2/03/2011

Iraqi Oil - Moves Planned

BAGHDAD, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Iraqi and Japanese companies are in talks to expand oil export capacity from southern Iraqi ports, though there was no word on pending northern deliveries. Iraq's South Oil Co. and the Japan International Cooperation Agency are in talks on a contract to expand exports from around 2.2 M. barrels/day to about 5.8 million bpd, the Platts news service reports.
The project includes building a 45-mile oil pipeline to terminals in the Persian Gulf. The closing day for the bid is Friday and contracts should be announced by June, Platts added.
The deadline is in doubt because Japanese investors are at odds over the pipeline route.
Oil ministry officials told Platts on condition of anonymity that there were no new exports from oil fields in the Kurdish provinces of Iraq.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry in a January deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government paved the way for the resumption of oil exports starting in February.
The agreement called for about half of the petroleum products produced in the Kurdish provinces to be used for domestic demand with the rest exported through Turkish ports on the Mediterranean Sea.
Oil flowed for just four months after it started in June 2009 due to legal disputes between the Kurdish government and Baghdad.
Platts added that it wasn't clear why exports didn't resume nor when they would begin.
Posted by on

3 comments:

  1. Tao Dao Man1:05 PM

    It is not a given that the Kurds will stay a part of Iraq.
    They still have Kurdistan on their minds.
    They have been making several oil deals on their own.
    They were even in past contact with Richard Perle, and even the Hunt Bros. of Texas long ago.
    Even Israel has been slithering in Northern Iraq.
    I still believe that Iraq will be divided.

    ReplyDelete
  2. TONY @oakroyd1:34 PM

    I have thought since 2005 that a tripartite partition was likely. It hasn't happened because there is chaos. Even to carve a country up requires a certain level of coherence. I don't see it in the US 'strategy' for Iraq. The oil, however, is being divided up between the predators.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tao Dao Man1:57 PM

    "Conditions on the ground" will dictate if Iraq is redrawn or not.
    The Shia part will be [semi annexed] to Iran.
    The Saudi backed Sunni will get their share of the land where there is NO oil.
    And the Kurds will get their Kurdistan.
    Of course the West's Internationals will get the main profits of all concerned.
    No one will recognize the borders of the whole region between now and --2-5-10-20- years from now.
    A major change is coming.
    I am totally convinced of this.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)