.Bad weather has delayed the opening of Iraq's new Gulf crude outlet, sources said on Tuesday, further postponing a 300,000 barrel-a-day export boost that would ease a field-to-tanker bottleneck.
M_B_S wrote:Scientists Confirm That Chimps Go to War Too
http://www.time.com/time/health/article ... 85,00.html
dinopello wrote:Most species have some practice of war, some more organized and deliberate seeming than others. Ants, I think are the most militaristic.
Iraq south oilfields to pump 2.75 mbpd by end 2012
(Reuters) - Iraq sees production from its southern oilfields reaching 2.75 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year as the country, expected to be the world's biggest source of new oil supplies over the next few years, pushes to increase output.
Iraq's biggest field Rumaila, operated by BP, is currently producing 1.316 million bpd and is expected to boost output by 250,000 bpd in the second half of this year, Dhiya Jaffar, head of the state-run South Oil Co. said on Friday.
"We expect production from Basra oilfields will increase from 2.15 million barrels per day to 2.75 million barrels per day by the end of this year," he told a news conference in the southern oil-rich city of Basra.
Iraq aims to double its output over the next three years as it recovers after years of sanctions and war. Last month, the country's oil production rose above 3 million bpd for the first time in more than three decades.
[...]
More at the link.Iraq is one of the world’s top oil exporters, so you would think that a recent attack by militants on its largest oil refinery amid a deteriorating security situation in the country would prompt global fears of oil shortages and spark a spike in prices.
Instead, prices are about where they were a year ago, although they have been creeping up in recent months. Why no panic? Iraq’s vast crude supplies are safe for the time being because the bulk of its oil production — about 2.5 million barrels a day — takes place in the south, far from the current insurgency, analysts say.
“Iraq oil production is spread throughout the country,” said Richard Mallinson, a geopolitical analyst in London. “So only about 10-15% takes place in the northern part of the country, which is where the current Sunni insurgency is being fought out.”
A Sunni militant group — the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which now calls itself the Islamic State — is battling the Shiite-dominated central government. The rebels claimed late last month to have seized control of the Baiji oil refinery, but the government said it had retaken control of it.
Benchmark West Texas crude oil closed at a 10-month high of $107 on June 20. By Thursday, it had dipped to $104 a barrel, a sixth-straight daily drop. Still, global markets remain jittery about what the future could hold should Iraq’s sectarian and regional tensions worsen.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Following ISIS's capture of Mosul in northern Iraq, the Heard on the Street column in the Wall St. Journal painted a stark picture of how the destabilization of Iraq could limit investment in the country's oil industry, truncating its expansion. That would increase longer-term oil price volatility and make investments elsewhere more attractive, not just in North American tight oil but also in energy efficiency and alternatives to oil.
Warning signs seem ample. The "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" might never capture Baghdad or directly threaten the giant oil fields of southern Iraq that are reviving with help from international firms like BP, ExxonMobil and Shell. However, ISIS's actions in the territory they now control, and the fears they incite across a much larger swath of Iraq, are sparking renewed sectarian violence and prompting foreign companies to evacuate personnel. This undermines the IEA's medium-term forecast, which despite being "laden with downside risk" will apparently not be revised in light of recent events. It also raises the potential for jumps in nearer-term oil and petroleum product prices.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Reuters news agency said a senior source within the Kurdistan Regional Government had confirmed the takeover.
The unnamed source said they had been "forced to act to protect Iraq's infrastructure after learning of attempts by Iraq oil ministry officials to sabotage it".
The two oil fields are said to have a combined daily output capacity of some 400,000 barrels per day, AFP quotes a ministry spokesman as saying.
...
Tensions came to a head when Prime Minister Maliki said on Wednesday that the Kurdish provincial capital Irbil was a haven for Isis fighters.
Soon after, a spokesman for Massoud Barzani said Mr Maliki "had become hysterical" and urged him to step down.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, who is himself a Kurdish politician, told Reuters news agency on Friday that the Kurdish political bloc had suspended all day-to-day government business after Mr Maliki's remarks.
He said the country risked division if an inclusive government was not formed soon, adding: "The country is now divided literally into three states - Kurdish, a black state [Isis] and Baghdad."
Oil industry experts believe the group formerly known as Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Isis) is able to command $25 a barrel for crude its fighters are moving in tankers from the oil plains south of Mosul.
Middlemen based in the Kurdistan region of Iraq are able to turn a handsome profit on the supplies by selling its abroad for refining into the more valuable petroleum and diesel products.
The specialist Iraqi Oil Report said the centre of the $1million trade was the town of Tuz Khurmatu on the fringes of the Kurdish region. Traders there are buying convoys of tankers supplied by Islamic State.
Shwan Zulal, an Iraqi oil industry analyst, said the Islamic State was using its control of a 150-mile swathe of territory to loot crude oil from some of Iraq’s prime oil assets.
The swift advance of Islamic State after last month’s conquest of Mosul gave it control over the path of the Kirkuk/Ceyhan oil pipeline, the country’s biggest, and the Baiji oil refinery, again the most important refinery in Iraq.
The Islamic State has also claimed to have taken Syria’s Euphrates Oil Company fields in its grip. Analysts following the movement’s progress from an al-Qaeda offshoot into an increasingly confident territorial overlord believe oil is a key asset underpinning the spread of the Islamic State.
Hassan Hassan, a Gulf-based expert, reported that Islamic State had been able to reduce the price of petrol on the streets of Deir al-Zour by three-quarters after securing the loyalty of the rebel town’s militias last week.
Other reports have said Islamic State has spent tens of thousands installing massive diesel generators in conquered areas to provide its new subjects with electricity.
...
But the capture of significant oil assets still represents a massive blow to Baghdad and swells the Islamic State coffers to by the loyalties of Sunnis in northern Iraq.
Jordan Perry, an Iraq analyst at Maplecroft risk analyst, said Islamic State was now well placed to emerge as a jihadist version of Hamas, which used community services and welfare programmes to take control of the Gaza strip.
“If as it seems Isis is earning a $1million a day from taking oil from the plains of northern Iraq and trucking it to where it can be sold that means that it has gained control of revenue streams to buy weapons, secure the support of militias and sheikhs who in return for money say they will have nothing to do with Baghdad,” he said. “The resources also give Islamic State to copy the strategy of Hamas in providing services, health and education through which they will become much more entrenched.”
The UN Security Council has voiced “grave concern” over reports of oil trading with ISIS militant groups in Iraq and Syria. ISIS has seized control of oilfields in the area and is reportedly using the revenues to finance its nascent Islamic State.
Russia submitted a draft statement to the Security Council on Monday night that would ban crude oil sales by terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq, and potentially sanction anyone that does business with them. The measure “strongly condemns any engagement in direct or indirect trade of oil from Syria involving terrorist groups, and reiterates that such engagement constitutes financial support for entities designated by the Security Council 1267/1989 Committee as terrorist."
The statement also calls on all member states to take “necessary measures” to stop “nationals, entities and individuals” from engaging in transactions linked to non-state actors in the oil industry in Syria.
After running out of tricks, he said that he agrees to step down but not at a cheap price. He stipulated 28 conditions; requesting immunity for himself and hundreds of his followers to save them from being held to account for corruption and crimes committed during the eight years of his iron-fist rule. The conditions also included compensatory posts, payments and real estate!
Maliki’s delayed moves
Maliki was very late in setting these terms only after political, religious and foreign powers agreed to remove him. He’s got nothing to bargain over, other than attaining some sort of immunity - and even that may not last long if more of his mismanagement is exposed. If he seeks to be safe and prevent being pursued, his logical choice would be to leave Iraq. The only natural choice left for him is to move to Tehran or London for a few years until the storm abates. His bad legacy will make it difficult for him to attain any definite assurances from anyone . He flared animosities with his opponents to the extent that scores of politicians had to flee Baghdad to safe havens in Iraqi Kurdistan, Jordan, Beirut and London. Meanwhile, he spent billions of dollars on his presidential guards to protect himself at the expense of protecting Iraq and its people. He increased the number of presidential guards from 6,000 to 70,000 in the capital Baghdad and appointed his relatives to oversee them. He thus followed in the footsteps of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and this is the secret behind Maliki’s tyranny and why his rivals fear him - he possessed a military power more trained and armed than the state forces.
Now that all of Iraq’s political forces have agreed to remove him, he is exaggerating his demands in the hope that he will remain the only figure who can impose his will on the future prime minister and the new Iraqi government. This may trigger a future battle. He wants huge funds, real estate, a force of 2500 troops to be added to his militias - as well as civil posts and jurisdictions.
No one wants the departing prime minister to be humiliated or subjected to revenge. This means the only safe option left for him after he leaves his palace will be to travel abroad, although few countries will welcome him.
President Barack Obama authorized U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq Thursday night, warning they would be launched if needed to defend Americans from advancing Islamic militants and protect civilians under siege. His announcement threated a renewal of U.S. military involvement in the country's long sectarian war.
In a televised late-night statement from the White House, Obama said American military planes already had carried out airdrops of humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of Iraqi religious minorities surrounded by militants and desperately in need of food and water.
"Today America is coming to help," he declared.
The announcements reflected the deepest American engagement in Iraq since U.S. troops withdrew in late 2011 after nearly a decade of war. Obama, who made his remarks in a steady and somber tone, has staked much of his legacy as president on ending what he has called the "dumb war" in Iraq.
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