Iraq Oil Report

Iraqi oil exports have dropped by 17,000 barrels last month mainly due to lower output from the northern oil fields of Kirkuk, an Oil Ministry statement said, Azzaman reports.

New data on Iraq oil revenues suggests that country’s government will reap an even larger than expected windfall this year — as much as $70 billion — according to the special U.S. auditor for Iraq, Pauline Jelinek reports for The Associated Press. New figures from Iraq’s government show revenue from exports hit $5.83 billion in December — more than $1 billion over what was previously reported by the government, said Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

Platts has an in-depth explanation of the status of Iraq’s oil sector, including security, political and the economic issues at large.

“A delegation of Iraqi state oil marketers (SOMO) will soon visit Kurdistan Region to talk about exporting the region’s oil,” said KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in a press conference, The Kurdish Globe reports, who arrived in Baghdad on April 11 for 10 days of discussions with the central government on the oil law, Article 140, and the Peshmarga forces budget.

Residents of a western Baghdad neighbourhood have said militant groups in the area are hunting down women and killing them, and have appealed to parliament to do something, a member of parliament Safia al-Suhail told the U.N. humanitarian office. “Over the past six months 15 women were killed in al-Salam neighbourhood for religious reasons or because they had criticised the militants, or because of their previous affiliation to the Baath Party [disbanded party of ousted President Saddam Hussein].”

The unofficial border point of Haj Omran linking northern Iraq with Iran has been refurbished and turned into an international border crossing, Maher Oghlo reports for Azzaman.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates named his top commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, on Wednesday to lead U.S. Central Command, responsible for all Middle East operations, including the wars in Iraq and AfghanistanKristin Roberts and Andrew Gray report for Reuters.Gates also named Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, recently the No. 2 commander in Iraq, to replace Petraeus as top commander in that war.

The US Senate armed services committee today asked the Pentagon to investigate its practice of courting military analysts on popular TV programmes in order to push positive spin on the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism policy, Elana Schor reports for The Guardian.

Iraq’s Foreign Affairs Minister Hoshiyar Zebari yesterday expelled Akhbar Al Khaleej’s reporter from a Press conference at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa, Gulf Daily News reports. Akhbar Al Khaleej has published many editorials denouncing the invasion of Iraq as a disaster.

The Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Hiba Dawood.
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