Buying Time

29 September 2006

It will be 2008, at the earliest, before Iraq’s southern provinces unite to form the giant oil-rich federal region that some Iraqi groups are calling for. That’s the deal reached this week by Shiite and Sunni lawmakers which, for now at least, averts further ethnic and religious strife over a Shiite-backed law outlining the mechanisms whereby Iraq’s provinces can form autonomous regions. But the arrangement, brokered by Kurdish lawmakers, does nothing to enlighten international oil companies confused about the way Iraq’s huge southern fields will or should be developed. They only have to watch the bouncing share price of Norway’s DNO — which has signed a production sharing agreement with Kurdish authorities in the north — to see…

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Al-Shahristani . amendments . barahm saleh . constitution . DNO . federal region . Genel . Hawrami . hydrocarbon law . KRG . kurds . provinces . referendum . Shiite . Talabani . Western Oil Sands 2006

Iraq Edges Toward Deal on Government

5 May 2006

Talks on forming Iraq’s next government seem to be edging closer toward an agreement on the main portfolios, including the Oil Ministry, and an announcement could be made as early as next week, Iraqi sources said Thursday.

Two candidates emerged this week as the strongest candidates for the oil portfolio: former Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadban, a technocrat who is backed by several parties including some in the largest parliamentary bloc, the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, and Hussein al-Shahristani, a physicist who heads an independent bloc within the Shiite Alliance. Al-Shahristani served as deputy speaker of parliament in the previous National Assembly and carries political weight within the alliance.

Baghdad sources say politics might prove the deciding factor, especially as the…

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Bahr al-Uloum . Basrah . BP . Chevron . ECL . Fadhila . Ghadban . Hashem al-Hashemi . Maliki . Shahristani . Shell 2006

Iraq’s New Minister Courts Oil Firms, Faces Big Challenges

24 May 2006

Iraq’s new Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani sought to send a positive message to international oil companies eyeing Iraq as he took over at the ministry Tuesday.

“There is need to pass an oil and gas law to guarantee the right conditions for international companies to help develop the Iraqi oil sector,” al-Shahristani told reporters in Baghdad, after the handover from former acting minister Hashem al-Hashemi.

The 64-year-old nuclear scientist, who served as deputy speaker in the previous National Assembly, admitted that Iraq needs billions of dollars in foreign investments which it could not provide on its own.

“We will start contacts with the largest oil companies in the world who want to come in and work in Iraq and bring their…

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Basrah . Fadhila . IOC . Shahristani 2006

Iraq Fights for Control of Oil Region

31 May 2006

Barely a week after Iraq’s cabinet was sworn in, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani are facing the threat of a major disruption to Iraq’s oil output and exports, amid a Shiite power struggle in the southern province of Basrah.

Al-Maliki today plans to make his first trip to Basrah as prime minister, in an attempt to stop turf wars among Shiite Islamist parties from turning the region into a battleground. The region accounts for all of Iraq’s current oil exports of around 1.5 million barrels per day.

The prime minister’s delegation will include representatives of the major Shiite blocs that form the United Iraqi Alliance, which has a majority of ministry posts in the new…

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Badr . Basra . Fadhila . Iran . Jaafari . Maliki . militias . Sadr . Shahristani . SOC . Waeli 2006