Plus:
*Dana Gas ready to feed northern Iraq gas to Kurdish power plants
*Price of Baghdad black market fuel drops
*Iran-Iraq energy dealings during Ahmadinejad’s visit
*Spring is coming, but air conditioning is not
*Iraq Press Roundup
*Inside Iraqi Politics
Ireland’s Petrel Resources expects a production-sharing agreement for a deal it signed with Saddam Hussein for a block in Iraq’s western desert, United Press International reports. David Horgan, managing director of Petrel Resources, said the exploration and production deal will give the firm “a net production interest in Block 6 of 25 to 35 percent.”
Dana Gas says it’s nearly ready to feed natural gas from its northern Iraq field to power plants in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, UPI reports. The company, based in the United Arab Emirates, was awarded a service contract for the Kor Mor gas field in April 2007, as well as an agreement to study, along with its partner Crescent Petroleum, overall development of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s gas prospects. “We have been honored to work on this project to provide a complete solution of state-of-the-art gas field development, processing and transportation that is urgently required on a fast-track basis for electrical power generation for Iraqi citizens,” said Hamid Jafar, Dana Gas executive chairman and Crescent Petroleum’s chairman of the board.
The price of black market fuel in Baghdad has dropped in most neighborhoods but still remains up to double the state-set price, UPI reports. For more, see Iraq Slogger’s Price Check column.
Iraqi and Iranian energy ministers inaugurated construction of a power plant in Najaf, part of enhanced ties announced during the Iranian president’s visit, UPI reports. Iran has signed a number of deals to build power plants in Iraq and is in final talks to create pipelines sending Iraqi oil to Iran and refined products back to Iraq.
More on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadjinejad’s historic trip to Iraq and its impact:
Ahmadinejad’s Iraq visit bolsters Iran’s influence, Sam Dagher and Awadh al-Taiee report for The Christian Science Monitor.
Despite years of war between Iraq and Iran, Baghdad has warmly welcomed its Iranian guest, honored him respectfully and bid him a dutiful farewell. Meanwhile, Iraqis on a daily encounter with economic, living and gory assassinations are looking forward for the outcome of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s visit to Iraq that might end Iran’s interference in Iraq’s affairs, an accusation reiterated by Coalition Forces, Alsumaria TV reports.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lent $1 billion on Monday and told America to go home, as he wrapped up a two-day visit to Baghdad aimed at cementing Iran’s blossoming relationship with its one-time enemy, reports the Chicago Tribune’s Liz Sly
Iran plans to link its electrical grid with neighboring Iraq as part of another “extended area of cooperation” between the countries, the Iranian president announced during his historic visit to Iraq, CNN reports.
Baghdad Mayor Saber al-Aisawi has asked Iranian firms’ help to upgrade level of municipal services in the capital, Ahmad Rahima reports for Azzaman.The mayor has signed a joint agreement with Tehran under which Iranian firms are to start developing the city, home to more than six million people.
Spring is in the air, and Iraqis’ thoughts are turning to … air conditioning. That means they’re also thinking about the chronic electricity shortages that make the hot months unbearable for people who can’t afford to run generators day and night, the Los Angeles Times reports in its Iraq blog.
Society, Security & Politics
Inside Iraqi Politics, a new series by The Long War Journal.
Part 1: Examining the Executive Branch — an overview of broad political goals and various influences on progress by the executive branch, including the design of the government under the Iraqi Constitution, Iraqi administrative experience, rapid growth, and corruption.
Tomorrow — Part 2: A Look at Executive Branch Progress
Read Iraq’s editorial pages in the Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Hiba Dawood.
An Iraqi court has acquitted two top Shiite officials charged with orchestrating death squads which stormed into hospitals to snatch Sunni Arab patients and murder them, a court spokesman said Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.
In “The Iraq War and Asia: Assessing the Legacy,” The Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Senior Adviser and Japan Chair Michael J. Green argues that the Iraq war has not been as fundamental to Asian geopolitics as it has in the Middle East or Europe. Despite its unpopularity around the world, including in Asia, the war has not galvanized Asia’s rising powers to align to balance perceived U.S. unilateralism or caused a significant backlash against the norms of the U.S.-led neoliberal order in the wake of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. The Iraq war has had a second- and third-order impact on some of Washington’s strategic objectives for Asia, but it has not changed the basic need for a strong U.S. strategic presence in the region. The Iraq war has consumed U.S. attention, however, thus limiting Washington’s ability to reinforce positive developments in the region and to build on critical partnerships and institutions. This problem—a gradual and indirect result of the war—is not irreparable, but will require attention and recalibration.
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