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Germany's Siemens is eyeing up electricity investments in Basra.

“A delegation from Siemens met today (Sept. 2) with officials of the provincial council’s electricity committee to discuss ways to carry out projects in the power sector in Basra,” Ziyad Ali told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The delegation expressed readiness to carry out power projects in the fields of construction of 11/33 kilovolt stations,” he said.

Also, a consortium of Turkish companies has proposed building a power station in Basra and a refinery to feed the plant with fuel, Ali added.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

Iraq Minister of Water Resources, Jamal Rashid [Abdul-Latif Rashid], said that cracks in a water dam in Mosul are costing half a million dollars per year.

The Minister said that his ministry is about to offer tenders for international companies to repair the cracks and to reach the stage where the essential level of water is restored which could also help to solve electricity problem in the country.

(Source: Al SumariaTV)

Kirkuk's governor, Abdul Rahman Mustafa, met with the chief of the provincial reconstruction team (PRT), Fletcher Burton, to discuss security, economic and service developments in the region.

The governor assured Mr Fletcher that the security situation was good and stable, as evidenced by the completion of projects in Kirkuk and the improvement of services to its citizens.

The administration is keen to complete large important projects in Kirkuk, such as building hospitals and implementing water projects, and is discussing with central government in Baghdad regarding all of these issues.

The electricity crisis was also discussed, and it was recognised that this is a problem throughout the country, which needs considerable investment to solve.

(Source: Eye Media Company)

A delegation from the Saudi al-Jumaih Holding Company briefed Iraqi Vice President Abdel Abdulmahdi [Adel Abdul Mahdi] on the projects the firm is planning in the oil and electricity sectors, according to a report from Aswat al-Iraq.

Abdulmahdi welcomed the Saudi firm and all other Arab and foreign companies planning to invest in the Iraqi market’s various sectors.

"Seven years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq's petroleum industry shows signs of living up to the potential that American planners hoped for at the start of the military operation, a potential boost to the war-ravaged country's economic recovery.

"After fits and starts, Iraq's oil production has rebounded to pre-war levels."

So reports the Wall Street Journal on Friday, in a feature article on Iraq's economic recovery.

While the country suffers from a shortage of electricity, the increasing demand for power is a sign of overall economic growth.

"The International Monetary Fund estimates Iraq's gross domestic product will grow at above 7% this year, compared to a contraction of almost three quarters of a percent in 2005, the first year the IMF started posting reliable data.

"Inflation slipped to 2.7% in June, the lowest level in three decades, according to Mr. Kassim at the central bank. The IMF pegs inflation at just over 5% this year, down from about 37% in 2005.

"But unemployment remains stubborn, with official figures showing 20% of eligible workers without jobs. While that figure is down from previous years ... U.S. commanders and diplomats are pushing job creation as a way of keeping young Iraqi men out of the insurgency."

(Source: Wall Street Journal)

The head of the Babil Investment Commission said on Saturday that they had received an offer from a U.S. company to build a 250 MW power plant in the province.

According to a report from AKnews, Alaa Herba explained that American company 'California Source', which specializes in the energy sector, had submitted a comprehensive proposal for the establishment the plant which, and that this was being studied by the investment committee.

"The committee is currently studying the project to consider the possibility of granting the investment license to this company...If the project was implemented, it would resolve shortages of electricity production in all areas of the province."

Despite having one of the largest power plants in Iraq, the Musaib thermal plant, and the Hilla gas plant, Babil province suffers from acute shortages of electrical power. Citizens of the province can currently expect no more than 20 hours of electricity a day.

(Source: AKnews)

National Overview

The total number of hostile incidents reported nationally increased for the third week in a row, seeing a significant rise in the number of recorded incidents in Baghdad and slight rises in the north and north central regions. The west and south east regions remained the same, in terms of numbers of incidents, with the south central region decreasing slightly.

The holy month of Ramadan, now in to its second week and could be responsible for the increase in activity across parts of the country as it is generally agreed that Ramadan is thought to offer an excellent opportunity for insurgents to exploit due to the potentially lax security across the country.

The last US combat brigade pulled out of Iraq at dawn on 19 Aug, a key milestone in the withdrawal of American forces more than seven years in Iraq. At this point the US mission in Iraq was re-christened "Operation New Dawn", from "Operation Iraqi Freedom". This pullout coincided with the arrival of James Jeffrey, the new US ambassador to Iraq; his arrival comes during a political deadlock in Iraq.

Iraqi politics is still in turmoil with no real end in sight. American and Iraqi officials have publicly said that the reason an Iraqi government has not been formed is due to Iranian interference. There are a number of Shiite politicians who are close to Tehran and, for a range of reasons, may take their orders from there. There are not enough of these politicians to create a government, but there are enough to block a government from being established. This is of great importance to the security of Iraq; no new government being formed after elections in March and at a time, in the middle of the month of Ramadan, when insurgent attacks have been known to peak in the past is causing much instability.

On 15, 16 and 22 Aug the Basra Contingency Operating Base was targeted by Indirect Fire; of interest is the improving accuracy of the rounds landing in the area, suggesting that the insurgent teams carrying out the attack are becoming more effective. The Indirect Fire attack that took place in the early morning of the 22 Aug, when three 107mm rounds landed with in the Basra Contingency Operating Base, resulted in the death of one U.S. soldier. No further details are known at this time, but this is the first U.S. death since the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division crossed the border in to Kuwait ahead of the planned declaration of an end to US combat operations in Iraq by the August 31 deadline.

The reliability of an 18 Aug 10 report by Asharq al-Awsat stating that a prominent Iraqi Shiite militant leader has returned to Iraq from his refuge in Iran has been confirmed. Ismail al-Lami, commonly known as Abu Deraa, has been high up on the U.S. military’s targeting list since 2004, when he and his aides in Muqtada al Sadr’s Shiite Mehdi Army spent the most violent years of the war carrying out a series of attacks against Iraqi Sunnis under Iranian guidance.

US Forces remain the primary target of insurgents with Private Security Companies an acceptable alternative even though Iraqi Security Forces generally present a much easier target than US Forces. Insurgents will continue to attack US Forces and Private Security Companies with Improvised Explosive Devices and Explosively Formed Projectiles on the main routes around the. The operational tempo stepped up in July and looks as though this will continue through August.

Baghdad

Officially reported incidents in Baghdad have increased again for the third week in succession to 51 incidents compared to 41 last week. This is now the highest level of incidents in the capital since 06 – 12 Jun 10 and a worry to the Iraqi Security Forces.

The International Zone was targeted on only one occasion this month and this was classed as an ineffective Indirect Fire attack. The majority of attacks this week took the form of an Improvised Explosive Devices with 29 out of the 51 incidents being of this nature. It was also reported that on 21 Aug the Director General of the Ministry of Interior was killed in Small Arms Fire attack in the Mansour area of the city.

Under Vehicle Improvised Explosive Devices have also been used on a regular basis with 11 being reported resulting in a number of civilians being successfully targeted – a number of deaths have been reported in open sources, but it is unclear whether this is as a result of the Under Vehicle Improvised Explosive Device attacks.

With the U.S. drawing down its forces and the Iraqi government talks in limbo, Iran appears to be telegraphing to the U.S. that it has retained some critical levers over the years to turn the heat up in Iraq at a time when the U.S. lacks the force strength of the 2007 surge. By insisting on a strong Sunni presence in the Iraqi government and proceeding with its withdrawal plans, the U.S. is taking a gamble that Iran, whose primary interest is to consolidate Shiite influence in Iraq, will impose limits on itself to contain ethno-sectarian fissures and prevent an outbreak of violence so large that it would risk unraveling the political gains Iran has made thus far.

The timing for the return of the Shiite militant leader, Abu Deraa, to Iraq was likely carefully deliberated by Iran with the withdrawal of U.S. combatant forces from the country during the last week when the remnants of the 2nd Infantry Division left Iraq two weeks before their scheduled departure. However, the Iraqi government remains in complete flux, with Iranian-backed political forces blocking an attempt by the U.S. ensuring a prominent place for Iraq’s Sunnis in the ruling coalition and this issue is unlikely to be resolved in the near term. The U.S. will have 50,000 troops in country to maintain a blocking force against Iran through at least 2011 to influence its negotiations with Iran over Iraq.

Basra

In comparison to the other regions in Iraq, it has been a relatively quiet week this week in terms of the number of incidents in the south east region.

This could potentially reflect the start of the second week of Ramadan in this area. The reports of another Explosively Formed Projectile attack in the north of Basra city and a further Indirect Fire attack against the Basra Contingency Operating Base resulting in the death of a U.S. soldier, have been the main incidents this week.

The general atmospherics in Basra are most likely at the lowest for about 18 months. The lack of constant electricity (even regular electricity), the lack of clean water, inflation and the rise in food prices during Ramadan are causing substantial problems. The importance of the religious ceremonies of Ramadan may provoke a heightened level of attacks from insurgent groupings in Iraq who are keen to exploit the strict observance of rituals such as fasting, when Iraqis’ defenses are low. However, there is no substantial data to support or deny this; although ‘spectacular’ attacks such as large scale bombings targeting religious gatherings can be common during this time, particularly in religious cities such as Karbala. These points along with the latest attack carried out on 07 Aug 10 has affected the local populations belief about their security in the City and the role the Iraqi Security Forces are playing in this – especially in light of the U.S. draw down. Public anger is likely to be directed against provincial and national level politicians and their failure to form a government.

There have been further heightened threats issued during this reporting period including heightened threat on Main Supply Routes from Improvised Explosive Devices.

Reuters, quoting a top Russian official, says Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft will invest $630 million in a joint project with UAE firm Crescent Petroleum to drill for gas in the Middle East.

In May, Rosneft's Chairman Igor Sechin, who is also Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, said Russia was keen for projects to drill for gas in Iraq.

Last year, Crescent Petroleum formed a consortium with Dana Gas of the UEA, Austria's OMV, and Hungary's MOL, that aims to pump enough gas from Iraq's Kurdistan region to kick-start the Nabucco pipeline to Europe via Turkey. Nabucco is seen by many as the main competitor of the Gazprom-led South Stream pipeline and is aimed at lessening European dependence on Russia, which supplies a quarter of the EU's gas needs.

Meanwhile, according to both Itar-Tass and RIA Novosti, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Crescent's Chairman, Hamid Jafar, on Saturday to discuss energy cooperation in the Middle East.

"During the talks, future cooperation in the energy sector of Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries was discussed," the Russian government press service said.

RIA Novosti also mentions that former (and possibly future) Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is a board member of Crescent Petroleum, and that he was present at the meeting with Putin, but he is not listed as a director on Crescent's website.

Crescent in Iraq

Crescent Petroleum has been present in Iraq for almost 20 years, with offices in Baghdad, Erbil and Basra, all staffed 100% by qualified and experienced Iraqis. The Company has been actively engaged with the Ministry of Oil since the late eighties, carried out studies and training for the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and completed a full field development plan for the Ratawi oil field in Basra province, and would be able to achieve 250,000 barrels of new oil per day in just 18 months. The agreement was fully negotiated in the mid-nineties but not signed due to respect for international sanctions.

Crescent Petroleum is in partnership with its affiliate Dana Gas, and currently implementing a major integrated natural gas project in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, under a service agreement signed with the regional authorities, to produce, process and deliver 300 million cubic feet per day of gas supplies urgently needed for power generation. The combined project investment of $650m is the largest private-sector investment currently being undertaken in Iraq, and involves the construction of about 180km of pipelines and two LPG plants. The project will sustain two power plants to generate 1250 MW providing cost effective electricity for 4 million Iraqis, freeing the extra 300 MW of electricity to other provinces, saving Iraq $2.5bn a year in imported fuels, and creating over 2000 new jobs. The first phase of the project was accomplished within record time, highlighted by the servicing and completion of the wells, laying the pipeline across challenging mountainous and hazardous terrain, and the installation of brand new processing facilities. 50,000 tonnes of equipment were imported. The first gas production commenced on 05 October 2008, delivering the much needed fuel to the region’s electrical power generation facilities.

In addition, Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas are developing a joint gas strategy with the Kurdistan Regional Government, including gas export plans to Europe, and are jointly leading the "Kurdistan Gas City" project to use gas supplies to fuel local industry and job creation.

Crescent has already engaged with the Basra Development Commission, as well as the federal Ministries of Industry and Investment Commission, with a view to meeting local infrastructure needs including utilising currently flared gas and launching a Basra Gas City project on an even larger scale than the one in Kurdistan.

(Sources: Reuters, Itar-Tass, RIA Novosti, Crescent Petroleum)

Around 150 electricity transformers have arrived on Saturday in Maysan [Missan] as part of an Iraqi government’s grant to the province.

“The grant totals at $100 million [120 billion Iraqi dinars],” a local media source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

He explained that the new transformers will be installed within the coming days.

“The new transformers will contribute to a better power supply to the residents of Missan,” the source added.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

Mosul's gas-fueled power station has been shut down due to an act of sabotage in western Mosul city, which cut the gas pipeline that feeds the facility, according to a report from Aswat al-Iraq.

“A bomb hit the pipeline in the al-Mansoor area, western Mosul city,” said a release issued by the Iraqi Electricity Ministry on Saturday.

Fires erupted in the pipeline and the station was totally shutdown.

“A number of areas in Ninawa province are now without electricity due to this attack,” the statement explained.

Work is underway to repair the pipeline to re-supply the station with gas.

The Mosul Power Station has a generation capacity of 180 Megawatts.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

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