Plus:
*Iraq and Europe courting each other for gas, oil support
*Russia writes off 91 percent of Iraq’s debt in move once reserved for W. Qurna rights
*Iraq: The Alcohol Smugglers
*Much more…
Iraq’s Oil Ministry will continue meetings with Shell, BP, ExxonMobil and Chevron on Feb. 25, with deals to be signed in March, reports Dow Jones Newswires’ Hassan Hafidh. Apparently more talks will take place with Vitol Hodling, Dome and an as-yet unnamed company. China will resume talks also for the southern Iraq field it held a deal for under Saddam Hussein. This is a great piece by Hafidh. Read it.
Russia will write-off $13 billion in debt owed by Iraq, The Associated Press reports. It had been a sticking point as Russian-giant Lukoil had pressed for a deal to develop the W. Qurna oil field. The Oil Ministry in Iraq had said a deal signed and then cancelled during the Saddam Hussein regime is old news, but Russia feels it still has legal ties to it.
Europe is hungry for Iraq’s natural gas, Ben Lando reports for United Press International.
Iraq is looking outside its legal and security troubles to establish mutually beneficial energy ties with Europe.
Last week Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani met with top EU commissioners in Brussels to discuss energy cooperation. Iraq has 112 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves and, like its oil reserves, experts say complete exploration will find up to three times more.
But realities on the ground post-2003 as well as Saddam Hussein leftovers are making it hard to develop. Europe, meanwhile, is desperate for Russian alternatives and is offering helping hands to develop Iraq’s electricity sector.
Both Turkey and the United States have discussed helping out as well.
“Energy is one of the important sectors that Iraq is working on in the relations with Europe,” Sami Askari, an Iraq parliamentarian and adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, told United Press International. “Iraq has large reserves of gas and oil and we’re looking for new markets and I think Europe will be the nearer and most important potential market.”…
A recap of Iraq petro problems in an Oil Around the World article by Megan Sever in Geotimes.
The Iraq Weekly Status Report, a marker of key economic and political trends, published by the U.S. State Department.
Iraq: Does Government Crackdown Target Messianic Cults Or Opposition?, by Kathleen Ridolfo for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.At least 50 people were killed in clashes last month in both Al-Nasiriyah and Al-Basrah that broke out after suspected followers of a messianic Shi’ite group attacked other Shi’ite worshippers and security forces.
The Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Hiba Dawood.
Iraq: The Alcohol Smugglers, an interesting look at the Iran-Northern Iraq booze trade by Frontline on PBS.
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<From April 2003 to May 2007, there were 400 individual attacks on <Iraq’s oil infrastructure, according to EIA. Furthermore, roadside <bombings, acts of sabotage and insurgent uprisings are rampant across <Iraq. And now the Turkish government is sending troops into the <Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to neutralize Kurdish forces.
Megan Sever’s article is clearly biased in the portion I just quoted above. Why only quote statistics of attacks on oil infrastructure up until May of last year, and not include attacks made since then? Is it because it might conflict with her obvious political agenda to try and discredit the efforts of President Bush with the surge of troops which have slashed sharply the attacks, suicide bombings, and acts of sabotage across Iraq, especially in Anbar province? I think so.
I just checked on the web for news of Turkish soldiers invading Iraq, and found only references to troops crossing the border back in June, October, and December, but none since then. Is it too much to ask that when reporters make claims that their claims be factually accurate? The news piece, if taken at face value, makes it seem that Iraq is completely out of control, and Turkey’s troops are currently crossing the border, but in fact, none of those things are true. Is there violence in Iraq? Yes, but it is actually much less than portrayed in this article that is clearly designed to inflame public opinion against the Coalitions’ efforts in Iraq in a negative way. In other words, it is filled with lies and half-truths. Shame on Iraq oil report for not calling this reporter on her falsehoods and misrepresentations of reality.
The EIA website states the following:
“According to the Institute for the Analysis of GlobalSecurity (IAGS), between April 2003 and May 2007, there were over 400 attacks on Iraqi energy infrastructure.” (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Iraq/Full.html)
It therefore does not account for attacks after May of 2007.
Turkish border-crossing operations into Iraq in pursuit of the PKK remain authorized and are therefore part of an ongoing effort. Turkey has also conducted air raids in Iraq since the last border-crossing, including one within the past week.