Plus:
*Shell responds to activist letter: increased profits not directly tied to Iraq war
*Iraq oil official confirms $2.5B for two-year deals with Big Oil
*Iraq oil, 5 years later
*Iraq Oil Ministry officials in New Orleans to observe MMS sale
*Iraq museum won’t open when repaired; smuggling artifacts funds insurgency
*Much, much more…
Gen. David Petraeus is calling on “large Western corporations” to invest in Iraq’s energy sector as Iraq looks outside to boost oil, gas and power production, Ben Lando reports for United Press International.
Petraeus, who as commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq overseas all coalition troops there, said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked him to convey the message to companies. …
Petraeus’ spokesman would not tell United Press International which companies the general had called.
“We have made some initial inquiries on (Iraq’s) behalf,” said U.S. Army Col. Steven Boylan. “Rest assured it would be companies that have the capability and reach to take on projects of the size and scope that Iraq needs to continue to progress forward.” …
“Sometimes to get the ball rolling it takes a senior leader to engage other senior leaders in the corporate world to have a discussion” on the realities of security in Iraq, Boylan said. Boylan added it’s part of the U.S. effort to help Iraq’s government build its capacity. He said the level of security for these companies depends on the area of the country. …
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Shell has rejected accusations the increased price of oil, and thus profits, can be linked directly to the Iraq war, Ben Lando reports for UPI. In a letter to the advocacy group Consumers for Peace, the company also said it won’t transfer the so-called war profits to a special fund as the organization requested.
The Iraqi government is expected to pay up to $2.5 billion to five top oil companies to increase the country’s oil output by nearly a quarter, Randi Fabi and Ahmed Rasheed report for Reuters. Thamir Ghadhban, energy adviser to Iraq’s prime minister, said he expected the contracts, which would add 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to current production of 2.27 million bpd, would be signed by early next month.”There is a rough estimate that it could cost about $400 to $500 million per field,” he said in an interview. “So a total could be up to between $2 (billion) and $2.5 billion over two years that should be paid by the government to companies.”
Regular Iraq Oil Report readers, I should point out, knew about this Monday when UPI’s Ben Lando reported a top State Dept. official confirmed the $2.5B in the budget. He also said the oil law is technically finished but held up by politics, and that Production Sharing Agreements will be signed for long term deals. An Iraqi Iraq oil expert sent Iraq Oil Report an email that Amb. Ries’ PSA predictions are grounded in anything but reality on the ground and below it.
Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s oil sector is at last pumping at the level it managed under Saddam Hussein, but it could take years to make further progress, Ahmed Rasheed and Simon Webb report for Reuters.
The 12th ministerial meeting of the countries of the Arab electric interconnection network, which comprises Libya, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq started on Tuesday in Tripoli, Afriquenligne reports. The body aims at following up the development of the electricity connection between the national grids of these countries and ways and means of promoting and consolidating exchanges through the connection of electricity lines of the parties concerned.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has asked a consortium of Korean builders, which is now conducting a social infrastructure construction project coupled with oil exploration in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to participate in similar projects in southern Iraq, a legal advisor to the consortium said, the JoongAng Daily reports. Meanwhile, Korean builder SSangyong Engineering & Construction Co. said Tuesday (Mar. 18) that a consortium led by the builder plans to submit its proposals to build infrastructure to the Kurdistan Regional Government early next month, Korea.net News reports.
United Nations envoy likened the struggle between Kurds and Arabs for control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq to a “ticking time bomb,” Caroline Tosh and Zaineb Ahmed report for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting. Analysts say political agreement must be reached to defuse escalating tensions over contested city’s status.
Iraq would need to pass its long-delayed oil and gas law to attract much-needed funds to enhance its oil industry, a Turkish company with oil investments in northern Iraq said Wednesday, Dow Jones Newswires reports.Orhan Duran, the general manager of Turkey’s Genel Enerji, said the Cukurova Group-owned company has invested nearly $200 million to drill six wells in a joint effort with Geneva-based Addax Petroleum. There is enough oil to make the venture profitable, but the oil cannot be exported before the central government passes the oil and gas law, Duran said.
Four officials of Iraq’s oil ministry are in New Orleans for an auction of federal offshore petroleum leases, the AP reports. The officials came to Wednesday’s sale of leases in the eastern Gulf of Mexico as part of a long-term effort for Iraq to improve management of its oil resources.
Society, Security & Politics
If you go to the trouble of organizing an Iraqi political reconciliation conference, it’s generally a bad sign if a number of key players don’t even show up, Paul Kiel writes for TPM Muckraker. The largest Sunni bloc, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s party, and a prominent minority party of Shiites and Sunnis all boycotted the conference. No representatives of the insurgency (either Baathist or militia members) were there. Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr walked out of the conference, as did a prominent Sunni tribal leader who’s been key to the so-called “Anbar Awakening.”
So why, exactly, did the U.S. invade Iraq five years ago this week? asks Jim Lobe of Inter Press Service.
The U.S. military’s use of organic forces in Iraq gives a sense of Iraqi solutions to Iraqi problems, but may also be a sign of a partnership of convenience, writes UPI’s Daniel Graeber.
Politics is a dirty business anywhere in the world, but Iraqi politics today rank among the most divisive. While much has been written about Iraq since 2003 — the early mistakes that continue to impede progress, the bitter rivalries that leave so many innocents dead, the roles of superpowers and neighbors — few observers have offered a far-sighted view of the state of affairs, Kathleen Ridolfo writes for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The Kurdistan Regional Government is touting the visit by Vice President Cheney as a major step for the region.
Iraq’s National Museum, which has been closed since its antiquities were looted five years ago after the U.S.-led invasion, won’t reopen when a partial renovation is complete in a few months, Elena Becatoros reports for The Associated Press. Museum and government officials say the museum building will not be ready and they fear opening the collection to the public could draw attacks or renewed looting. In a separate article Becatoros writes smuggling is funding insurgent groups.
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