In our continuing efforts to bring you the top business news from Iraq, Iraq Business News is delighted to announce two new services for its readers:

• To help you keep track of the markets, starting on Thursday we will provide a scrolling stock ticker from the Baghdad Stock Exchange; and,
• Every Friday we will bring you a weekly review of developments on the stock exchange, courtesy of Rabee Securities.

We hope this will add to your enjoyment of Iraq Business News, and we’d love to hear any other suggestions you might have about how to improve our service to you. Please let us know in the Reply box below.

Meanwhile, if you are interested in doing business in Iraq, Upper Quartile and AAIB are the ideal partners to guide you through the complexities involved. For more information please contact Gavin Jones or Adrian Shaw.

Dr Ahmed al Shamma, Deputy Minister of Oil, to launch massive investment in refineries at the Iraq Mining conference on 7-8 September 2011. Dr al Shamma will present:

• A review of present refineries and operating capacities and details of major projects to rehabilitate and upgrade these refineries.
• A review of planned grass roots refineries to cater for domestic demand in the next two decades.
• A review of the main features of law 64 2007 and its amendment as regards to investment in refineries.

A recent Reuters report noted that Iraq is set to import 950,000 tonnes of gasoline and gas oil in the fourth quarter. Dr Al Shamma will reveal the Ministry’s plans for welcoming international investment in refineries to turn Iraq into an exporter of refined oil products.

Minister of Construction to reveal massive infrastructure programmes          

Minister for Construction and Housing, Mr Muhammad al Darraji, will reveal major projects with excellent incentives for international investment in infrastructure.

• Iraq Ministry will act as guarantor for international investment in infrastructure.
• Huge incentives are to be revealed at the conference for investment in highways, bridges and housing.
• A detailed overview of the Ministry’s strategy for generating foreign investment in the housing and construction sectors will be revealed.

Iraq Mining 2011 is the significant conference to take place on the redevelopment of industries in Iraq. Distinguished Iraqi delegates and decision-makers headed by the Deputy Prime Minister for Economical and Industrial Affairs, Dr Rouzh Nouri Shawis, will participate.

To register for Iraq Mining 2011, being held at the Royal Garden Hotel, London, 7 – 8 September, please visit www.iraqmining.com to register. Organisations interested in exhibiting should email info@iraqmining.com or call +44 (0) 207 559 1412

Azzaman reports that the Iran Foreign Investment Company (IFIC) is willing to invest heavily in a number of projects in the southern Iraqi province of Wassit, and is prepared to accept deferred payment for its acvities.

The head of the province’s information office, Majid al-Atabi, said the company’s offer was tempting because Wassit did not have to worry about immediate payment.

He said IFIC’s representatives were in Wasit and submitted their blueprints and designs for the projects the company wanted to start in the province.

“The provincial authorities have tentatively accepted the designs but still we need them to be approved by the province’s investment commission,” Atabi added.

IFIC plans to implement projects in various sectors including settnig up a pharmaceutical company and a cement plant, as well as building silos.

The Iran Foreign Investment Company was incorporated in March 1998 as a Private Joint Stock company with a mission to manage and expand Iranian holdings abroad.

A holding company, IFIC provides financing and financial services and makes investments around the world. IFIC has interests in energy, telecom and IT, banking, insurance, stock markets, industry, mining, oil, gas and petrochemicals, as well as new and future technologies.

Currently IFIC has ventures in different countries including Germany, Brazil, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Yemen, Namibia, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Armenia.

 (Sources: Azzaman, IFIC)

Maersk Oil, a fully-owned subsidiary of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, has acquired a 20% shareholding in HKN Energy Ltd., a subsidiary of U.S.-based Hillwood International Energy, whose sole asset is a licence in Kurdistan Region.

The acquisition is a step into the prolific but as yet underdeveloped area of Kurdistan in oil output terms, as Maersk Oil explores opportunities in the region.

“We want to gain knowledge and experience of operations in Kurdistan, which is why we have acquired a shareholding in a company already active in the region,” said Jón Ferrier, Head of Business Development and Strategy in Maersk Oil. “In return, we will contribute our technical knowhow and expertise.”

HKN Energy holds a 75% interest in and operatorship of the Sarsang licence area in northern Kurdistan, on the highly prospective Zagros fold belt. HKN Energy drilled one discovery well in 2011 which is expected to be brought into production in 2012. Marathon Oil holds the remaining 25% interest in the licence area.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the transaction.

(Source: Maersk Oil)

Hussein al-Shahristani (pictured), Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, will be summoned to parliament after the Eid al-Fitr holiday to answer questions about two fraudulent ministry of electricity contracts worth more than $1.7 billion, according to AKnews.

A member of the parliamentary commission set up to investigate the case, Uday Awwad, told the agency that MPs signatures have been collected to summon Shahristani, adding that the commission is continuing to accumulate documents and files on the case.

Shahristani was assigned interim Electricity Minister last week, replacing former Minister Raad Shallal who stepped down under government pressure following the revelation of the fraud earlier this month.

The parliamentary Commission on Integrity has published documents purporting to implicate Shahristani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in approving the contracts, pointing at the same time to the signatures of other senior officials on the deal.

According to Mr Awwad, “Al-Shahristani addressed, through official letters, the Ministry of Electricity saying that he had researched the German and Canadian companies on the Internet and made sure that they were suitable.”

Thye commission member questioned the depth of the Deputy Prime Minister’s research into the firms set to construct and equip power stations at a combined cost of $1.7 billion.

“How can the Iraqi government verify its contracts on the Internet?“, he asked.

(Source: AKnews)

The final report of the congressionally chartered US Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan says at least $31 billion has been lost to contract waste and fraud, and that major reforms are required.

Commission reform objectives include improving federal planning for use of contracts, strengthening contract management and oversight, expanding competition, improving interagency coordination, and modifying or cancelling U.S.-funded projects that host nations cannot sustain. The reforms are described in 15 strategic recommendations.

The eight-member, bipartisan Commission filed its 240-page final report, “Transforming Wartime Contracting: Controlling Costs, Reducing Risks,” with U.S. Senate and House officials this morning. A briefing in the Capitol followed.

The Commission report notes that a consequence of 1990s reductions in the federal acquisition workforce and in support units within the military, the United States cannot conduct large or sustained contingency operations without heavy support from contractors. “Contingency” operations, as defined in federal law for the Department of Defense, are those involving military forces in actual or imminent hostilities, or in response to declared national emergencies. Civilian agencies use a similar definition.

Commission Co-Chair Michael Thibault, former deputy director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, said, “The government has known for 20 years that contractors would be a key part of any major response to large or sustained hostilities or major disasters. Yet the government was not prepared to go into Afghanistan in 2001 or Iraq in 2003 using large numbers of contractors, and is still unable to provide effective management and oversight of contract spending that will have exceeded $206 billion by the end of September. That has to change.”

An Iraqi economist says the country will lose $22 million because of “extra” Eid al-Fitr holidays that the Iraqi government announced.

Eid al-Fitr, which follows the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is usually three days, however, AKnews reports that the Iraqi government last week extended the holidays to six day, to accommodate differences between the Sunni and Shia calendars.

Ali Keji, an economic analyst with the Iraqi Market Center, told the agency that “according to the preliminary estimates, Iraq will lose approximately $22 million [26 billion Iraqi dinars] due to the suspension of the stock market during the six days”.

He complained that the “government does not respect economic problems because of the holidays. It takes such a decision without consulting the Securities Commission and the Central Bank.”

Iraq’s stock exchange (ISX) handled 210 billion shares worth about $326 million since January, an increase of about 40% on last year. In 2010, the total fiscal year’s 255 billion shares were worth about $342 million.

Hundreds of Iraqi and foreign businessmen and share-holders deal with the ISX.

Salam al-Quraishi, an economic adviser to the Iraqi government said “the holidays cause delays in the economic and commercial transactions but not huge money losses”

He defended the government’s position saying they have talked to economic institutions before taking on any such decision to extend the holidays to six days.

“When the Iraqi government decided the Eid al-Fitr holiday to be extended for six days, it had actually consulted economic institutions and looked into its impacts on economic activities.”

(Source: AKnews)

According to reports from Al-Sabaah, the Central Bank of Iraq is planning to make its new currency forgery-proof.

Central Bank Governor Sinan al-Shabibi claims that the new currency’s attributes will make it ‘difficult’ to falsify, and says that the project to delete the three zeros, if implemented, will enhance the value of the Iraqi dinar against other currencies.

The Central Bank and the Finance Committee in the House of Representatives agreed to hold further meetings to finalize discussions on the project.

(Source: Al-Sabaah)