Wednesday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 8-2-23
Wednesday Morning Iraq Economic News Highlights 8-2-23
Al-Sudani: Today Is An Important Session To Discuss The Draft Oil And Gas Law
The first 2023/08/02 Baghdad: morning Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani announced the overthrow of a network of major foreign currency speculators, pointing to the government's continued efforts to combat corruption.
The Prime Minister said, in a press conference after presiding over the regular session of the Council of Ministers, yesterday, Tuesday: "Electricity is a sensitive issue and affects the life of the citizen in terms of services and economics," indicating that there are question marks about the recent simultaneous incidents that affected the electricity system.
Al-Sudani explained that the security services dismantled 15 explosive devices in Baiji that were targeting towers placed in articulated areas and nodes, pointing out that protecting the system requires cooperation from society that is dictated by moral and legal responsibility, and no country can put guards on every tower and power station, and the state continues in its duty to organize. Accountability and there are no red lines in front of us.
And he continued that the oil derivatives crisis was resolved after the opening of the holy Karbala refinery, and we developed solutions to end the imported gas crisis, and the matter is a matter of time, explaining that after the completion of Total projects, the fifth round, and some fields, there will be a surplus of gas, and we will not import from any country.
The Prime Minister indicated that "the government continues the executive work according to the priorities of its program with clarity and confidence, and we anticipated the three-year budget by preparing the requirements of the plans that we have set," pointing out that an Iraqi delegation visited Germany and Italy and agreed in principle to import production lines to establish factories that will be covered by a government sovereign guarantee for the private sector. 85% of its value.
Al-Sudani said: We have received offers from Arab and foreign investment funds to participate in the Iraq Fund for Development, and we have also received requests from the private sector to implement projects within the fund.
Regarding the budget instructions, he indicated that the budget implementation instructions will be published this week, and we held meetings with several ministries to prioritize project financing.
Regarding the oil and gas law, the Prime Minister stated that an important session will be held today in the presence of political leaders and technicians from the federal ministries of oil and natural resources in the Kurdistan region and legal advisors to discuss the draft law.
And on the most prominent decisions of the Council of Ministers, Al-Sudani revealed that the Council approved the Reconstruction Fund system for the poorest governorates, and agreed to allocate 5 billion dinars to the Artists’ Pension Fund, and also decided to refer the seawater desalination plant project to the Governorate of Basra, and approved recommendations to grant individual or tourist entry visas to visitors. The forty-year-old is from the Gulf countries, indicating that the visas are granted through the official border crossings and through a special stamp until the end of the month of Safar.
On the file of imported gas, he explained that work is continuing with the American side regarding the payment of Iranian gas dues, and these dues have decreased to 9.250 billion dollars.
On the issue of speculation in foreign currency, Al-Sudani said: The issue of the dollar is a battle, not a crisis, a battle between the state that insists on completing the reform of the financial and banking system and an affected group that is a group of speculators and smugglers, stressing the determination to pursue speculators and smugglers of foreign currency.
He explained that the National Security Agency carried out a heroic operation that overthrew a network of major currency speculators, who were setting the exchange rate and communicating with people who would withdraw dollars from the market for them, and these were associated with others in the Kurdistan region through whom the currency was smuggled, adding that in cooperation with the Kurdistan region, a network was also overthrown for speculation in Erbil. https://alsabaah.iq/81576-.html
Parliamentary And Political Movement To Put The Oil And Gas Law To A Vote In Parliament
Information / Baghdad... Representative of the State of Law coalition, Jassem Al-Alawi, confirmed the existence of parliamentary and political pressures to put the oil and gas law to vote in parliament, pointing out that the law, if voted on, will eliminate political differences over the distribution of natural resources.
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Al-Alawi told Al-Maalouma, "There is an urgent need to proceed with the oil and gas law, as there are many demands within Parliament to complete the law and put it before the House of Representatives for the purpose of discussing and enacting it."
He added, "There are many moves towards approving the aforementioned law, due to its importance in distributing wealth equally among all Iraqis without granting privileges to one province over another."
And he indicated that "the law, and if it is put to a vote in parliament, it will eliminate the differences and severe damage that threatens the political process, and therefore there is a serious move within parliament to put the oil and gas law to vote in one of the council's sessions." LINK
Al-Fateh: America Took Retaliatory Measures Against Iraq
Today 08:45 Information / Baghdad...The representative of the Al-Fateh Alliance, Muhammad Karim, confirmed taking retaliatory measures against Iraq after the government moved to overcome the electricity crisis and the obstacles that Washington set before Baghdad to overcome the dollar problem, pointing to the US administration's endeavor to impose hegemony and power over the Iraqi decision.
Karim said in a statement to Al-Maalouma, "America is taking retaliatory measures against Iraq after its move towards resolving the electricity crisis, bartering oil with Iranian gas, and getting out of the dollar's impasse."
He added, "America seeks to impose its opinion and be dominant over decisions in Iraq, as it has taken retaliatory measures that have caused an increase in the exchange rate of the dollar in the local markets, thus increasing the prices of goods, commodities and foodstuffs, and causing harm to the citizen."
And he indicated that "the American side seeks, through its procedures, to be in control of Iraq and to take whatever decisions it wants, and otherwise it resorts to using some pressure cards to achieve its interests and harm Iraq and its people." LINK
Iraq Achieves A Remarkable Increase Of More Than One Billion Dollars In Oil Revenues Within A Month
2023-08-02 Shafaq News/ Iraq's oil revenues increased on a monthly basis to more than one billion dollars, by 13% for the month of July, to reach 8.293 billion dollars, while an expert attributed this noticeable increase to the improvement in prices.
According to a set of data and other statistics issued by the Ministry of Oil, seen by Shafaq News Agency, the total oil revenues for the month of July rose to 1.114 billion dollars, by 13.43%, to reach 8.293 billion dollars on a monthly basis, compared to June, in which revenues amounted to 7.179 billion dollars.
Total oil revenues from Basra oil exports through southern ports increased by 13.54% on a monthly basis to reach $8.207 billion, compared to June, when revenues amounted to $7.096 billion.
According to the data, Iraq exported crude oil to Jordan through basins, with revenues amounting to $22 million, amounting to 344,000 barrels.
For his part, the economist Hamza Al-Jawahiry attributed, in his interview with Shafaq News agency, the increase in financial revenues to "the increase in the quantities of oil exported mainly, in addition to the month of July, which has 31 days, and therefore there is an additional day for exporting crude oil."
He added, "Prices rose to more than $73 to $85 due to the OPEC+ agreement to cut production, especially Saudi Arabia, which made an additional cut of one million barrels for the month of August." LINK
Baghdad Dollar Rises In The Local Markets
Economy |Today Baghdad today – Baghdad Today, Wednesday (August 2, 2023), the dollar exchange rates recorded a slight increase in the local markets in the capital, Baghdad.
The "Baghdad Today" correspondent said, "The buying and selling prices increased in exchange shops in the local markets in Baghdad, where the selling price reached 152,500 dinars per 100 dollars, while the purchase price reached 150,500 dinars per 100 dollars."
The exchange rates recorded an increase during the past week, reaching a peak of 160,000 for every 100 US dollars in the markets and exchanges of the capital, Baghdad, and the provinces, following sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department on 14 Iraqi banks. LINK
Among Them Is The Iraqi Rumaila.. Learn About The “Largest” Oil Fields In The Middle East
The “Oil & Gas” website, which specializes in energy news, reviewed the largest oil fields in the region, including Iraq, which has the third largest oil production field in the world, which is the Rumaila field.
The economic report stated that the total oil production in the Middle East increased during the year 2022 by 7.10% compared to the year 2021, adding that Saudi Arabia recorded during the year 2022 the highest oil production, followed by Iraq and the UAE.
The report dealt with the most important oil-producing fields in the region as follows:
1- The Saudi Ghawar field
The report indicated that the Ghawar field is located about 100 kilometers west of Dhahran and 200 kilometers east of Riyadh in Al-Ahsa Governorate, and it is the largest onshore oil field in the world in terms of reserves and daily production. The giant field is managed by the Saudi “Aramco” company, and it has been producing since 1951, and it is able to continue producing at its current rate, i.e. 3.8 million barrels per day, until after 2050. The production of
this field represents more than half of Saudi Arabia’s production since 1938, and about a third of energy. The country's maximum daily productivity, and more than a fifth of the kingdom's remaining proven oil reserves.
2- Kuwaiti Burgan Al-Kabir Field
The report indicated that the Burgan Al-Kabir field includes three main fields and three main reservoirs, in addition to two small fields. It was discovered in 1938, and it is one of the oldest and second largest oil fields in the world after the Saudi Ghawar field.
3- Iraqi Rumaila field
The report stated that the Rumaila field is located near the Kuwait border, about 50 km west of Basra in the south, and has a capacity of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, and it is the third largest producing field in the world and secures nearly a third of the total oil supply. in Iraq.
The report pointed out that this giant onshore field, which began production in 1954, contains about 17 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves, and is managed by the Rumail Operations Authority (ROO), through a joint venture between the Basra Oil Company and British Petroleum. Petroleum, the Chinese PetroChina Company, and the State Oil Marketing Corporation (SOMO).
Since 2010, the field has produced more than 4 billion barrels of oil, and has increased the daily production level by 40% since June 2019.
4- The Saudi Khurais Complex
The report pointed out that the Khurais oil field, located 250 km southwest of Dhahran, It is considered the second largest oil field in Saudi Arabia, after the Ghawar oil field, and after its capacity was increased by 300,000 barrels per day, it reached 1.5 million barrels per day. The field is owned and managed by Aramco, and it has been producing since 2009.
5 Saudi Shaybah field
According to the "Global Data" website, which monitors more than 34,000 active and developed oil and gas fields around the world, the Shaybah field located off the coast of Saudi Arabia is being operated by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, and is located in a concession area belonging to Aramco.
In addition to these five fields, there are five others. Saudi Safaniya is located in the Arabian Gulf. It is considered the largest conventional offshore oil field in the world in terms of extractable reserves and production capacity. It is capable of producing about 1.3 million barrels of Arab Heavy crude oil per day. 1951, and is believed to contain more than 34 billion barrels of oil.
There is also the Upper Zakum field in the Emirates, which is operated by the “ADNOC” company, and it is considered the second largest offshore oil field and the fourth largest oil field in the world, and it is planned to enhance its capacity to one million barrels per day, which will raise the UAE’s total production to 5 million barrels per day by the year. 2027, from 4 million barrels per day.
There is also the Saudi Munifa field, which is operated by “Aramco”, and it is a shallow water field off the northern coast of the Gulf, and it is one of the largest producing oil fields in the world, and it began operating in the year 1964. Also on the Saudi side, there is the Zulf field, which is a huge offshore
field It is located in the Gulf, about 240 km north of Dhahran, and is undergoing major expansion to add 600,000 barrels per day of Arab Heavy crude production. The current maximum production capacity of the field is 800 thousand barrels per day.
As for the tenth field, it is the Omani “Block 6”, which is located in Dhofar, and it produced during the year 2022, 0.76 million barrels per day, and is capable of producing until the year 2055.
The Average Price Of Iraqi Oil Exported To Jordan Is Less Than $14 A Barrel
Energy Economy News _ Baghdad Statistics of the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company "SOMO" revealed that the average price of crude oil exported to Jordan amounted to 64.05 dollars during the month of July.
Thus, Iraq sold one barrel of crude oil to Jordan last month for less than $13.64 from the official selling price announced by the Ministry of Oil, which is $77.69, according to statistics issued by the ministry.
And statistics of the "SOMO" company, seen by "Al-Iqtisad News", showed that "the total oil exports to Jordan during the month of July amounted to 344 thousand and 804 barrels," indicating that "the export rate amounted to 11 thousand barrels per day."
The Iraqi Oil Marketing Company added that "the average price of a barrel sold to Jordan amounted to 64.05 dollars," noting that "the value of imports from Jordan's oil exports during one month amounted to about 22 million dollars."
During its meeting, on March 28, 2023, the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved the recommendation of the Energy Ministerial Council regarding approving the signing of a new memorandum of understanding for the processing of crude oil between the Ministry of Oil and the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, indicating that the extension will be for one year, starting from the date of entry into force.
In September 2021, Jordan received shipments of oil under an agreement to buy 10,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the Kirkuk fields to meet part of the local demand, before it stopped it in February 2022 as a result of the expiration of the contract to start again in April, to be stopped in August and resumed. Again last September 2022.
It is noteworthy that Iraq exports crude oil at preferential prices to Jordan through tank trucks at a rate of approximately 10,000 barrels per day.
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