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By John Lee.

North America Western Asia Holdings (NAWAH), U.S. Steel Tubular Products, a subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation, and MRC Global Inc. have announced an alliance to bring critical oil well equipment into the natural resources-rich region of southern Iraq. The consortium will serve an international lineup of leading oil and gas companies charged with developing Iraq’s giant oil and gas fields.

This consortium has committed to providing an initial inventory of oil well equipment to launch the effort and plans to expand Iraq’s in-country supply of material when the oil well demand increases. The first shipment of oil well material is expected to arrive in Iraq in early May.

NAWAH, with regional headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and operational headquarters in Basra, Iraq, is focused on world-class port operations and supply and distribution centers in southern Iraq. U.S. Steel Tubular Products is the largest integrated tubular products producer headquartered in the United States with more than 100 years of experience serving the energy markets. Houston-based MRC Global is the largest global distributor of pipe, valve and fitting products and services to the energy and industrial markets.

Paul Brinkley (pictured), NAWAH’s president and CEO, said:

“The resonating call for American-made products to support Iraq’s burgeoning oil and gas development efforts led us to this moment ... Together, the strengths each consortium member – U.S. Steel Tubular Products, MRC Global and NAWAH – brings can help Iraq create a market that has not been witnessed in history since Saudi Arabia developed the world’s largest reserves of oil and gas.”

George Thompson, vice president – tubular commercial for United States Steel Corporation, said:

“To play a role in equipping what will potentially be some of the world’s largest petroleum extraction projects, while simultaneously helping Iraq become economically sustainable is an enormous opportunity ... We are thrilled to be a part of this historically-significant moment.”

Rory Isaac, MRC Global executive vice president – international operations, said:

“Leveraging the reputation that U.S. Steel Tubular Products has built globally with its energy tubular products, combined with the expansive portfolio of pipes, valves, fittings and flanges that MRC Global supplies across the globe and NAWAH’s regional and in-country operational expertise, we believe that this consortium can be a successful part of Iraq’s energy infrastructure rebuilding.”

(Source: Press Release)

By Omar al-Jaffal for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The Iraqi government held a conference on combating international terrorism on March 12-13 in Baghdad, in which it suspended its official work on the opening day of the conference.

Although the official reason for the suspension was “to complete the distribution of electoral cards for state employees,” some observers interpreted the move as aiming to evacuate Baghdad so that the guests could enjoy the conference without hearing loud explosions around the capital every day and to protect the conference site from a security breach.

The Iraqi security forces closed several main roads and the security checkpoints intensified car searches.

Participating in the conference were representatives from 40 countries, including members of the UN, the UN Security Council, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the European Union. The head of Interpol was also present. During the conference, 20 studies by Iraqi researchers and 21 studies by foreign researchers were presented.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had accused in a TV interview on March 8 of supporting terrorism in Iraq, didn’t attend, despite being invited, according to the organizing committee. The Iraqi blocs that oppose Maliki didn’t attend either. Some deputies accused Maliki’s State of Law Coalition of monopolizing the invitation list.

Journalists complained that the conference was poorly organized and that they were kept near the conference hall in a small room without Internet access or a TV screen showing the conference proceedings. Some complained that TV stations close to Maliki were allowed to enter the conference room and talk with the attendees, while other stations were prevented from filming inside the conference hall.

In his weekly address on Oct. 23, 2013, Maliki called for an international conference to combat terrorism to “unify the efforts to confront it,” “to achieve security and stability in the region” and “to coordinate information and capacity between countries to encircle al-Qaeda in the region and outside it.”

Iraq’s call for an international conference to combat terrorism came after the security situation steadily worsened in the last two years.

EU Ambassador to Iraq Jana Hybaskova said, “Iraq is a country that has suffered from terrorism over the past 10 years and there are terrorist strongholds inside Iraq that threaten security and that have killed thousands of Iraqis.” In an interview with Al-Monitor, she said, “The EU has never stopped condemning and rejecting such acts and [the EU] will continue to support Iraq in its fight against terrorism and [help] it get out of this dark tunnel.”

She added, “We in the European Union emphasize the importance that Iraq recovers its vigor and strength because of its great position in the region and the world,” and stressed “the need to end all acts of terror in it.”

In his opening remarks at the conference, Maliki warned about the “sedition caused by terrorism,” which will “burn the countries.” Maliki said, “State sponsors of terrorism bear the responsibility for the harm that our countries are being exposed to,” and stressed that “Syria has turned into the biggest arena for terrorism, which is now affecting Iraq."

Maliki stressed that “the storm of destruction will blow on all countries in the region, even Europe and all countries of the world.” He asked the international community to cooperate with the countries in the region and take deterrent measures to combat terrorism.

He regretted that “some countries have turned some of their institutions into incubators for terrorism and for collecting money [for terrorism].” He added, “Our warnings about terrorism are not intended to scare the world, but they come from our own experience.”

He concluded his speech by calling for “the establishment of a general secretariat for the Baghdad International Conference to Combat Terrorism” and by saying that the secretariat “would develop a general strategy to pursue international terrorism.”

The topics discussed at the conference were: “the existing international frameworks for cooperation to fight terrorism in [the present and future]”; “experiences in fighting terrorism: lessons learned”; “the implications of terrorism on economic development and democratization”; “the development of the media and the Internet and their effect on terrorism”; “ideological and religious extremism and incitement to hate and violence, and the role of religious institutions in fighting terrorism”; “political changes, regional conflicts and terrorism”; and “the development of al-Qaeda: extensions and implications.”

The United States used the opportunity to talk about the Syrian crisis. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk acknowledged that “the conflict in Syria has implications for stability in Iraq.” But he called on Iraq to “withdraw its fighters from Syria in line with the demands of the UN Security Council.”

The representative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Yahya al-Rahi, said in an interview with Al-Monitor, “The OIC can contribute and support Iraq in rallying the international community to improve [Iraq’s] capabilities in the face of terrorism, because the latter is a threat to the whole world and no one will be safe from it.” He added, “So everyone must unite the global discourse to combat terrorism.”

In its concluding statement, the Baghdad International Conference to Combat Terrorism called for establishing an international day to commemorate the victims of terrorism, and stressed the need to activate the regional and international treaties on counterterrorism and develop national laws.

The conference recommended the development of national laws, including laws that fight terrorist recruitment and incitement, according to international decisions. The conference also called for spreading a pro-human rights culture and promoting the role of women according to Security Council Resolution 1325.

The concluding statement vexed some delegations because it didn’t include some of the topics discussed in the second day of the conference. The Lebanese delegation requested that the countries supporting terrorism be identified, in accordance with Maliki’s position. Maliki had accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of supporting terrorism in Iraq.

Several State of Law Coalition deputies had asserted that the concluding statement would clearly condemn the roles of Saudi Arabia and Qatar in supporting terrorism in Iraq. But that didn’t happen.

Mohammad al-Sayyoud, a deputy in the State of Law Coalition, explained the reason for that to Al-Monitor: “The international community and the countries present at the Baghdad International Conference to Combat Terrorism pressured Iraq to postpone the announcement that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are terrorism-supporting countries.”

According to a member in the conference’s preparatory committee, Mohammad al-Ukaili, “The recommendations were the consensus in the UN and other international organizations.” He said, “There is a tentative agreement with the EU that there should be a general secretariat of the conference to be based in Baghdad.”

Speaking to Al-Monitor, he added, “The delegations that participated in the conference will examine the decisions and recommendations and then decide on the next date for when the conference will meet again in Baghdad.”

Political analyst Ahmad Hatef told Al-Monitor that the conference was a movement toward finding common ground aimed at activating mechanisms that may seem fragmented now. He said that activating those mechanisms would require more than one urgent deliberation and a conference regarding the outlines.

Hatef said, “We need to study how to form systematic cultural, military and technological defenses to counter the tentacles of the growing terrorism [threat],” and then to dedicate a conference for each proposal. He added that the present conference is a prelude for the countries to organize themselves, with the visions to be launched in the future.

From Al Jazeera. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The Iraqi prime minister has accused Qatar and Saudi Arabia of effectively declaring war on his country.

He says they're funding Sunni fighters in Anbar province, an area the Iraqi government is struggling to bring under control.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reports on the comments made as at least 47 people were killed by a suicide bomber in the city of Hilla. Al Jazeera also speaks to Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Qatar's former ambassador to the United Nations and the United States:

By John Lee.

Iraq is now among the biggest spenders in the Middle East when it comes to planned or under-way infrastructure projects, rivalling the expenditure of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to the MEED's Gulf Project's Index.

Iraq's southern neighbours are spending $1.o5 trillion and $713bn respectively,but Iraq's rising expenditure on energy projects will be the subject of the forthcoming "Iraq Energy Projects 2014" conference hosted by MEED Events on the 25th of February in Dubai.

Among the many delegates speaking at the event, Iraq's Minister of Electricity, Karim Aftan al-Jumaili and the UAE's Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed al Mazrouei will discuss Iraq-UAE collaboration on infrastructure projects.

By John Lee.

Iraq and Iran, which together hold more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, are planning to challenge Saudi Arabia's grip on OPEC and its status as the "swing producer" in the cartel, according to a report from The Telegraph.

With Iraq poised to triple its capacity to 9 million bpd by 2020,  the result could be a dramatic fall in oil prices.

Hussain al-Shahristani (pictured), Deputy Prime Minister for Energy, said:

"We feel the world needs to be assured of fuel for economic growth ... It's very difficult to predict actual world (oil) demand by 2020 because the world economy is unpredictable ... Iran has been in touch with us; they want to share our contracts model and experience."

This news that Baghdad is working with Iran to help it attract investment ahead of the possible lifting of sanctions could be seen as a challenge to Saudi Arabia. Oil companies are understood to be queuing up to win Iranian oil deals.

The report speculates that, even if Iraq is able to achieve its target of boost production capacity as planned, it is unlikely to be able to put in place sufficient pipeline and port infrastructure to export the additional crude; the main export terminal near Basra will require billions of pounds worth of improvements in addition to the refurbishment of its pipeline network.

Currently, crude oil exports account for 93 percent of Iraqi government revenue.

(Source: The Telegraph)

The US government has filed a complaint against Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. (KBR) and Kuwaiti companies La Nouvelle General Trading & Contracting Co. (La Nouvelle) and First Kuwaiti Trading Co. (First Kuwaiti) for submitting false claims in connection with KBR’s contract with the Army to provide logistical support in Iraq, the Department of Justice announced. KBR is an engineering, construction and services firm headquartered in Houston, Texas. Kuwait-based La Nouvelle and First Kuwaiti provided transportation, maintenance and other services in support of KBR’s contract with the Army.

“We depend on companies like KBR and its subcontractors to provide valuable services to our military,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery. “We will en sure that contractors do not engage in corrupt practices at the expense of our troops abroad, while profiting at the expense of taxpayers at home.”

Allegedly, KBR made claims to the government, knowing them to be false, under a contract with the Army to provide wartime logistical support, known as the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) III. The award of LOGCAP III paved the way for the company to become a critical source for logistical support services in Iraq, which included transportation, maintenance, food, shelter and facilities management. KBR performed many of these services through subcontracts awarded to foreign companies local to the region, such as La Nouvelle and First Kuwaiti.

In its complaint, filed in federal court in Rock Island, Ill., the government alleged that, in 2003 and 2004, KBR employees took kickbacks from La Nouvelle and First Kuwaiti in connection with the award and oversight of subcontracts awarded to these companies. KBR then claimed reimbursement from the government for costs it incurred under the subcontracts that allegedly were inflated, excessive or for goods and services that were grossly deficient or not provided.

For example, KBR allegedly awarded La Nouvelle a subcontract to supply fuel tankers for more than three times the tankers’ value. La Nouvelle later rewarded the KBR employee who awarded the subcontract with a $1 million bank draft. As another example, KBR allegedly continued to make monthly lease payments to First Kuwaiti for trucks KBR had already returned to the subcontractor. KBR billed the government for the costs of both of these subcontracts. The lawsuit also alleges that KBR used refrigerated trailers to transport ice for consumption by the troops that had previously been used as temporary morgues without first sanitizing them.

By Mustafa al-Kadhimi for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

The Our Steadfast Anbar initiative, launched Jan. 11 by Ammar al-Hakim (pictured), leader of the Islamic Supreme Council, to resolve the Anbar crisis is an important step because it moves Iraq's security situation back into the political realm in trying to establish a broad base from which to combat terrorism.

Hakim has proposed a package of political, administrative, economic and social measures to normalize the situation in Anbar, which has been restive for the past two weeks and preceded by protests that lasted about a year. Among the initiative’s proposals is to spend $4 billion dollars over four years to rebuild Anbar’s cities, create jobs and form a provincial council of elders, influential tribal leaders, in addition to Anbar self-defense units, which in fact already exist through the Sahwa councils.

Some assert that Hakim’s initiative has electoral motives attached. Yet the initiative provides, for the first time, a vision toward resolving the Iraqi crisis, not just mere slogans as with most previous initiatives. The local and foreign responses to the initiative indicate that there is a general trend to interpret the crisis the way it actually should be understood.

Some Iraqi parties are trying to characterize the country's broader crises — ongoing for years and including the recent crisis in Anbar — as “security crises” that can only be resolved through security measures. This characterization assumes that the fight in Iraq is between the government and its supporters on the one hand and terrorism and its supporters on the other, and therefore does not take into consideration the root causes of the conflicts.

By John Lee.

Aljazira Capital has raised its rating on Astra Industrial Group to overweight from neutral after the Saudi industrial conglomerate started a new steel millin Iraq.

The Jeddah-based investment bank was initially expecting the melt shop of 450,000 metric tons/year of billet and mill of 300,000 mt/y of rebar to begin operations in the second half of next year.

It said that the proximity of the Al Amna facility in Khor Al-Zubair to the Basra port, combined with the abundance of scrap in Iraq, will help cut logistics and raw material costs.

In 2010, Astra paid $61 million for a 51 percent stake in Jordan-based Al Tanmiya for Steel Industries, which is the owner of Al Amna.

(Sources: Fortune Best, Aljazira Capital)

(Steel image via Shutterstock)

By Ayser Jabbar for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Iraq’s aspirations to increase its oil exports to close to 7 million barrels per day by 2017 drew criticism from the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum. Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh regarded the move, which seeks to make up for the lack of oil exports from his country as a result of sanctions, as “absolutely unfriendly.”

The Iranian Embassy in Baghdad concurred with the opinion of the petroleum minister.

“Iraq’s oil policies will be harmful to the interests of Iran, especially given its aspirations to increase its crude oil exports to compete on the market and to establish a place for itself on the international scene,” Iranian Deputy Ambassador to Iraq Aziz Salihi explained to Al-Monitor. “Iran’s oil exports have gone down due to sanctions from 2.5 million barrels to 1.2 million barrels per day.”

“Iran enjoys good and solid relations with Iraq, and we do not anticipate for this to be compromised because of oil policies,” he continued, pointing out, “We can hold a dialogue with concerned Iraqi parties to establish some sort of understanding in this regard.”

Amid this criticism and fear of increased Iraqi oil exports, the Iranian nuclear deal with the major Western powers has emerged as a promising step toward a powerful economic revival that will be witnessed by the Gulf. It will also spark competition between oil-producing countries in a way that may lead to disputes over shares, granting facilitations and preferences to consuming countries, especially in East Asian countries.

Oil expert Hazem al-Fartousi explained to Al-Monitor that the results of the agreement will have two trajectories. One will be toward quelling the markets from the geopolitical conditions related to the Iranian nuclear file, including the instability in prices it caused. The other will have to do with the return of Iranian [oil] exports, thus increasing the amount of oil available on the market in a way that would bring relative oil stability in Iran. This will also decrease Iranian fears of increased oil exports from Iraq that Tehran spoke of not long ago.

By Andrew Scarre.

Iraq’s oil exports have increased in October to 2.25 million barrels per day, an increase of 0.18 million barrels per day in comparison to September’s figures. Over the course of October, Iraq exported 69.8 million barrels of oil over the course of October, creating US$7.160 of revenue. The ministry confirmed that the price of oil per barrel over the course of the month was US$102.579.

Exports Increase Despite Sabotage

This increase in exports came in spite of the ongoing maintenance work in the southern terminals. In addition to this, a statement released by the ministry confirmed that at separate points during the month, pumping of oil in the Kirkuk-Ceyhan had to be ceased due to sabotage. From where this sabotage stemmed is currently unclear. However, on 2nd November, the pipeline was attacked once more by insurgents who bombed the pipeline and disabled it.

Overall, during the course of the month, Iraq exported 63.8 million barrels through the southern port of Basra, and 621,000 barrels via Turkey's port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.

The news of increasing oil exports will come as a welcome boost to the Iraqi economy due to its dependence on oil exports. At present, oil exports account for nearly 95 percent of its budget and a fall in such revenues would have a drastic impact on the economy as a whole.

Increasing Productivity

This, however, is not the only good news for Iraq of late and, after 2010’s announcement that oil reserves in the country were actually almost 30 billion barrels greater than original estimates; oil production has continued to thrive.