Security in Iraq is a major holdup to investment there, sometimes second only to the lack of a law governing Iraq’s vast oil and gas reserves.Various security plans, by Iraqi and U.S. forces, are intended to break the cycle of violence, but little of the ambitions for Iraq’s future will take hold until its citizens face fewer day-to-day threats to their lives.
What is the main issue to me, as long as security problem is there, it is very difficult to get service companies to Iraq,” said the general manager of Turkish oil firm Genel Enerji. “Of course, the cost … is higher than normal countries, because of the security,” Duran said, estimating Iraq’s deals to be two to three times higher than if it were more stable.
“In the long term Iraq will be the next land for investment,” Industry Minister Fawzi Hariri said. “There will not be another part of this planet that provides so much promise and so many opportunities … with quick, great return as Iraq will.”
Parliament’s back, forgot the oil law
Reuters confirms, as I reported yesterday, Parliament reconvenes but doesn’t take up the oil law.
www.reuters.com
The LA Times’ Raheem Salman and Tina Susman report only 56 percent of parliamentarians showed.
www.latimes.com
If the oil law does get passed, Iraq will seek immediate deals to develop up to 15 oilfields and explore 5 new blocks, reports Kate Dourian of Platts.
www.platts.com
The U.S. Institute for Peace has issued a summary of the Iraq Parliaments attempt to reform the Constitution. Proposed reforms are not light, and include many oil-related and those that will affect the future shape of the country, like federalism and the status of Kirkuk.
www.usip.org
There’s no proof Basra’s governor has allowed the Fadhila Party to infiltrate the force tasked with protecting oil from both sabotage and smugglers, a top Iraqi security official says.
www.upi.com
Iraq moves from cheap fuel, possibly dedicating billions saved to needed quality of life improvements.
www.upi.com
Iraq’s oil and electricity sector needs an $80B cash pipeline.
www.upi.com
Iraq has fixed, protected and turned back on the pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan, a port city in Turkey. The pipeline is the second most important for Iraq’s exports, and has been targeted by Sunni insurgents so much it has been rendred mostly useless since 2003.
www.alertnet.org
Lionel Laurent on Forbes.com reports Norwegian firm DNO, which made a bold move to start oil business in Iraqi Kurdistan, was found to have NOT invented a story that an oil major offered to buy the Iraq assets.
www.forbes.com
From Basra to Baghdad to Washington
Juan Cole reports on a number of crucial background issues, necessary to understand why what happens next happened: Sadr wants detained leaders released; CPA’s Bremer on WH approval of Iraq Army disband; arming of Sunni militias; and the GAO’s new and critical report on Iraqi forces/other key issues.
www.juancole.com
Dominic Moran for ISN Security Watch on the internal battle in Basra now that the British have left.
www.isn.ethz.ch
Neighbor Iran may play a bigger role, explains Kaveh L Afrasiabi in the Asia Times online.
www.atimes.com
Reidar Visser, research fellow at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, has written a very important look forward into Basra’s future.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the recent British withdrawal from the urban centre of Basra to a base near the city’s airport is the reaction from local political forces. So far, the loudest response has come from the Sadrists, who publicly claim that their armed campaign led to the British withdrawal … the British ceased exercising effective control of Basra a long time ago … The main difference between the US and the British approach does not relate to militia power as such, but rather to the extent to which there has been an attempt to manipulate the political games in which the militias take part.
