ROMANIA

The January auction will be Iraq’s fourth bidding round on its energy assets since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The country’s oil and gas sector is struggling to overcome years of neglect and violence by seeking international investment to exploit its below-ground riches.

Oil Minister Abdul-Karim Elaibi told a news conference in Baghdad that interested companies have until May 19 to prequalify to compete for the 12 blocs. No exact date for the bidding was given.

“We hope that the next bidding round will achieve good results and bigger success than the ones before,” said Abdul-Mahdi al-Ameedi, general director of the oil ministry’s licensing and contracts department.

Iraqi oil officials said the companies will be paid a flat fee for their services rather than a share in the discovered resources. The officials declined to be identified because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Iraq has awarded 15 oil and gas deals since 2008 to international energy companies in the first major investment in the country’s energy industry in more than three decades.

Seven of the exploration blocs are gas and the others are oil fields. Five of the blocs are in Iraq’s western Anbar province or shared between Anbar and neighboring provinces; one is in the northern Ninevah province; one is shared between central Diyala province and neighboring Wasit province while the rest are scattered throughout southern Iraq.

The Iraqi oil minister also reiterated his belief that $120 per barrel is an acceptable price for oil and would not affect the global economy.

Elaibi first made the comments back in March when oil was hovering around $102 a barrel. Since then oil prices have climbed to almost $113 a barrel as fighting in Libya has shut down almost all the OPEC member’s oil output. The jump in oil prices has been a boon for Iraq, also an OPEC member. Baghdad is almost entirely dependent on the price of oil for revenue and rebuilding its war-damaged economy.

The blocs that will be on offer in January are expected to add about 29 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to the current 126.7 trillion cubic feet in reserves, and about 10 billion barrels of oil to the current 143.1 billion barrels of oil.

Iraq plans to increase daily oil production to 6.5 million barrels by 2014 compared to its current production of 2.75 million barrels per day. Output is projected to climb to 3.3 million barrels per day in 2012 and 4.5 million barrels per day in 2013.

He told AKnews that since last year his office has been demanding the government allocate land plots to the Chamber so that it can construct new storage units.

He added that last year the Chamber took over 132 stores but “they are not enough even for three businessmen.”

More than 1,500 businessmen have demanded the Chamber provide them with plots of land to build food stores.

Mohammed said since 1991 both the number of Kurdish businessmen and their capital has increased.

“Those businessmen who could only trade one container now can trade 100 containers,” he said.

Khasraw Kamal, Sulaimaniya mayor, told AKnews: “This case is not related to us at all. They can follow up the issue with the Ministry of Trade. Our work is to provide land for the industrial sector not commercial.”

(Source: AKnews)

1. Length of the line (18 KM)
2. Project Type (Monorail) – High Concrete mono rail of two ways known locally as Kerbala Monorail.
3. Number of stations (20) the distance between each station and another (800- 1000M)
4. In the first stage, the line shall connect the Visitors City – Baghdad road, Al- Bedaa railway station, Bab Baghdad area, Tweredg road, the university, Ibrahemiah and the Visitors’ road of Babylon Gate.
5. The successive coming of the trains to the stations must take (1-2) Minutes
6. Maximum train speed 90 km/hour
7. Number of vehicles for each train (4-6)
8. The electrical power is to be provided by the project generators only.

Willing investors can submit their technical, economic offers and the funding plans with filling up the investment application form available on NIC website and enclosing all documents required (mentioned in page No. 7 of the same application) and send it either directly to the NIC premises or to the email:

oss@investpromo.gov.iq .

Notice: applications can be submitted within one month from the date of publishing this announcement.

The new line was opened in Babil and Karbala Provinces just to the south of Baghdad, to transport Shiite pilgrims marking the 40th day after Hussein Ibn Ali was martyred. Around 8,000 people are expected to be traveling from Musayyib to Karbala for the ceremonies.

The federal government had allocated 5 billion IQD ($4.2 million USD) to provide services, including transport, to visitors.

The chairman of Karbala Provincial Council, Mohammed Hamid al-Moussawi, told AKnews the Ministry wants to reduce road traffic when pilgrims return to their homes after the ceremonies.

“The most significant problem for Karbala is transferring the visitors to their provinces at the end of the visit, although new railway lines have been opened and several Iraqi ministries including Trade, Transport and Defense participate in the transport process.”

“The government in Karbala began building a modern road network last year to link the Province with its neighbours. The Ya Houssein road cost 50 billion IQD ($42.8 million USD) and was paid for by the Iraqi Council of Representatives. It will reduce traffic on the main roads that connect Karbala to Baghdad, Babil and Najaf Provinces, and it is scheduled to be completed this year.”

(Source: AKnews)

An advisor to the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Ministry of Trade and Industry, Faris Majid, told the news agency that the new project, worth $21 million, occupies a 70-acres site on the Erbil-to-Gwer road in the west of the province.

The Italian company which has undertaken the project is expected to complete construction by July.

Currently there is only one silo in central Erbil (16,000 tons) and one in its Makhmur suburb (100,000 tons). The silos have a limited capacity comparison to the annual volume of harvested wheat in the province, which can be as much as 180,000 tons.

The official said that the Ministry has also proposed to construct 4 more silos in Qushtapa, Chamchamal, Sharazur and Makhmur, each with a capacity of 40,000 tons.

Earlier Kheirullah Hassan, Kurdistan trade minister, told AKnews that Iraqi Trade Ministry has planned to construct 14 more silos in all Iraqi provinces, including those of the Kurdistan region, 2012 through 2014.

(Source: AKnews)

Sulaymaniyah Investment Commission met with a number of private companies this week to discuss the master plan for “The Industrial Town of Arbat District”, which will involve an initial investment of $3 billion USD (3,500 billion IQD).

Yasin Mahmoud, spokesman for Kurdistan Investors Union, told AKnews the construction of almost 450 factories of various sizes will begin this year because all formal bureaucratic boxes have been ticked.

Mahmoud said that Iran is especially interested in the project because the EU and U.S. are imposing economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic. It hopes the project is launched soon so that it can rescue some of its factories by relocating them to Arbat district, explains Mahmoud.

“It will become a very important project for Sulaymaniyah because it will change the city from a tourist destination to an industrial hub,” he added.

Farman Gharib, Sulaymaniyah investment director told AKnews that after the master plan for the project is approved, the plan will be opened to competing companies to bid for spaces.

(Source: AKnews)

The two-year contract has an estimated value to Hill of approximately IQD 3.8 billion ($3.3 million).

The new 30,000-seat stadium, which will be designed to comply with FIFA standards, is expected to have a construction cost of approximately IQD 116 billion ($100 million). Hill’s services will include design review, site supervision, resident engineering, project management and quality control.

“This is an important project for our client as well as the citizens of Al Anbar province,” said Mohammed A. Al Rais, Senior Vice President and Managing Director (Middle East) for Hill’s Project Management Group. “We are confident that our team will make this project a success,” added Al Rais.

(Source: Hill International)

Hill International (NYSE:HIL), the global leader in managing construction risk, announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the Iraqi Ministry of Youth and Sports to provide project management services in connection with construction of the new Al Anbar Olympic Stadium in Al Anbar, Iraq. The two-year contract has an estimated value to Hill of approximately IQD 3.8 billion ($3.3 million).

The new 30,000-seat stadium, which will be designed to comply with FIFA standards, is expected to have a construction cost of approximately IQD 116 billion ($100 million). Hill’s services will include design review, site supervision, resident engineering, project management and quality control.

“This is an important project for our client as well as the citizens of Al Anbar province,” said Mohammed A. Al Rais, Senior Vice President and Managing Director (Middle East) for Hill’s Project Management Group.  ”We are confident that our team will make this project a success,” added Al Rais.

Istabrak al-Shawq  [Istabraq Al-Shouk] (pictured), the Under Secretary of the Ministry, told AKnews that the project will be completed within four years and three construction models for the project were chosen.

“The main problems that hinder the implementation of residential projects is the lack of suitable land.” He continued: “The financial allocations for this year are less than what we have planned for.”

Reports and studies prepared by non-governmental organizations and international companies say it will take Iraq 20 years to end the housing crisis.

(Source: AKnews)

The Beijing-based company will install the natural-gas-fired plant in the Salahuddin governorate north of the Iraqi capital within 45 months, Mussab Serri, an Electricity Ministry spokesman, said in an interview during the signing ceremony in Baghdad.

(Source: Gulf News)