Iraq’s Reserves Rush
Hundreds of potential investors, some of the biggest oil firms in the world, flock to Dubai for access to the reserves.
I was there to watch the party:
The question is simple on the third and final day of a major Iraqi energy conference where hundreds of hungry oil men and women broke bread with Iraq’s industry chiefs, politicians and technocrats: When will Baghdad set the ground rules for the international oil community’s long-awaited venture into the largest oil prize on Earth?
The answer, evenly nuanced, is clear: A version of the Iraq oil and natural gas law was agreed to by most of Iraq’s political leadership last week, and when Parliament resumes this week it will, possibly, debate the law and, perhaps, maybe vote on it soon.
Iraqi MPs say U.S. pressure on oil law doesn’t help already tense matters.
This is political pressure. It’s in the media,” said Abdul-Hadi al-Hasani, deputy chair of the Parliament’s Energy Committee. “They think by really passing this law, it could improve the economy and give people better hope, better security and better political process.
Former Iraq oil minister hopeful for Basra
There’s a struggle for power everywhere,” Ibrahim Bahrul-Uloom said on the sidelines of an Iraqi oil conference.
Basra’s very important, the richest city in the world as far as the reserves are concerned because Basra, only as a province, has 68 billion barrels of oil,” he said. “But I think whatever we have seen right now from tension between the political side can be solved within the next few months.
Also Brit run sparks citizen, NGO worries
Top Iraq spokesman applauds Sadr
The Iraqi government’s top spokesman applauded cleric Moqtada Sadr’s call to calm his militia and urged all violence from any sect to stop.
“We welcome the declaration of Mr. Sadr, Mr. Moqtada. We feel this will lift any coverage for JAM to do anything,” Dabbagh said at the Iraq Oil, Gas, Petrochemicals and Electricity summit, organized by the London-based Iraq Development Program.
Great idea for this blog.
I used to sit in a daily meeting in the Green Zone and listen to the daily list from the Oil Advisors of terrorist damage to the oil infrastructure and the plan on how it would be restored. Then there was the corruption where gas was purchased in Iraq at the low subsidized rate for Iraqis and smuggled into Iran and sold for a profit.
My translators always told me of the problems in getting gas for their generators so they could run air conditioning for their young children in the hours when electricity was turned off in Baghdad.
For my blog on Iraq corruption, see http://webworks.typepad.com/corruption_in_iraq/
Cheers,
Vance Jochim
I worked in the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office (IRMO) in 2004-March, 2006.
I have a question. Will the privatization of Iraq oil be in the best interests of the Iraqi people?