Monthly Archives: April 2010
The Gold Rush in Iraq
| April 29, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
There is a Gold Rush Underway in Iraq, with major implications for the rest of us. The success of the recent oil auctions in Iraq is creating a windfall for American oil services companies. Schlumberger (SLB), Baker Hughes (BHI), Weatherford (WFT), and Halliburton (HAL) have committed to drilling 2,500-3,000 new wells per year and building new pipeline and shipping terminal infrastructure…
Iraq Aims to Up Oil Output to 4.5 Million Barrels Per Day in 2014
| April 29, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
Oilfield deals behind output increase. BAGHDAD, April 28 (Reuters) – OPEC member Iraq aims to raise crude output to 4.5 million barrels per day in 2014, boosted by a raft of signed oilfield development deals, the government’s five-year plan showed on Wednesday. The ambitious plan, which was approved by the cabinet and posted on the Ministry of Planning’s website, also sees…
Iraq Seeks Interest in Expanding Basra Oil Exports
| April 27, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
Monday, 26 April 2010, Reuters, Baghdad- Iraq’s state-run South Oil Co (SOC) has invited interest from contractors for services to enhance its southern oil export facilities, as part of the Opec member’s plan to boost its crude output. Companies have until May 5 to submit paperwork to prequalify to compete for the rehabilitation and expansion of the existing export facilities and…
Iraq to Keep on Pursuing Economic Reforms
| April 26, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
(Reuters) – Iraq’s foreign investment body believes that no matter who ends up leading the next government after an inconclusive election, economic reforms to create a diversified free-market economy will not be abandoned. The war-damaged country has entered a period of political uncertainty following a March 7 election that produced no outright winner. Protracted talks on forming a government after the…
Trade Bank of Iraq Welcomes American Investment
| April 24, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
This week, the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC) and Meridian International Center hosted H.E. Hussein Al-Uzri, Chairman of the Trade Bank of Iraq. The dialogue focused on ‘Iraq’s Economic Forecast Post-Election: Updates on the Banking Sector, Investment Trends, and Key Drivers of Growth in Iraq.’ Chairman Al-Uzri noted: “Iraq is an under-banked country, having only 550 bank branches for a…
Iraq’s Economy Wakes Up
| April 23, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
By Stanley Reed and Nayla Razzouk- Investment and products from abroad begin flowing along with oil. Boosting private investment won’t be easy. Officials were “raised in a statist environment” Customers heading for a Baghdad branch of Dar Es Salaam Investment Bank know the drill. You walk through the entrance and heavily armed guards stop you. You get body-searched at least twice.…
Iraq Oil Plan Includes Drilling 15 Oil Wells
| April 22, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
BAGHDAD (Reuters) — The initial development plan agreed by Royal Dutch Shell, Malaysian partner Petronas and Iraqi oil officials includes inviting oil service firms to drill 15 new wells, an Iraqi oil official said. The plan also includes building two new crude processing plants with a capacity of 50,000 barrels per day each and boosting capacity at an existing processor to…
Iraq Oil Bases Sprout as Halliburton, Schlumberger Seek Profit
| April 21, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
April 21 (Bloomberg) — The world’s biggest oilfield contractors are building bases in the deserts of Iraq in a bet they’ll profit as the country strives to boost crude oil output to rival Saudi Arabia. Schlumberger Ltd., Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. are among companies this past week that said they are expanding operations in Iraq. Weatherford International Ltd., the…
Horse Racing in the Iraqi Capital
| April 20, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
BBC News- By Jim Muir, Baghdad The crowd in the stands rose to their feet shouting and gesticulating in tense excitement as the horses rounded the final bend and thundered down the home straight to the finishing-post in a cloud of dust. A mundane enough sight in many places, for sure – but not perhaps what you would expect to find…
Jordan King- Iraqis Can Build Up Their Future
| April 19, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
Iraq News- Jordan’s King Adbullah II believes that Iraqis have the ability to build up their own future mainly after they made remarkable progress during the last two years. Elections were a major step that has left a positive impact in society, the Jordanian King noted. The region understands more and more Iraq’s national stand, he added. King Abdullah II affirmed…
Strategy to Raise the Value of the Iraqi Dinar
| April 17, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
An Iraqi official announced the adoption of a new strategy intended to raise the value of the Iraqi dinar against foreign currencies. The chancellor said the Central Bank, Dr. Mohammed Saleh appearance in a statement: “I’ve been working for years to improve the value of the Iraqi dinar exchange, several measures have been taken until we came to the stability of…
Buy New Iraqi Dinars and Put Them in a Drawer
| April 16, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
I have heard stories from investors who bought a wheelbarrow load of a specific penny stock and stuffed them in several desk drawers for safe keeping. A year or two later, the price of those penny stocks had eventually gone down in price to a mere fraction of what they were purchased for. The investor would say “Oh well, I knew…
Iraq is Allocating More Than 2 Trillion Dinars for Development
| April 15, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
Baghdad- The Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation two trillion five hundred forty-nine billion dinars (2,549,000,000 dinars) for the projects to be implemented within the program of regional development for the current year 2010. An official source at the ministry said in a special statement that the amount distributed among the provinces according to population will be 287.5 billion dinars for…
Iraq: 50 Schools to be Built in Missan for 13.5 Billion Dinar
| April 11, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
(MENAFN – Aswat Al-Iraq) Local officials in Missan announced the start of works to build 50 elementary schools in the province at a cost of more than 13 billion Iraqi dinars as part of the Marshes Recovery Budget 2010. “A consortium of local companies embarked on building 50 prefab elementary schools in the province all over Missan at a cost of…
Iraq to Obtain Rest of Oil-for-Food Funds by Year End
| April 7, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
April 7, 2010 – 09:02:24 BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The Iraqi Government has a “realistic” plan to take full ownership by the end of this year of a fund administering proceeds from export sales of petroleum under the now defunct Oil-for-Food Programme, a top United Nations budget official said on Tuesday. “Once all the outstanding activities under the Oil-For-Food Programme are…
The Iraqi Dinar is Lightly Traded
| April 6, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
BAGHDAD (Reuters)April 6, 2010 – Iraq faces lengthy coalition talks after last month’s parliamentary election, with the jury still out on whether the divided nation is heading for stability and reconstruction or renewed sectarian conflict. The political horse-trading will be crucial in determining whether Iraq can capitalize on its oil wealth, revive a moribund economy and recover from years of war…
Political Risks to Watch For in Iraq
| April 2, 2010 | Filled under All Dinar Trade Articles |
Source: Reuters By Missy Ryan BAGHDAD- Iraq faces lengthy coalition talks after last month’s parliamentary election, with the jury still out on whether the divided nation is heading for stability and reconstruction or renewed sectarian conflict. The political horse-trading will be crucial in determining whether Iraq can capitalise on its great oil wealth, revive a moribund economy and recover from years…
BAGHDAD- Iraq faces lengthy coalition talks after last month’s parliamentary election, with the jury still out on whether the divided nation is heading for stability and reconstruction or renewed sectarian conflict. The political horse-trading will be crucial in determining whether Iraq can capitalise on its great oil wealth, revive a moribund economy and recover from years of war and sanctions. Iraq, which has the world’s third largest oil reserves, has signed contracts with energy majors such as Royal Dutch Shell and Lukoil , but needs to broaden investment to create jobs and prevent renewed insurgent activity. Investors, understandably, are wary.
Iraq remains largely isolated from world financial markets. Only a few years ago, local banks were so cut off that the only way to transfer money across borders was in cash-stuffed bags. Today, Iraq has an extremely tight credit market. Only a few dozen companies trade on the local stock market. The Iraqi dinar is lightly traded. Below are some of the major risks facing Iraq seven years after U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein.
HORSE-TRADING, POWER VACUUM Because no single bloc won a majority in Iraq’s 325-member parliament, coalition talks have begun. It is not yet clear even who will get first shot at forming a government. The Iraqiya bloc led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shi’ite with wide support among Iraq’s Sunni minority, took 91 seats, two more than Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law bloc, according to preliminary results.
What to watch: — Confrontation between the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces. A U.S. initiative is promoting cooperation between them, but new joint patrols have not erased rivalry.
– Any breakthrough on oil. Oil officials in Kurdistan, which estimates its oil reserves at 45 billion barrels, have signed development deals with foreign firms — contracts which the Iraqi Oil Ministry labels illegal.
– Any resumed exports from Kurdish fields, halted because of that dispute, would be a positive sign. Officials on both sides hint at detente, but this has yet to materialise.
– Passage of oil legislation. A package of proposed laws to set a new framework for oil investment has been held up for years because of the Kurd-Arab feud. (more story)
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