Iraq Reconstruction News
28 April 2007


1. Iraq Weekly Status Report 25 April 2007 http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/84026.pdf

2 Oil minister says contracts should be done through central government - IHT - Iraq's oil minister warned Thursday that international oil companies should not sign contracts that bypass the central government and the Oil Ministry, a clear warning against deals with the Kurdistan regional administration, Dow Jones Newswires reported. http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-25932.html

3 Iraqi Papers Saturday: Oil Politics - IraqSlogger.com - Al-Mada newspaper quoted, on its front page, a recent report by IHS, an energy-focused firm, affirming that Iraq’s oil reserves may exceed 200 billion barrels. The report also claimed that Iraq’s Western Desert, which has not been extensively explored for oil resources, may hold over 100 billion barrels of crude oil. For the sake of comparison, US oil reserves stand at a little over 20 billion barrels. http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/topic/55

4 Iraq's economy. Oil's not well in Iraq - The announcement of a study that suggests that Iraq's oil reserves could be almost as large as those of Saudi Arabia, the world's leader, has come amid fresh evidence of the monumental difficulty of realising that potential, as bombs in Baghdad left 200 people dead in a single day and Iraqi MPs wrangled over the details of new oil legislation. The reminder of the scale of Iraq's unrealised oil wealth has come in the form of a report by IHS, an industry consultant, providing details of existing oil reserves and of more than 400 undrilled prospects and undeveloped discoveries. The Iraq Atlas estimates that Iraq has proven reserves of 116bn barrels (slightly higher than the standard industry figure), which could be supplemented by a further 100bn barrels in the barely explored desert region to the west of Baghdad. Saudi Arabia's reserves are put at 264bn barrels, with Iran occupying second place in the world ranking with 138bn barrels. http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=9060287

5 KRG MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES RESPONDS TO STATEMENTS FROM BAGHDAD DETERRING OIL INVESTMENT IN IRAQ - KRG.org - Today the KRG Minister of Natural Resources issued a statement responding to the lack of progress by the Iraq Federal Government in finalising the draft Oil and Gas Law for Iraq. Officials from the Federal Government have recently issued documents, in the form of "Annexes" to the draft Law, attempting to give an unaccountable Iraq national oil company, "INOC", almost 93% of Iraq's proven petroleum reserves. They have said the draft Law and Annexes will be submitted to the Iraq Council of Representatives (Parliament). Those same officials stated at a public conference in Dubai last week that none of the petroleum fields to be given to INOC will be open to inward investment from outside Iraq. http://web.krg.org/articles/article_detail.asp?LangNr=12&RubricNr=&ArticleNr=17573&LNNr=28&RNNr=70

6 Iran to explore for oil inside Iraqi territory - Azzaman, April 26, 2007 - The Iranian military have occupied an Iraqi border post and are planning to explore for oil inside Iraqi territory. The Iranians first ordered Iraqi border guards to leave the post before storming it. The Iranians claim that they have already notified the Iraqi authorities of the move, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2007-04-26\kurd.htm

7 Kuwait Still Won't Forgive Iraqi Debt -- KUWAIT CITY -- Kuwaiti lawmakers' refusal to forgive Iraq's debt has shone a troubling light on the lingering bitterness many of its neighbors feel toward Saddam Hussein's rule _ and their suspicion of Iraq's new Shiite-led government. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki struggled against those misgivings when he tried this week to persuade Kuwait to forgive most of his country' $15 billion debt. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042601295.html

8 UN chief Ban to Egypt for Iraq reconstruction summit - UNITED NATIONS, April 26, 2007 (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Thursday that he will co-chair the May 3-4 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on Iraq's reconstruction along with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. "The international community should help the Iraqi people and government to restore peace and security," Ban told reporters after returning from a trip to Europe and the Middle East. http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/3313/152/

9 Nations Balk at Compact For Iraq. Countries Resist Total Debt Relief - Washington Post - U.S. and Iraqi efforts to win international support to help stabilize Iraq are running up against serious obstacles, with key countries balking at provisions for debt relief and others concerned about blanket endorsement of an Iraqi government that has failed to follow through on many political promises, according to sources involved in the negotiations. Kuwait, Russia, China, Iran and other governments are concerned about signing a proposed resolution that calls for 100 percent debt relief for oil-rich Iraq, given the tens of billions of dollars each country is owed in debt or in war compensation by Baghdad. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402346.html

10. Iraq ditches wireless auction plans - TeleGeography.com - Iraq plans to license the three national mobile phone carriers, MTC Atheer, Orascom and Asia-Cell in June under an arrangement calling for revenue-sharing and an upfront cash payment of at least USD250 million each, according to government and industry sources. The decision comes after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, reacting to complaints over licensing uncertainty from the three cellcos, created a committee to address the matter. http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=17522&email=html

11. Baghdad International Airport: Iraq's Gateway to the World - http://www.grd.usace.army.mil/news/releases/NR07-04-22-2.pdf

12. Turks are reconstructing Northern Iraq - 5 -- Businessmen in the Kurdish region complain about Turkey not facilitating visas. However, in spite of these complaints, the shelves in the biggest supermarkets in Arbil are filled with Turkish goods. http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=70823

13. Iraq accounting is still a muddle. Contract fails to produce system to detect fraud -- USA TODAY -- WASHINGTON — A newly formed consulting firm hired to account for more than $7.3 billion in Iraqi reconstruction money did not deliver a database that could help investigators track waste and fraud, a recent report found. The result: Two years after uncovering one major fraud case, auditors still haven't determined whether there was more graft in the spending of Iraqi oil proceeds.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070405/a_iraqaccount05.art.htm

14. Wasting Money in Iraq - CDI.org - According to the State Department, U.S. companies win the majority of contracts for reconstruction and relief operations in Iraq. But, as CDI Scoville Fellow Richard May points out, if the United States eventually wants to leave a country that has potential to be politically and economically stable, they should engage Iraqis in every aspect of reconstruction, not just the political process. http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=3920&from_page=../index.cfm

15. War News Radio: No Method to the Madness http://warnewsradio.org/2007/04/20/no-method-to-the-madness/

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