Iraq-Shell gas deal delayed or not?

Once again Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussein al-Shahristani issues statements differ from the ones his close aides issue and that could explain a gap between the politician and the technocrat inside the Ministry of Oil. Or what the politician and the technocrat want.

Few days ago, senior Deputy Oil Minister, Ahmed al-Shamaa told Reuters that the Iraq-Royal Dutch Shell final deal to make use of the flared gas in the south was likely to be postponed until after the Jan. 16 national elections, citing current political strife. It was planned to be finalized this month.

But al-Shahristani, a politician more than anything else, denied Wednesday that the multi-billion-dollar deal will be postponed, the Dow Jones Newswire's Hassan Hafidh reported from Vienna. "No," al-Shahristani told reporters when asked if the deal is going to be postponed. "We are negotiating with Shell," he added.

Al-Shahristani is in dire need to collect as much as he can from the "achievements cards" to face his political foes when summon by the parliament and to enhance his position when runs in the coming elections along with Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

While al-Shamaa, an advocate to the deal, is realizing that he deal will be dead if it will be negotiated by the current government.Al-Shamaa's comments also reflected he desire of Shell for not signing the deal with outgoing government.

kassakhoon@gmail.com

Hussain al-Shahristani sounds to get important card

It sounds that Japan's Nippon Oil Corp. and its partners offer to develop Iraq's promising southern Nassiriya oil field, and may be to construct a 300,000-barrel-a-day refinery, has won the hearts of the Iraqi oil officials.

Reuters' Missy Ryan and Ahmed Rasheed reported today that the two sides are planing to finalize the deal next week when representatives from Nippon Oil Corp., Inpex Corp. and plant engineering firm JGC Corp. visit Baghdad.

It sounds that the latest visit by Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, to Tokyo helped to push the negotiations with the Nippon-led consortium steps forward to leave Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol behind in the race.

The battered al-Shahristani will likely move quickly with the deal to have a card to be used against his foes at the parliament as pressure is amounting to summon him and to be used also for his elections campaign.

kassakhoon@gmail.com

Still more past lessons need to consider

It sounds that the Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani has learned from the lessons of his disappointed 1st bidding round and decided to make his 2nd bidding round a success.

Expert Ruba Husari, who runs Iraq Oil Forum called last Tuesday road show presentation in Istanbul for the ten oil projects on offer "impressive" and predicted that the process would be a "straightforward piece of work."

As usual, Husari is ahead of other news agencies in revealing the contents of the offered contracts and other details of the process. One of these things is that the Oil Ministry is now giving the International Oil Companies the right to fully operate the fields.

Another change in the offered contract, which aims at alleviating domestic worries, is to add a clause states that in case of conflict it's the Arabic version of the contract that prevails not the English one, Husari added.

Despite that such changes, and probably many others, in the way of thinking is crucial to win the 2nd bidding round but other changes in the mentality of dealing with the domestic audience is also badly needed.

The Oil Ministry needs to successfully marketing the plans domestically to have the public opinion support and this also needs to learn from previous lessons when oil officials didn't pay attention to that point and then the opponents managed to mess the stage.

The officials need to adopt a new media strategy such as going on public from time to time in foreign and local media outlets and not only talking about the plans when they travel abroad. They need to hold weekly press conferences or round tables or issue statements on the latest developments.

They need also to cooperate with non-governmental organizations that deal with economic issues or universities to organize seminars and meetings on this bidding round. They need to invite proposals from experts whether inside or outside Iraq.

The coming bidding round will be in the core of the January’s elections campaigning and that winning the pubic hearts is vital to be a success.

kassakhoon@gmail.com

Savvy, hypocrite or man of controversies?

What the State-run Al-Iraqiya TV reported today prompted me to write again.

It said that Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, met Saturday night in his office in Bagdhad's fortified Green Zone with a "delegation" from a prominent Shiite militant group which is backed by Iran and known of its atrocities against civilians and brazen and sophisticated attacks against Iraqi and occupation forces.

Yes, it is Asaib Ahl al-Haq group, or League of the Righteous, who broke away from anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and started to work on its own with money, weapons, training and everything from Iran.

Their acts ranged from sectarian killings to kidnappings and blackmailing to leading daring and sophisticated attacks such as the killing of five U.S. soldiers in an inroad on a local government headquarters in Karbala province on Jan. 2007 and the May 2007 kidnapping of five Britons from inside the Finance Ministry in Baghdad.

Two of the Brits are confirmed dead, two others are believed to be dead and the fifth one is believed still alive.

Of course all these acts were considered by the government, top of it al-Maliki himself, and other politicians as terrorism and the group's members were considered as enemies to the democracy and stability of the the "New Iraq."

Al-Iraqiya said that both sides discussed "the support of the political process and the government's efforts in the national reconciliation project." WHAT??? EXCUSE ME!

Then al-Maliki's fabulous spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, told reporters after the meeting: "the delegation of Asaib Ahl al-Haq group announced its support to the political process and dismiss the violence and support of national unity's efforts." WONDERFUL!

And "both sides agreed to solve the pending problems, especially the detainees' file, whom their hands have not been stained with Iraqis' blood and with no criminal evidences against them." HEHEHE...

What a hell this al-Maliki is doing or what kind of a message he wants to send and to who?

He always says that he will not tolerate Saddam Hussein's dissolved Baath party and Sunni militant groups for their killings to innocent Iraqis and now he shakes hands with this group's members who killed hundreds of people.He always appreciates the occupation forces' "sacrifices for liberating Iraq," and even visited the cemetery of U.S. soldiers who are killed in Iraq and now he invites some of their killers to his office.

Is this al-Maliki a savvy politician? or hypocrite? or a man of controversies?

kassakhoon@gmail.com

Last minute statement

Iraq's Kurds on Sunday renewed their stance against the federal Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani and his first oil bidding round to develop eight oil and gas fields.

The statement comes two days before al-Shahristani's appearance before the parliament and other executives to discuss the auction process and eight days before the award of the contracts to the bidding companies.

Khaled Salih, Senior Advisor to the semi-autonomous region's Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources, brought everything in the statement he wrote on behalf the two as a latest attempt to mess up everything.

kassakhoon@gmail.com

Fronts against Hussain al-Shahristani

As Iraq is heading to wrap up its first post-Saddam oil bidding round to develop six oil fields and two gas fields, different fronts are being opened against the rounds' engineer: the country's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani by using all the means in bids to confuse the bidding companies and derail the process.

One of these "mean" means came from al-Shahristani's main foe: the Natural Resources Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government, Asthi Hawrami who has implicitly threaten, through Reuters' writer Mohammed Abbas, the oil companies willing to develop two of the offered fields in the disputed province of Kirkuk.

"They will be on shaky ground. Speaking about fields in the disputed territories, the contractors will not actually have a chance to work on the ground. I cannot see how they will have the security and support they need in these disputed territories without the KRG being party in providing that help," Mr. Hawrami told Abbas on Thursday.

What an irony, Mr. Hawrami, who signed more than 20 controversial production-sharing contracts on his own and none knows anything about their terms, wants to be consulted by the central government who has to take his permission to develop the two Kirkuk oil fields on offer!!!.

Why you didn't consult the central government on your ambiguous deals Mr. Hawrami?

Now would you please tell me Mr. Hawrami what these companies will face if al-Shahristani will not consult you? will you send your peshmerga or any of your secret security forces to kidnap oil executives in Kirkuk or plant roadside bombs or park car bombs on their way to these fields? is that constitutional or legal Mr. Hawrami to publish such threats in the media? are you a politician or a gang man?

The other front to al-Shahristani was opened by the Head of State-run South Oil Co. Fayad al-Nema who also through Reuters' Abbas renewed Thursday his rejection to the first bidding round as "useless and won't serve the Iraqi economy."

I don't know where Mr. al-Nema was since the announcement of this round a year ago , why he didn't express his rejection as he was heading the Minsitry's Planning and Studies Department ? and why he issued such statements during the past week which surprised many in the industry? may be just to bring the lights towards him as he was newly appointed to this position, why not.

In addition to these two guys, the governor of disputed Kirkuk, a Kurd, who also copied his fellow statements and Iraq's former oil minister, Mohammed Bahr al-Ulom. In addition to them the Parliament's Oil and Gas Committee which is headed by a Kurd and one of his main aid is Jabir Khalifa Jabir from Shiite Fadhila party, a main rival to al-Shahristani's party.

And another question mark is that why Reuters published today what it did publish over the past few days based on the same comments from the same persons?

Does that mean that media outlets are also opening fronts against al-Shahristani?

kassakhoon@gmail.com

New cock in the neighborhood

A new cock just started to crow in Iraq's western desert, where Anbar province stretches, to get his share from the Iraqi hydrocarbon resources. He is Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha, the head of the influential Awakening Council in Iraq which hold remarkable seats in the newly-founded Anbar Provincial Council.

It sounds that during a visit to the United Arab Emirates, the Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum whispered to Abdu Risha about how promising the Akkaz gas field is, unleashing his imagination on how much money this field on the border with Syria can bring to his pocket.

He now alleges that he has a "written approval" from Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to start negotiations with the Crescent Petroleum to develop the field, but Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, opposes it.The same allegations the Kurds say to justify their deals but have not presented this "written approval" yet.

In an interview with the Dubai-based al-Arabia satellite channel on Friday, Abu Risha added that the company is ready to enter to Anbar province, pump millions of dollars to develop the field, build a 3,600-megawatt electricity power plant and create 100,000 Job opportunities.

He also alleges that the constitution gives his Provincial Council the right to do so and gives him the right also to reject all the Oil Minister's decisions.

How smart move from the Crescent Petroleum in a bid to copy the same deal it secured with the Kurds and how clever our sheik is who doesn't know that Akkaz field is offered in the first bidding round that is planned to be finalized next month.He also doesn't know what the law says about his Provincial Council's authorizations.

This is only one of cocks I talked about in my 14 May post....what you think?

kassakhoon@gmail.com

Let's see to where this will take us

The Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, has fired back from neighboring Jordan toward the Kurdistan Regional Government and other parts of the world where the International Oil Companies, who hold contracts with the Kurds, are based.

Al-Shahristani eventually broke his silence and put the dots on the letters, as the Arabic language puts it, when said: "Those who signed the contracts with these companies are responsible to pay back and compensate them."

"The company won't receive from the oil ministry any dollar or a barrel of oil," al-Shahristani told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview late Thursday night.

On Friday afternoon, the usually quiet al-Shahristani became more aggressive, challenging the KRG's Natural Resources Minister, Ashti Hawrami if he can get the companies' share from the produced oil.

‘If [the Kurdish oil minister] can get a dollar out of the [Iraqi finance] ministry, let him call me,’ he told the Financial in a video interview.

Now your turn comes Mr. Hawarmi, but try to bring something new not only mentioning the same "constitutional rights," something practical on how these companies will be paid.

And let's see to where this will take us....

kassakhoon@gmail.com

It has become very boring

There was a joke widely circulated after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein about a man who slaughtered his cock after his neighbors' complaints about its crow which disturbed their day and night.

To prove his step, the man invited his neighbors to a lunch in his house where he offered his cock meat to them with rice. As the invited neighbors were enjoying the feast in a quiet neighborhood, crow of dozens of other cocks reached to their ears from everywhere.

The invited neighbors looked to each other as the man laughed.

"You were complaining from one cock and now you have dozens of them who were not dare to crow when mine was here," the man told his guests.

I think this is the picture in Iraq today: a lot of cocks crowing from all the sides while the country and its normal people are the only ones who suffer and pay the price .

Today, the fight of words between Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani and Ashti Hawrami, the Natural Resources Minister at the Kurdistan Regional Government, entered a new page with Hawrami issuing a fiery statement through Iraq Oil Report about al-Shahristani's latest comments on the Kurds controversial deals.

In his provoked e-mail, Hawrami challenges al-Shahristani if he dares to do anything to the two dozen production-sharing contracts with the International oil companies since he considers them illegal and illegitimate.

He went on as saying that al-Shahristani's authority "is not recognized" in the KRG as if the Kurds are in an independent neighboring state. He called also his statements against the deals as "very boring."

Few hours later, al-Shahristani replied through Bloomberg.

"We are not bound by agreements signed” by the KRG, he said in an interview on the eve of the annual World Economic Forum for the Middle East in Jordan. “These agreements to us are void and we will not compensate those companies who signed agreements. They will have to seek compensation from whomever they signed them with.”

These men, al-Shahristani and Hawarami, are only some of the cocks now crowing everywhere in Iraq and fight each others while Iraq and its people are in dire need for each cent.

Frankly speaking their long-running dispute has become very boring.

kassakhoon@gmail.com

P.S.
I'm not Baathist in case you might get me wrong.

I can't wait until June 1

The long time Hussain al-Shahristani and Ashti Hawrami keep mum on the details of their controversial and obscure agreement, the more questions and analysis we will see everyday trying to find out who imposed his conditions and then won the war.

Today, Daniel Canty wrote for the arabianoilandgas.com in which he echoed what Baghdad's Kassakhoon and others raised recently about exporting oil produced in the Kurdish region , but he went further to put an end to all our questions by describing the latest development "as elusive as ever."

As far as the IHS Global Insight Middle East energy analyst, Samuel Ciszuk, understands by analyzing the deal and al-Shahristani's afterward comments, the oil companies would not be reimbursed for their investment and the Kurds would have to manage the full production cost, cost recovery, and profit margin out of their own 17% share of the government revenues.

Also Wednesday, the President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, pretended in an interview with Reuters that he knew nothing if there was a special arrangement with central government on how to pay DNO and Addax.

But he didn't miss the occasion to slap al-Shahristani. "I don't think he personally understands himself or what he does, but it isn't important for us what he says," Barzani said of Shahristani.

I can't wait until June 1 to find out.

kassakhoon@gmail.com

Hussein Al-Shahristani's trap

The Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, reissued the same contradictory statements on Tuesday about the Kurds' oil deals, saying that although he's still considering them "illegal and illegitimate" but he wants the oil extracted by the companies which hold these contracts, The Associated Press reports.

This is weird Mr. Minister, I think you should be clear on which oil deals you are talking about , on what terms you will collect the oil produced from Tawke and Taq Taq specifically, does your approval to Kurds export plans from these two fields mean that you implicitly accepting these deals or you will change their terms?

I think that al-Shahristani has been dragged to a trap in which he will find himself at the end of the day forced to accept other deals unless there is somthing to be agreed on before June 1.

kassakhoon@gmail.com