakdown in law and order in Pakistan,” it said.
Pakistan’s own independent rights watchdog said the killers had been emboldened by a persistent lack of action against sectarian militant groups, which have been implicated in thousands of deaths in past years.
Tuesday’s attack “exposes once again the diminishing writ of the state”, warned the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
Balochistan is also rife with militancy and a regional insurgency waged by separatists who rose up in 2004 demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region’s wealth of natural resources.

===

Who are the Hazara?
By Imran Yusuf
Published: October 5, 2011

Pakistani Shiite Muslims mourn next to coffins of their community members during a funeral ceremony in Quetta on October 4, 2011. PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI:
There are over 900,000 Hazara living in Pakistan, a figure larger than the population of Washington DC. Yet this is a vulnerable community, besieged by anti-Shia violence on one side and drawing suspicion and indifference in equal measure on the other.
Old news, a Hazara might say, as a brief look at the community’s past reveals a tradition of persecution, of which yesterday’s attack in Quetta is but the latest atrocity.
The origins of the Hazara are disputed, though there are three primary theories. The Hazara could be of Turko-Mongol ancestry, descendants of an occupying army left in Afghanistan by Genghis Khan. A second theory goes back two millennia to the Kushan Dynasty, when Bamiyan in Afghanistan – home to the large statues blown up by the Taliban – was a centre of Buddhist civilisation. Subscribers to this idea point to the similar facial structure of the Hazaras with those of Buddhist murals and statues in the region.


The most widely-accepted theory is something of a compromise: that the Hazara are mixed-race. Certain Mongol tribes did travel to eastern Persia and what is modern-day Afghanistan, putting down roots and integrating with the indigenous community. This group then formed their own community which became the Hazara, with their distinctive facial features, sometimes termed Mongoloid, which bear the origins of their central Asian ancestry.


Either way the Hazara settled in central Afghanistan, though in the mid-19th Century their brutal history of persecution began when more than half their population was killed or forced into exile.
The Pashtun Amir Abdul Rehman, who the British termed Afghanistan’s Iron Amir during the Raj, invaded the Hazara homeland in the country’s central highlands, forcing them to give up land, and pushing many into exile in Balochistan.

There was already Hazara movement into British India by this point, with migrants working in labour-intensity jobs such as mining. Some Hazaras also came to Quetta during the 19th Century to work on the construction of Indian railways. However, the majority were forced to leave by Rehman’s ethnic cleansing.



But the Hazaras’ history is not exclusively one of victimhood. In 1907 British officer Colonel Claude Jacob raised a regiment made up solely of Hazaras, who had developed a reputation for martial strength, perhaps based on a romanticisation of their possible lineage to Genghis Khan.


The Hazaras who did not make the military cut found jobs as unskilled labourers, for despite their knowledge of agriculture, they owned no land in their new territory.
Quetta’s 1935 earthquake actually helped the Hazara community in some ways. The migration away from the city after the disaster opened up positions in semi-skilled labour, which led some Hazaras to become shopkeepers, tailors and mechanics.
The Second World War saw more Hazaras enlisted by the British Indian Army. Some thrived: one of them was General Musa Khan, who led Pakistan in the 1965 war against India.


Since Partition, however, the Hazaras have remained an underprivileged community. Currently between 500,000 and 600,000 live in Quetta, spread over two slums in the east and west of the city. A large proportion of their income is remittance payments from Iran, the Gulf, Europe and Australia.

Among the Hazara in Quetta are tens of thousands of new migrants escaping the wrath of the Taliban. Persecution of Hazaras persists in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have shown no let-up in their attack on Shias, burning villages and kidnapping community members, forcing further emigration into Pakistan.
In Pakistan, the sectarian violence also has a geopolitical context, with a deeply-embedded belief that the Hazara receive Iranian support. General Zia allowed state actors to support anti-Hazara groups for this reason. As mentioned by columnist Ejaz Haider in this newspaper recently, the view of the Hazara as Iranian proxies still persists in Balochistan.
Four days ago, rallies in Australia, the US, the UK, Austria, Norway, Denmark and Canada marked an international day of protest against the unending wave of attacks on Hazaras in Pakistan. The call has evidently not been heard. Indeed, approximately 250 Hazara citizens of Pakistan have been killed in the past three years.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2011.

===

Sectarian violence: Another Hazara shot dead, six escape separate attack
By Shehzad Baloch
Published: April 16, 2012

Elderly man sitting at tire shop shot dead; yellow cab carrying six people escapes unhurt. PHOTO: INP/ FILE

QUETTA: The security plan devised by the Government of Balochistan to target terrorists fanning sectarian violence in Quetta appears to have failed as yet another man belonging to the Hazara community was gunned down in broad daylight on Quarry Road, while six others escaped unhurt in a separate attack on Spinny Road.

Salman Ali, an elderly man, was sitting at a tyre shop when two assailants on a motorbike appeared and shot him in the head and chest. The attackers fled from the scene after the incident. The police reached the site and took the body to Provincial Sandeman Hospital.

Police termed the killing a case of sectarian targeted killing saying the victim was Hazara and a resident of Marriabad, a neighbourhood of the Shia community.

The incident triggered panic and most of the shops and markets on Quarry Road, Prince Road, Mezan Chowk and Liaquat Bazaar were closed.

The police and traffic police deputed in these areas were seen advising the people to go home by saying the situation had gone worse again.

The killing was reported in the heart of the city where a heavy contingent of police, Frontier Corps (FC) and other law enforcement agencies were deployed a few days ago following the targeted killings of six people on Monday.

A few hours earlier, members of the Hazara community in a yellow cab escaped unhurt when a group of armed men opened fire at them on Spinny Road.

“The people were on their way to Marriabad from the Hazara town when they were attacked by armed men. However, the people escaped unhurt in the attack,” Shia Conference stated in its statement to condemn the killings.

“It is ironic that the chief minister chaired a high-level meeting with the participation of high officials of law enforcement agencies and very next day, killing of innocent people resumed,” the Shia leaders said.

A number of Hazara people blocked the highway on Western Bypass to condemn the previous targeted killings. They raised slogans against the government and law enforcement agencies for their failure to break up the chain of target killers.

“The inaction on the part of law enforcement agencies is raising questions on their sincerity to protect the Hazara community,” Muhammad Ali, a young protestor said, adding that the Hazara community is peaceful in Quetta but they are being pushed against the wall.

Angry protestors also burnt tyres at Mezan Chowk and on Alamdar Road to register their protest.



Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani returned to Islamabad after chairing a high-level meeting pertaining to the law and order situation in Quetta.

Banned outfit Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) claimed responsibility for the targeted killings of Hazara community.

The spokesperson of LJ who introduced himself as Ali Shair Haideri told local media in Quetta that his organisation carried out targeted attacks on Quarry Road and Spinny Road. Talking from specified location, he said his organisation will continue its attacks in the future. Quetta: Suicide bomber kills five students, injures 53 others Updated 20 hours ago [Watch Now] [Quetta: Suicide bomber kills five students, injures 53 others] [Print] ShareThis605 570 33 Email1 QUETTA: At least five students were killed and 53 injured in a suicide blast that targeted a university bus near Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) office on Samungli Road in Quetta on Monday morning, Geo News reported. According to sources, an suicide suicide bomber blew himself up near the bus of Balochistan University of Information Technology at Samungli Road, killing five students and wounding 53 others including four policemen and four female students, local police told. "It was not immediately clear if the bus was the target but we are investigating," police officer added. Many students are in critical condition who were shifted to CMH while others are being treated at Civil Hospital and Bolan Medical Complex, Quetta. The bus was taking the students to the university and was severely damaged while a rickshaw and a motorcycle were also affected due to the impact. The banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has claimed the responsibility for the attack. === Quetta violence: Bomb attack on bus kills five students About 40kg explos­ives were used in the remote-contro­lled bomb, plante­d inside a car which was parked nearby. By Our Correspondent Published: June 19, 2012 About 40kg explos­ives were used in the remote-contro­lled bomb, plante­d inside a car which was parked nearby. PHOTO: REUTERS QUETTA: At least five students from the ethnic Hazara community were killed and over 70 others, including policemen and children, wounded in a bomb attack on a university bus in Quetta city on Monday. “The remote-controlled bomb was planted in a jeep parked along a roadside in the Samungali Road neighbourhood of the city. The bomb was detonated when a bus carrying students of Balochistan Information Technology University drove past,” Mir Zubair, the capital city police officer (CCPO), told journalists. The bus was carrying 75 students – five of them died on the spot and the rest sustained injuries, according to the CCPO. The casualties were shifted to the Sandeman Hospital, CMH and Bolan Medical College Hospital where a state of emergency was declared. Sources said that all the students on board the bus belonged to the ethnic Hazara community, who are Shias by sect. They added that a police van was escorting the bus when it was targeted. “Apparently, it was a sectarian attack,” a source told The Express Tribune. The Hazara community has repeatedly been targeted in Balochistan over the past few years. Medics confirmed that more than 70 students were treated at the hospitals – seven of them are said to be in critical condition. Some passers-by, including women and children, also sustained shrapnel wounds. The house of provincial minister for excise and taxation and three private schools were also damaged in the blast. According to the Bomb Disposal Squad, 45 to 50 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the blast. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but similar attacks on the Hazara community in the past were blamed on the banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani, and political parties Phaktoonkwa Milli Awami Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, National Party, Hazara Democratic Party and Hazara Students Organisation denounced the blast. Published In The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2012. = last targets bus carrying Shia pilgrims in Quetta, 14 killed Eight killed, 30 injure­d in blast on bus in the Hazarg­anji area of Quetta. By Web Desk Published: June 28, 2012 A paramilitary soldier stands guard near a damaged bus destroyed in a bomb attack in the outskirts of Quetta June 28, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS QUETTA: A blast in the Hazarganji area of Quetta targeted a bus carrying Shia pilgrims from Taftan to the provincial capital on Thursday, Express News reported. 14 people were killed and 30 were injured as a result of the blast. Eyewitnesses said that the bus was carrying pilgrims from Taftan and it was targeted when it was passing near a fruit market in the Hazarganji area. Around 15-20kg explosives were used in the blast. A woman and a policeman are also among the dead. Earlier Express News had reported eighteen people killed. Some eyewitnesses have also claimed that the blast was a suicide attack, officials have not confirmed this as yet. Initial reports also state that four policemen on the mobile were injured after the blast. There is no confirmation on the nature of the blast as yet. It has also been reported that the bus was destroyed as a result of the blast. The injured were shifted to Civil hospital and Bolan Medical Complex. Correction: An earlier version of this article had incorrectly mentioned the location of Taftan. The correction has been made.

HP would make lucrative Oracle target

Oracular returns
HP would make lucrative Oracle target
03 October 2011 | By Robert Cyran, Richard Beales

PrintEmailShare Save
Investors unimpressed by Hewlett-Packard’s dysfunctional governance have sold off its shares, leaving the tech company vulnerable to a bid. And Larry Ellison’s acquisitive Oracle is a credible potential suitor. At least financially, a deal would stack up. A Breakingviews analysis suggests that even paying a 40 percent premium, Oracle could reap a hefty return.

Despite its expensive deal to buy UK-based Autonomy, HP’s stock is cheap. It trades at less than five times estimated earnings for the company’s next fiscal year. If Oracle paid a 40 percent premium to gain control, the total outlay, including assumed debt, would be a bit over $80 billion. That’s chunky - it’s more than half Oracle’s enterprise value. But Oracle already has $32 billion of cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet. For a compelling deal, the company could always issue stock as well.

And the numbers are persuasive. Analysts reckon HP will pull in $13 billion of operating profit in the 2012 fiscal year. Add in a fraction more from Autonomy, and that would bring Oracle a 16 percent annual return on its total investment off the bat. Oracle might be able to squeeze out some costs. If it cut 10 percent of HP’s selling, general and administrative expenses and its research and development costs, that would bring $1.6 billion in annual savings. Throw those in, and pro forma for the 2012 fiscal year Oracle’s return on investment would be 18 percent.

Along the way, it’s possible that HP could slightly ease the burden for an acquirer by selling off businesses it bought last year in its $1.2 billion purchase of Palm. The mobile operating system may be in limbo, but the related patents are a hot commodity.

Yet there’s more than one fly in this ointment. The presence at Oracle of Mark Hurd, chief executive of HP until just over a year ago, may delay any possible move by Ellison. Moreover, Hurd might not be the ideal boss for an Oracle-owned HP. As CEO, he cut costs too deeply, contributing to HP’s current troubles. There’s also the important broader strategic question of whether it makes sense for Oracle to increase its commitment to hardware. Purely on the numbers, though, at current prices it’s hard to argue. HP would make a lucrative target.


Hewlett-Packard has hired Goldman Sachs to help the company defend itself against possible activist investors who could push for change at the Silicon Valley company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 29, citing people familiar with the matter.

HP on Sept. 22 appointed Meg Whitman, the former eBay chief executive, to lead the company, replacing Leo Apotheker.

Over 22,000 Iraq’s Faili Kurds deported by former regime, Maliki says

10/1/2011 1:26 PM

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has said on Saturday that over 22,000 Faili Kurds had been deported from Iraq by the former regime, calling for the restoration of their rights.

“The Faili Kurds have been targets for harming, similar to other Iraqi communities,” Maliki said in a speech on the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of the formation of the National Conference for Faili Kurds, attended by Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Saturday.

Maliki has called on this occasion “for the unity of Faili Kurds under a common tent, uniting them and organizing their activities, together with other Iraqi communities.”

“We shall support the rights of the depressed Faili Kurds, beginning with the restoration of their official documents and their presence in their homeland and ending with the paying back the funds that were confiscated from them (during the former regime),” Maliki said.

Official: Sheraton Considering Erbil Hotel

03/10/2011 03:43:00By HEVIDAR AHMED
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/4023.html
Erbil International Hotel.


ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan -- A delegation from the international hotel chain, Sheraton, recently visited Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital Erbil to explore the possibility of building a hotel, an official in the Kurdish Ministry of Tourism said.

“So far each of the Marriot, Hilton and Turkish Divan brands are building hotels in Erbil,” Omed Kayfi head of Kurdistan Region tourism department told Rudaw. “Sheraton has also visited the Kurdistan Region to assess the security, tourism and business conditions here to decide whether or not to build a hotel.”

McClatchy newspaper chain reported in July that Marriott will manage a 200-room hotel and 75-room executive residential building.

The interest of international chains in Iraqi Kurdistan is seen as a sign of the region’s relatively stable security and its success in attracting foreign business. Many parts of Iraq are still off-limits for international businesses due to instability.

Sheraton was established in the US state of Massachusetts in 1937 and has long had hotels in the Middle East.

In the 1980, there were attempts to convince Sheraton to lend its name to a hotel in the Kurdish capital, currently called Erbil International Hotel. But a deal was not reached “for financial reasons” said Luay Abdulhadi, the current manager of Erbil International. In Kurdistan, the hotel is popularly known as Sheraton.

The reported visit by the Sheraton delegation comes months after Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani issued a decree only allocating land for investment projects to well-known international brands. Amid widespread concern over local corruption in investment projects, a government committee is currently reviewing all projects to ensure they are complying with existing laws.

As Kurdistan opens its doors to international businesses, some have criticized the lack of a comprehensive plan to develop tourism sector and the poor quality of tourism services.

Sarbast Amedi, the director of tourism in Dohuk province, said the five-star hotels in Kurdistan only meet the standards for four-star hotels in neighboring countries such as Turkey and are equivalent to three-star hotels in Europe.

He said the government needs to do more to convince international hotel chains to invest in Kurdistan.

“Well-known international hotels will only succeed in Kurdistan if we don’t impose our own cultural norms and customs on them… Otherwise even if they come here they will fail,” said Amedi.

He added that the government should not try to close down night clubs in hotels because of objections from religious people.

The only international hotel chain currently operating in Kurdistan is Rotana, run by a hotel management company of the same name that operates in the Middle East and North Africa.

According to the Tourism Board, around 1.3 million people visited Kurdistan in 2010, with approximately 20,000 of them coming from outside Iraq. The Board expects an even larger influx of tourists to Kurdistan this year.

There are currently 183 hotels, 107 motels and 40 tourist resorts in the Kurdistan Region but only six of the hotels are five-star. Of those, three are in Erbil, two are in Dohuk and one is in Sulaimani.

Gunmen, bombers hit local Iraqi govt compound-sources

Gunmen, bombers hit local Iraqi govt compound-sources

03 Oct 2011 09:16
Source: Reuters // Reuters

(Corrects day of attack to Monday from Tuesday)

BAGHDAD, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Heavily armed gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a local Iraqi government building in western Anbar province on Monday and took around 15 people hostage including a police chief, police sources said.

Casualties from the attack -- initiated by two suicide bombers -- were not immediately clear, and the Iraqi army had surrounded the compound, the sources said. (Reporting by Baghdad newsroom; Writing by Patrick Markey)

===

Iraqi forces battle bombers, gunmen to end siege

03 Oct 2011 14:05
Source: Reuters // Reuters

* Suicide bombers attack government compound, take hostages

* Separate attack on a police station

* A dozen people may have died (Adds details)

By Muhanad Mohammed and Suadad al-Salhy

BAGHDAD, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces on Monday killed several suicide bombers and gunmen to rescue hostages seized by insurgents after they attacked a local government compound and a police station in Anbar province.

Two bombers detonated their explosives outside the compound in Baghdadi, 190 km (120 miles) west of Baghdad, while attackers disguised in uniforms took about 20 people hostage before troops recaptured the complex.

In a separate attack on a police station in the town security forces thwarted an assault when they killed two bombers and detained one other.

The attacks underscored Iraq's still delicate security situation as the last U.S. troops prepare to withdraw at the end of 2011 more than eight years after the invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

"The operation is over. Iraqi special forces stormed the compound all the attackers have been killed," Anbar provincial governor Qassim Mohammed told Reuters by telephone.

Violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since the height of sectarian strife in 2006-2007, but Sunni Islamist insurgents and radical Shi'ite militias still carry out daily attacks, assassinations and bombings.

Mohammed said four people, including a police chief, and three attackers were killed. But two police sources said as many of 13 people were killed during the attack and subsequent army action. Casualty figures often vary after attacks in Iraq.

Sources said three to seven bombers were involved in the compound attack.

At the compound the provincial council building where the hostages were held was partially destroyed in the siege.

"I saw a gunman covering his face with a mask as he was on the roof, then he disappeared. When the police and army arrived the gunmen were on the roof and at the windows," said local resident Jasim Khalaf.

STUBBORN INSURGENCY

Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliates, Islamic State of Iraq, though weakened by the loss of top commanders, often target local government buildings in an attempt to destabilize Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's power-sharing government.

Anbar, a vast mostly Sunni Muslim province in western Iraq, is the former stronghold of Iraq's al-Qaeda.

Suicide bombers killed four people last month in an attack on another government complex in Ramadi, also in Anbar.

The area has seen growing political tensions since September when gunmen killed 22 Shi'ite pilgrims there, triggering angry exchanges between tribal leaders from Anbar and the mainly Shi'ite city of Kerbala nearby.

Iraqi and U.S. officials say local armed forces are able to contain the stubborn insurgency. But the government is debating whether to ask some American soldiers to stay on as trainers to help the Iraqi military fill gaps in its capabilities.

About 44,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq after ending combat operations last year. They are mostly advising and assisting Iraqi forces as they pack up before a year-end deadline for them to leave the country. (Additional reporting by Fadhel al-Badrani and Kareem Raheem; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Matthew Jones)


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A Special Issue: Oil in Iraq

A Special Issue: Oil in Iraq
http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/category/oil-gas/

Posted on 01 October 2011. Tags: Oil in Iraq; Ahmed Mousa Jiyad; CGES; I/DC&R; IJCIS;

The international Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies-IJCIS has just released it is special issue on “Oil in Iraq”.

Many prominent Iraqi and non-Iraqi scholars have contributed articles to this timely and important volume, which makes it an invaluable scholarly work to understanding the complexities of oil in Iraq.
The following is my introduction, as the guest editor of this special issue.
Three unprecedented and interrelated developments have taken place in the Iraqi petroleum sector since the 2003 invasion. Wide openness of all petroleum sub-sectors (upstream, midstream and downstream) for foreign investment; offering, through three bid rounds, the most prized oil and gas fields for an international auction resulting in contracting almost 60 per cent of the country’s proven petroleum reserves for at least 20–25 years; and finally, these contracts would
expand oil production and export capacities by fivefold in less than seven years.

Such an opening could lend support to the notion that, ‘the invasion was all about oil’ and provoke legitimate questions on why a country, with incomplete sovereignty due to the presence of occupying forces and still under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter takes such unwarranted drastic actions; how it is going to manage such a massive undertaking; and what is it going to do with the influx of huge revenues, and mitigate the consequences.

Though many, and for variety of convincing reasons and powerful arguments, doubt very much the feasibility of attaining such production targets at such a fast pace under structural weaknesses and prevailing conditions in the country. However, even with half-success, this would, by all standards, be very significant indeed, and with far-reaching implications domestically, regionally and internationally.
Expanding production (and by logic, intentions and necessity) and export capacities would lead to a tremendous augmentation of the economic rent (or windfall) for the state due to expected higher oil prices, with or without the Peak Oil argument, in relation to the comparatively low production (or extraction) cost.

Domestically, such a huge influx of foreign exchange is bound to face three interrelated and theoretically enforcing hurdles: absorptive capacity limitations, Dutch disease and resource curse attacks. Each has its own dynamics and requires policy options to mitigate consequences. Thus, Iraq needs to devise sound development policy and modalities to mange effectively the plenty generated from its depleting natural resources.


In addition to the above macroeconomics structural difficulties, weak institutional capacities, ambiguous legal and constitutional frameworks, lack of suitable infrastructural facilities and fragmented political climate, all represent
formidable domestic determinants.

Regional and geopolitical factors – geography matters – would influence the prospects of Iraqi oil expansion further. Such an expansion would bypass Iran, challenge Saudi Arabia and threaten oil interests of other Arabian Gulf States. Equally
so, the vast economic rent associated with and generated by oil production and export capacities would prompt other neighbours to claim higher share by maximizing their location rent. Being a semi-landlocked country with narrow
corridor to international waters would make Iraq and the prospects of its development vulnerable to regional pressures. This requires the country to adopt regional coordination and integration policies to mitigate the disadvantages of geography.


The international factors are powerful determinants economically and geostrategically. Global demand on oil, call on OPEC oil and OPEC quota are significant variables in deciding Iraq’s export oil revenues. Uncertainties surrounding these variables are real, significant and effective. Having high production and export capacities would generate huge influx of foreign exchange at the upturn of the global economy, but the country would be left with very expensive idle capacity at the downturn of the world demand on oil. Hence, the Iraqi economy would be heavily affected by such probable cyclicality of the world economy.


Geostrategically, with Iraq having high installed oil capacities makes the country vulnerable to external pressures to utilize such capacities in the service of foreign policy objectives of influential foreign powers – United States in the first place, which would not necessarily coincide with Iraq’s national interests, if not contravene it.

Considering the above, this special issue of IJCIS on ‘Oil in Iraq’ is timely to provide informed opinions and analyses on the latest development regarding oil in Iraq, identifying possible scenarios and addressing various issues pertaining to the adopted expansion capacities, at this critical stage of political development in the country.
Ahmed Mousa Jiyad provides comprehensive and detailed count of big-push strategy adopted by Iraq, and assessed possible outcomes as consequences of the concluded contracts relating to the development of the highly prized oilfields. He argues that such a strategy would deepen the structural dependency of the economy on oil, and since this strategy depends on foreign companies at the expense of the national oil companies, the structural dependency could be detrimental. Jiyad, however, predicts that for a variety of reasons and dynamics the stated objectives could not be attained in full. He, thus, discusses four different scenarios and proposes conceptual policy framework to prepare for possible eventualities.


SovereignWealth Fund (SWF) is among the widely used institutional modalities by natural resource-producing countries to mange and invest surplus revenues generated by natural resources such as oil and gas. SWF could have different objectives, functions, structures and managerial, governance and legal frameworks.
‘Stabilization/Saving Fund’ is one form of SWF, and the contribution by Ali K. Merza addresses its application for Iraq. The essay discuses three scenarios of oil production and emphasizes the needs to manage financial surpluses efficiently and transparently, through well-set-up and managed oil fund. The feasibility and efficient working of the fund, as Merza asserts, will be affected by the evolving political/social structure in the country, on the one hand, and the fund’s organizational aspects, on the other.


There appears to be a consensus among informed Iraqis on the many ambiguities of the 2005 Constitution.Whether ambiguities in this supreme law were deliberate, with documented foreign involvements, or the result of political horse-trading at the time of the drafting is a debatable matter. In reality, both federal and regional authorities exploited these weaknesses and referred to the Constitution in a very selective fashion.

Peter Cameron’s article sheds light on these issues and suggests the emergence of two models: Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) concluded by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Service Contracts concluded by the federal government for the rest of the country. However, Cameron suggests the challenges to the fragile constitution may come not from the differences of view between the federal authorities and the KRG. Instead, they might well come from the
familiar paradox facing many resource-rich economies: in spite of their resource wealth, the governance and institutional frameworks often fail to deliver the economic benefits to their peoples.


In his essay, Walid Khadduri discusses the possible links between Iraq’s ‘Grand-Upstream Opening’ (GUO) and the invasion of the country. Objectives of putting an end to oil nationalization, to opening the sector for International
Oil Companies and decreasing reliance on the two major producers (Saudi Arabia and Russia), ‘Peck Oil’ concerns, among others, are objectives easily linked to the invasion. He also shares prevailing views by questioning the delivery of
GUO production targets in magnitude and on time, and raises the possibility of keeping the related oil contracts but amending them.


Additionally, we have included two articles not related to oil. The first, by Marcus Milwright, analyses the production of visual and textual representations of the imprisonment of Muslim rulers. The first case study deals with the presentations of Saddam Hussein in the English language media following his capture in December 2003. The second addresses the texts, woodcuts and theatrical performances of the late fifteenth- to the eighteenth-century dealing with the captivity of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I Yildirim by Tamerlane following the battle of Ankara in 1402. The comparison of the treatment of these two events in both text and image reveals common strategies including the employment of historical or literary references and the imagining of forms of violent and/or sexualized humiliation.

Finally, there is an essay by KatrinWorkert and Candice M. Juby that examines the hijacking of Iraq’s cultural legacy at the time of the 2003 invasion. The article argues that the United States and its coalition partners were unwilling to prevent the destruction and looting of Iraqi cultural property and that this was due to not only ignorance and carelessness but also the additional costs associated with protecting the items and perhaps even the intention for these relics to
be destroyed. The article further implicates the United Nations, specifically the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, that could have prevented much of the post-invasion destruction and looting of these cultural relics.

In addition to the main articles referred to above the volume include good coverage of recently published books on Iraq, including my review of three important books written by the known Iraqi oil experts and professionals: Dr. Fadhil Chalabi, Dr. Mohammad Ali Zainy, and Mr. Jabbar Ali Allibi.
IJCIS, published by Intellect books (UK), is accessible upon pay-per-article or by subscription. However, the table of
contents and abstracts can be accessed through the following link. http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-issue,id=2015/ In case you could not access the URL/links, please copy and paste the URL into the address bar of your Web browser.
Ahmed Mousa Jiyad,
Iraq/Development Consultancy and Research,
Norway.
Mou-jiya@online.no
1st October 2011