Tuesday Afternoon News Summaries
The opening of the first auto assembly plant in Iraq
The first automobile assembly plant in Iraq in three decades.....sounds like the raw material for this plant will come from within Iraq....that is good.....the Deputy Prime Minister of Energy was in attendance for the opening of the facility.
Iraq bolsters Kurdish budget to settle financial dispute
Baghdad transferred $200 million USD to the Kurds today....one might ask why USD.....especially after the announcement from the COM last week.....a bit strange maybe....
but this money is earmarked for oil companies working in the Kurdistan.....but that still doesn't make any sense because many of those oil companies are not US based companies.
See pictures and read the Iraqi currency since its inception centuries ago to the present time
Interesting video on the history of the Iraqi currency to the present (2004) time frame....but there is a sentence toward the bottom of the article that says the CBI and the Finance Ministry has the intention of changing the currency along with removing the 000's......
this to me sounds like a signal of the LD's to come....for them to show up.....IMO....we need to see a rate change.
Parliamentary Energy: bureaucracy and corruption are driving international oil companies to leave, and Maliki is dealing with the economic meltdown in the media
IMO.....we are seeing some reality here....but also perhaps some smoke as well.....the oil companies have grown tired of the bureaucracy and rampant corruption found throughout Iraq....
even in the Kurdistan to some degree....they have been on the playing field long enough to recognize that the Kurds have their stuff put together better than the central government in Baghdad and are asking/demanding that change be brought at the Baghdad level.....or they will simply walk away.....
that is the part that I believe is smoke.....these companies know of the money to be made here, and I seriously doubt they will walk away from it.....too much at stake.
Parliamentary Energy: bureaucracy and corruption are pushing oil companies to leave
There is one thing for sure.....Iraq has a lofty goal in its mind.....to be the KING of the oil and gas heap in the ME and maybe in the world at some point in the not too distant future......
to attain that goal.....they MUST produce more oil.....they MUST turn off their gas flares.....and they MUST do something about the oil and gas infrastructure of the country that is antiquated and has not seen technological updates for 30 years......
they need an oil and gas law that works....(HCL).....they need an Investment Law that will be lucrative to the investors and at the same time be profitable for the Iraqi's.....
will they listen to many oil companies crying out en masse and actually do something worthwhile that will assure their future in the oil and gas industry.....or will they simply be stubborn and turn a deaf ear....because of greed in their eyes.
Labor Law ready for vote
At such time that Parliament can pull itself together and meet as a quorum, the Labor Law is ready for a vote....but there is no telling when this might transpire.
Mobilize resources for development requires a sophisticated banking system
Iraqi banks have a responsibility to the citizens to provide up to date technological services and instruments to their customers in such a manner that they can be trusted.....
the ratio of citizens using and trusting in banks to the total citizenry is very low compared to the rest of the banking world.....something needs to give.....and change needs to occur.
Here ends the News Summaries for today
Randy