Iraq Oil Report

Plus:
*Oil from Kirkuk expected to restart soon
*National Security chief survives ambush
*What’s in a flag?
*New Baath law reservations
*more…

Iraq’s Kurdish oil leaders are in Baghdad to clear an impasse over oil control, though the national oil minister is reportedly not in town. That could be the point, since some Kurdish leaders have called for Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani to be removed from office, United Press International reports.Shahristani has confirmed attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which began Wednesday. A U.S. State Department official is reportedly mediating.

There have also been sticking points between the KRG and Baghdad regarding the region’s 2008 budget, and whether funding for the Kurd security forces should be paid for with a special budget.

Oil from Kirkuk will start pumping through pipelines to Turkey again soon, the Oil Ministry says. As Reuters reports, power cuts, leaks and sabotage are responsible for the halt in the pipeline.
The extent of power and fuel outages is widespread, Ben Lando for UPI reports.

Iraq was making headway in restarting and keeping the northern pipeline flowing, but the latest stoppage is raising concerns for prospective contract buyers.

Security, Society & Politics

Iraq’s top national security official and his entourage were trapped in a religious place of worship in a Baghdad neighborhood by unknown assailants, IraqSlogger reports.com. He escaped. There’s speculation as to who the perpetrators were, and whether it has any connection to the pro-decentralization op-ed Mowaffak al-Rubaie wrote in The Washington Post Friday.

The Evolving Security Situation in Iraq: The Continuing Need for Strategic Patience, the new report by The Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Anthony H. Cordesman. “Data are now available from MNF-I and the Iraqi government that provide a much clearer picture of the trends in violence and casualties in Iraq. This report provides maps and graphics on the levels of killings in Iraq, the levels of violence by type, and the trends in terms of violence in key provinces and in Baghdad. It presents both MNF-I and Iraqi data through early January 2008.”

More on Iraq changing its flag:

Kurds had rejected the old banner, which included Saddam Hussein’s handwriting and symbols of his Baath Party, Kimi Yoshino reports for the Los Angeles Times. The temporary flag, a one-year stopgap until a more permanent design is selected, will no longer bear the three green stars representing the “unity, freedom, socialism” motto of Hussein’s Baath Party. The former leader’s handwritten “Allahu akbar” (God is great) will be replaced with an old-style Arabic font.

Iraqi Flag Changes, but Not Sectarian Distrust, Joshua Partlow reports for The Washington Post.Lawmakers Approve Interim Banner Dropping Vestiges of Hussein Rule and Appeasing Kurds, Shiites.

Iraq’s New Law on Ex-Baathists Could Bring Another Purge, Amit R. Paley and Joshua Partlow report for The Washington Post. More than a dozen Iraqi lawmakers, U.S. officials and former Baathists here and in exile expressed concern in interviews that the law could set off a new purge of ex-Baathists, the opposite of U.S. hopes for the legislation.

Competition arouses as second Stage of Iraq Super League starts, Alsumaria TV reports.

Read what Iraq’s editorial pages say. The Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Hiba Dawood.

“I’m waiting for the day that parliament stops losing time and efforts to issue the important laws that we need today in order to pass across this difficult time.” – from McClatchy Newspapers’ Baghdad Bureau blog Inside Iraq.

Iraq Economics

Virginia-based Enterra Solutions has signed a services contract with the Minister of Trade for the KRG to provide a full service Business Center in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The contract marks a new era for business and economic development in the Kurdistan region and provides a viable model for similar centers in other emerging market countries. Under the multi-year service contract, Enterra Solutions will establish and operate the Kurdistan Business Center in Erbil, Iraq, with a branch in Washington, DC and a future location in Europe.

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