Kurdistan Oil & Gas Development

[Anthea]

Gulf Keystone Petroleum provide an update on the Company's production operations at Shaikan

Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited, an exploration and production company with operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is pleased to present an update on the Company's production operations at Shaikan, its key producing asset.

Production

Development plans to increase Shaikan production capacity to 40,000 gross barrels of oil per day ("bopd") by year-end 2014 are on track
Shaikan PF-1 production continues at stable rates of 16,000 gross bopd from three wells, Shaikan-1, -3 and -4 and will increase to 20,000 gross bopd later in 2014
Shaikan PF-2 has been fully commissioned and production operations commenced from two wells, Shaikan-5 and -2
Shaikan-5 is producing at an average rate of 5,000 gross bopd, having achieved maximum daily rate to date of over 8,000 gross bopd
Shaikan-2 is expected to contribute additional production in the near future, having already achieved maximum daily rate to date of nearly 3,000 gross bopd
To boost production rates and provide spare well capacity, further wells will come online in 2014, including Shaikan-7, -8 and -10, and a work-over of Shaikan-1 and -3 will be carried out
Two additional production wells, Shaikan-9 and -11 are planned to be drilled later in 2014

Sales

Trucking operations from PF-1 continue and PF-2 production is being processed and flowed into two storage tanks at the facility with trucking operations from PF-2 anticipated to commence by the end of June
The majority of Shaikan production is being trucked to the Turkish port of Dortyol and sold to the international market, while some sales into the domestic market continue
Eight cargoes totalling approximately 1.85 million gross barrels of Shaikan crude have been sold to the international market to date
In June to date, the Company received its second and third payments of US$6.85 million and US$6.88 million respectively for the Shaikan crude oil export sales, as well as a further payment of US$1.5 million for the domestic sales

Todd Kozel, Gulf Keystone's Chief Executive Officer commented:

"Our operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq are progressing in line with our previous guidance, whilst we remain alert to the current security situation in Iraq, which has recently escalated outside the Kurdistan Region. We projected that Gulf Keystone would reach 20,000 gross bopd of production by the end of Q2 2014 and, with the combined production from PF-1 and PF-2, we are now very much on schedule. On 4 June, Shaikan cumulative production reached our record maximum daily rate to date of 25,000 gross bopd. We look forward to exiting 2014 with 40,000 gross bopd of production.

Our crude oil export sales have now surpassed our historic sales into the domestic market, and our revenues are expected to increase significantly in the second half of 2014 with the establishment of a steady payment cycle for the Shaikan exports sales."

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Gulf_Keystone ... e764c.aspx

[Anthea]

Kurdish Oil Sold to Buyers in Austria and India
By Alexander Whitcomb



ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish oil, whose sale was impeded by Baghdad and Washington, has been sold to buyers in Austria and India, an official Kurdish source told Rudaw.

He gave no other details of the sale.

The demonstrated weakness of the Iraqi state, rattled by militants who have taken Mosul, Tikrit and other cities approaching Baghdad, may have diminished concerns about Baghdad’s famous blacklist for any firms that buy Kurdish oil exports.

Erbil’s bargaining power has risen tremendously, as Baghdad and Washington both look to the Kurdish Peshmerga military as the best hope to stop the dangerous sweep by the mix of Islamic militants and insurgents.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi federal government have been embroiled in disputes over the region’s oil exports for years now, with the Kurds insisting on going ahead with independent sales, and Baghdad calling them illegal.

The stand-off reached a head when the United Leadership tanker loaded the first million barrels of piped Kurdish oil at Ceyhan on May 22 and set sail for an unannounced destination.

The Iraqi government reacted furiously, bringing an international lawsuit against Turkey and its pipeline operator.

A second tanker, the United Emblem, sailed on June 9, just before an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Vienna, where Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi threatened “severe measures."

Baghdad’s response -- and apparent behind-the-scenes opposition by the United States – had been enough to scare off potential buyers.

Many industry insiders in Kurdistan, weary from years of inconclusive talks with Baghdad, struggle to suppress their delight at recent developments that have upped the KRG’s bargaining power.

An oil executive close to the KRG told The Independent newspaper that, "If al-Maliki wants to get the Kurdish army on his side, he knows he has to relent on allowing them oil exports. So people out here are seeing this could draw al-Maliki into the deal they wanted."

http://rudaw.net/english/business/14062014

[Anthea]

Range Energy Resources announces funding of testing program

Range Energy Resources Inc. (CSE:RGO)(FRANKFURT:YGK) announce that the Contractor under the Production Sharing Contract ("PSC") for the Khalakan Block exercised its right to extend the Exploration Period under the PSC for a period of one year, and that a well testing program for the second well on the Khalakan Block is being funded by the Company through its capital contributions to New Age Alzarooni 2 Limited ("NAAZ2").

Exploration, development, and production activities on the Khalakan Block in Kurdistan are governed by the PSC between Gas Plus Khalakan ("GPK") and the Kurdistan Regional Government. The Company recently learned that GPK informed the Kurdistan Regional Government that it is exercising its right to extend the Exploration Period under the PSC for another year. The Exploration Period was originally scheduled to expire on June 11, 2014. The Company owns 49.9% of the shares of NAAZ2, which in turn is the owner of 50% of the shares of GPK. The Company voted in favor of NAAZ2's signing on to a GPK shareholder resolution supporting the extension.

Additionally, as a result of a recent Authorization for Expenditure ("AFE") reflected in NAAZ2's revised annual budget, the Company can report that it is funding a testing program at the second well being drilled on the Khalakan Block, called Shewashan-1. The Company is funding this activity through the regular capital contributions it is required to make to NAAZ2. NAAZ2 in turn uses this capital to meet its own capital contribution obligations to GPK, which then uses this capital to fund exploration, development, and production activities on the Khalakan Block as the Contractor under the PSC. The Company has not been informed of the status of the testing program or its results.

The Company's ability to report on the status of work at the Khalakan Block is the result of the recent arbitration award that the Company received. As previously reported, on May 27, 2014, the International Chamber of Commerce notified the Company of the final award issued in the arbitration proceeding that the Company commenced against NAAZ2 and Black Gold Khalakan Limited ("BGKL"). The arbitration tribunal awarded the Company orders and declarations which support the Company's right to obtain material information as to its investments, and to use such material information (which the Company must otherwise hold confidential) to produce public summaries of the status of the work at the Khalakan Block as is necessary to comply with applicable securities laws.

The Company intends to report as much information as it can under the terms of the arbitration award. However, as the Company previously reported, the effectiveness of the award ultimately depends on compliance with it by NAAZ2, BGKL, and their respective directors. There can be no certainty that these parties will provide, or will cause to be provided, to the Company the information that it requests from time to time or will cooperate with the Company in its efforts to disclose material information to its shareholders. The Company intends to vigorously enforce the award.

The Company also is announcing a non-brokered private placement of up to 25,000,000 units of the Company at a price of CDN$0.05 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $1,250,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit will consist of one (1) common share (the "Common Share") and one (1) transferrable share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one (1) additional Common Share for a period of five (5) years from the Closing Date of the Offering at a price of CDN$0.07 per Common Share.

The closing of the Offering is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory and Board approvals. The securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four month hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. The Company anticipates that there may be insider participation in the Offering.

The capital from the Offering will be used by the Company to continue to fulfill its obligations to joint venture participants so that the development of the Khalakan Block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq can continue as well as provide general working capital.

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Range_Energy_ ... 634f9.aspx

[Anthea]

MENA war fever and the Iraq oil price spike

Libyan Precedent

Whatever Libya's oil production is, this week, it is a lot less than the approximate 1.6 million barrels a day it regularly extracted and shipped during the Muammar Gaddafi era. Libya has no effective government and its last prime minister Ali Zedan fled to Europe in March, replaced by a shifting coalition of rival forces with changing strongmen. His supposed replacement, former Defence minister Abdullah el-Thinni has since late April kept a low profile, sometimes saying he has “stepped down”, and sometimes not. As recently as June 4, he told Reuters that he was stepping down but was also staying on as “interim PM”!

Libya has been moved to page 8 in the mainstream press, well after the football and celeb' news. For oil, the probably durable longer-term decrease in average daily Libyan oil production and exports and the almost zero impact on oil prices showed one thing – no under-supply. The real world context of today is that Libya no longer exists as a united state and only has a virtual prime minister. This has no effect on oil prices.

Iraq's el-Maliki could do the same thing as el-Thinni, using Barack Obama as his spokesperson instead of the newswires. Whether el-Maliki goes or stays Iraq's oil production and net exports are likely to gyrate, Libyan-style, with ever-decreasing impacts on world oil prices because the mirage of under-supply, cooked up in the desert heat, does not resist reality.

Or will we find that Iraq's decomposition signals a longer-term and larger oil price hike? One that to use a key word will be sustainable?

Kurdistan and Iran – not OPEC

Sunni militants have a reality-barrier to recreating a Sunni-dominated Iraq inside pre-2003 borders. Demographics. The Sunni population is well below 25%, perhaps only 20% of the approximate total 31 million population, on a basis of 2003 borders but using 2012 population data and estimates. Baghdad and nearby major cities, such as Fallujah account for 25% of Iraq's population.



Iraqi Shia communities probably count for 55%-60% of total, and Kurds for about 20%. In other words, non-Sunni populations in Iraq are at least 75% and probably 80% of the total. They also have more than 90% of all oil reserves and production capacity. Sunni terrorists active in Sunni-majority regions therefore only have a potential spoiler role in the absence of airborne and long-distance surface attack on oil production infrastructures, for example by making pipeline and refinery attacks.



In Iraq, as in Libya military hardware and logistics are unlikely to be the game-changers, due to so much light infantry materiel existing on the ground – in different and easily changed hands. The hefty Shia-dominated southern and eastern demographic base of Iraq – with its largest oil reserves, output capacity and transport infrastructures – will be a hard nut to crack for ISIS or other Sunni militias, factions or terror groups. Iran is very close by!

As is well known by oil analysts, Iraq's oil production and exports “are outside the quota system” of OPEC, which itself is breached on a daily basis – overproduction – by its 12 non-Iraq member states relative to their supposed “voluntary production limit” to a total of 30 million barrels per day. The tortured quota system is in fact a lot more complicated than this, resulting in permanent uncertainty on real output and supply – nearly always under-estimated.

Independent Kurdistan is certain to come out of the present crisis with heightened credibility and world recognition as what it is – an independent state. Totally unlike ISIS terrorists, or el-Maliki's “chocolate soldiers” Kurd armed forces including Peshmerga battalions have decades-long experience fighting Turkey's modern armed forces, as well as the former Iraq army of Saddam Hussein, and Iranian and Syrian armed forces. The potential for Turkish-Kurdish alliance, possibly only de facto to fight ISIS, is high.

El-Maliki's Former Iraq

In the case where Iraq's oil supply (meaning Kurd and Iraqi supply totals) do not seriously decline, this does not mean el-Maliki has saved his own skin. Western journalists have nearly all misunderstood the real nature and sequels of his power-juggling to stay in power. One example was a 9 Nov 2013 report by BBC journalists saying el-Maliki is making “....an increasingly successful effort to splinter Sunni Arab opposition. Mr Maliki is selectively reactivating the Sahwa (Awakening) movement of armed tribal auxiliaries and continues to promise de-Baathification and anti-terror reforms to Sunni factions”.

In Syria, its Baath party headed by Bashr el-Assad is the real core of resistance to ISIS and the real equivalent of “the Syrian nation”, which itself is as artificial as the Iraqi nation. The de-Baathification of Iraq's armed forces and local administrations, pursued by the US with Christian zeal and US taxpayers' money hastened the end of the fiction called Iraq.

The Baath party had been confused with so-called radical Islam, a fatal error. Putting Iraq's Humpty Dumpty back together - of a modern, non-sectarian, non-confessional western-type democracy – is now probably impossible. De-Baathification certainly helped this endgame. El-Maliki's divide and rule strategy, probably whispered or shouted in his ear by US advisers, was to spread weapons almost anywhere and to everybody,

Inevitably el-Maliki's weapons-manna showered down on Sunni militants willing and able – when the time is right – to move up the Islamic hysteria scale to ISIS level. El-Maliki sowed the seeds of political anarchy (whether it is is Islamic flavored or not is finally unimportant) making it certain that the fiction of an indepenent and united Iraq had an ever-shorter shelf life.

El-Maliki, today, has no option but to take help from Iran and accept the reality of Kurdistan.

Both of these players are not in the business of cutting their oil production and exports. The potential that they ensure the minimum-possible decrease in Iraqi production and net export supply is high.

Coming weeks will see if this forecast is the right one. It means that oil prices can spike a little - but not a lot.

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/MENA_war_feve ... a78cf.aspx

[Anthea]

Forbes

Iraqi Kurdistan Set To Become An Independent World Oil Power

Last Thursday, after ISIS forces captured Mosul and Kurdish fighters had moved into Kirkuk, I wrote a piece about how the Kurdish Regional Government might end up being the “unlikely losers” in the ensuing chaos. Its peshmerga forces were in danger of being stretched thin. Its two renegade tankers full of oil had no buyers. Surely, it seemed last Thursday, that President Obama would never dream of allowing Baghdad (and especially the Green Zone) to come under ISIS attack. Wouldn’t the U.S. prop up Maliki and ensure the survival of Iraqi federalism?

No. That article was wrong. As numerous readers were all too happy to point out. The Kurd forces appear to be comfortably holding their territory. The Baghdad airport is reportedly under attack. ISIS militias have brutally machine gunned hundreds of government forces. The U.S. government is evacuating diplomats from the Green Zone (a la the fall of Saigon). Iran is said to have sent Revolutionary Guard forces to Baghdad. Obama has urged Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to sort it all out diplomatically.

Iraq was an artificial state to begin with, its borders drawn by British bureaucrats with no regard to tribal territories. The consensus now, especially among Kurdish people, is that this “Iraq” will soon cease to exist altogether.

The Kurdish region is blessed with an estimated 45 billion barrels of oil, more than Libya. Exxon, Chevron , Total and many others have invested billions there to explore and drill virgin fields in concessions doled out by the Kurdish Regional Government. The KRG had not had any control over the supergiant Kirkuk field, which produced more than 650,000 barrels per day at its peak more than a decade ago. Like all mature fields in Iraq, Kirkuk was under the purview of the oil ministry in Baghdad, which contracted last year with BP to start rehabbing the field. The Kurds opposed the BP deal. With or without Kirkuk, the Kurdish region could readily sustain 400,000 barrels per day of oil production.

Baghdad’s control over Kirkuk may well be history now that Kurd forces are at long last in control of Kirkuk and have no intention of leaving. Writing on Twitter , Fanar Haddad, of the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, wrote: “Is it just me or has Kirkuk, an issue of massive complexity & contention & the possible source of a future war, been solved overnight?”

After the events of the last few days it seems the Kurds can now, at last, make their own rules. So what does that mean for those tankers full of Kurdish crude? The ones loaded in Turkey, which have drawn condemnation from Baghdad, which called the shipments illegal and threatened legal action against anyone who dared to buy them? They are reportedly still floating off the coasts of Malta and Morocco. With Kurdish independence appearing to grow closer every day, perhaps this will be the week when the world’s oil buyers put aside any concern of being blacklisted by Baghdad, and step up to buy them.

When it happens it will open the floodgates for Kurdish exports, and initiate a flood of cash to the Kurdish Regional Government, which is now moving inexorably closer to becoming an independent state, and a major world oil power.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopher ... oil-power/

[Anthea]

News From Bloomberg

Half-Price Kurd Oil Threatens Iraq Breakup With Turkish Help



A tanker containing a million barrels of crude oil is floating around the Mediterranean, and its cargo is available at half-price. Yet if any country seizes the bargain, it may be pushing Iraq closer to disintegration.

The oil aboard the tanker is at the center of a fight over its ownership between the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, which pumped and shipped the crude from its territory in northern Iraq, and the central government in Baghdad, which claims the rights to all oil revenue.

Kurdish Peshmerga armed forces seized on the anarchy in northern Iraq, where militant Islamists routed the Baghdad government’s army last week, to occupy the region’s key oil hub, Kirkuk. The oil dispute has raised the possibility of the Kurdish region achieving financial self-sufficiency to go with those expanding territorial ambitions.

“If that tanker docks, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government will take an important step toward independence and hasten the break-up of Iraq,” said Nihat Ali Ozcan, an analyst at the Economic Policy Research Foundation in Ankara, said by phone June 13.

The potential sale has embroiled Turkey, the conduit for the Kurdish oil, and Iraq in legal arbitration, while the U.S. has sought to dissuade the Kurds from going it alone.

Brett McGurk, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, reiterated U.S. opposition to any oil exports that aren’t approved by Baghdad. The U.S. has “informed all interested parties that any such transactions exposes them to potential legal risks,” and proposed a compromise plan to both sides, he wrote on Twitter on May 23.

‘Failed Totally’

The Kurds went ahead with pumping the oil, prompting Baghdad to announce it was suspending the accord under which 17 percent of all oil revenue goes to the Kurds.

“The U.S. failed totally to mediate between Erbil and Baghdad on this issue,” and their standoff has now sparked “growing U.S. fears that Kurdistan is headed for independence,” David Ottaway, senior scholar in the Middle East program at the Wilson Center in Washington, said on June 10.

The violence in Iraq since last week has amplified such concerns, and pushed oil prices higher. Brent crude posted the biggest jump in almost a year last week. It closed at $114.26 a barrel in London yesterday, a nine-month high, and was up 28 cents at $114.54 today.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant seized Mosul, the largest northern city, on June 10 and has captured other towns. As Baghdad’s armed forces fled, the Kurds occupied Kirkuk, which they’ve long claimed should be part of their autonomous region.

Baghdad’s Wrath

Even without Kirkuk, the Kurdish region has crude reserves it estimates at 45 billion barrels, a quarter of Iraq’s reserves. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Kurdistan Regional Government has claimed the right to handle shipments from its territory.

In 2004, a year after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the KRG struck an uneasy agreement with the central government in Baghdad to share oil revenue. The deal left key questions unresolved, including the fate of Kirkuk and how to share untapped oil fields.

Since 2011, KRG has attracted four big oil companies -- Chevron Corp. (CVX:US), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM:US), Hess Corp. (HES:US) and Total SA (FP) -- as well as 30 or so smaller ones. Tony Hayward, chief executive office of Genel Energy Plc (GENL), the biggest oil and gas operator in Kurdistan, was among those who risked the wrath of the Iraqi government to truck Kurdish oil to Turkey.

‘Private Deal’

Since January, trucks have been superseded by a new Kurdish link to the main northern pipeline, which runs from Kirkuk to Turkey’s Mediterranean oil terminal of Ceyhan. Turkey agreed to handle the shipment and store it separately from the main Iraqi crude, and allocated seven of 12 storage tanks at Ceyhan for Kurdish oil.

The Iraqi government initiated legal action against Turkey, taking the case to the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Asim Jihad, an Iraqi oil ministry spokesman said a lawsuit has also been filed domestically against the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources.

Denise Natali of the National Defense University in Washington DC, described the arrangement as a “private deal” between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the KRG’s President Massoud Barzani, one which benefited both at the expense of Baghdad.

Price Lowered

The fees Turkey collects from the Kurds are four times higher than what Baghdad pays, according to an official involved in the transactions, who asked not to be identified because the figures aren’t public.

On May 22, the first of two tankers filled with the disputed oil left from the Turkish terminal at Ceyhan with 1 million barrels for Europe.

Then it appeared to be bound for the Americas, as a concerted Iraqi government effort to block its passage led to the tanker turning around on May 30 after getting almost 200 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. The tanker moored about 5 miles off Mohammedia port in Morocco on June 3.

As the search for a customer dragged on, the Kurds lowered the price to $56 per barrel as of June 11, according to the same official.

Iraq’s oil ministry and the state oil-marketing company SOMO have been urging potential buyers to shun the cargo, and threatening legal action. SOMO estimates it is losing $1.2 billion a month in revenue from Kurdish shipments.

‘Sooner or Later’

The Iraqi government has not been able to send oil to Ceyhan since March 2, when Islamic militants sabotaged the oil pipeline outside Mosul. Last year it managed to export 13 million tons of oil out of a 71 million-ton carrying capacity, said the official involved in the trade.

Under threat of legal action from Iraq the shipping agent Boutros, and cargo inspector Saybolt, which handled the first oil cargo from northern Iraq, were not listed for handling a second tanker. The KRG found a replacement in Palmali Shipping & Agency JSC, owned by Turkish-Azeri tycoon Mubariz Mansimov Gurbanoglu.

When the second ship left Ceyhan on June 9, the Iraqi government sent another protest note to Turkish officials and blacklisted Palmali, saying it will pursue the matter in court.

“The fact is that with this much oil now flowing onto the international market from Kurdistan, with Turkey’s help, sooner or later it will find buyers,” said Ottaway.

‘Won’t Forget’

Energy companies operating in the Kurdish region have struggled to get paid as the authority feuds with Iraq’s central government over oil revenue and contract terms. United Arab Emirates-based DANA Gas PJSC (DANA) was forced to restructure about $900 million of Islamic bonds last year after payment delays in Kurdistan and Egypt, its two main areas of production.

Two more tankers will load Kurdish oil at Ceyhan this week, Ashti Hawrami, the KRG’s natural resources minister, said at a conference in London on June 17. Kurdish exports may double to as much as 250,000 barrels a day next month, he said.

Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Iraqiya television on June 17 that Turkey and the KRG are mistaken if they’re calculating that the current chaos in Iraq will leave the Baghdad government unable to defend its interests.

“The Iraqi people won’t forget those who conspired against them during tough times,” al-Shahristani said. “Turkey should be aware that this is like playing with fire. This is plundering the wealth of Iraq.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at shacaoglu@bloomberg.net; Jack Fairweather in Boston at jfairweathe3@bloomberg.net; Nayla Razzouk in Dubai at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net Ben Holland, James Kraus

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-0 ... rkish-help

[Anthea]

Ash Hawrami
Minister of Natural Resources Kurdistan Regional Government
CWC  Iraq Petroleum London 17th June 201

KRG/GOI ISSUES AND FUTURE

1. Budgetary dispute
2. Domes$c consump$on dispute
3. Cons$tu$onal issues (revenue and oil export)
4. Current KRG situa$on and oil export status
5. Expected KRG/GOI future arr

• The agreed budget split is 17% KRG / 83% GOI, in the absence of constitutionally enacted revenue sharing law
• The KRG 17% has been reduced year aZer year, last year was just around 10%, and is now cut to 0.0
• If KRG accepts the proposed oil export arrangement, as brokered by some mediators siding with Baghdad, KRG will end up with a net budget of only 7.5%
• This is because under their brokered proposal the bulk of the IOCs costs will have to be covered by the KRG from its already reduced share of the 10% budget

Full Interesting - factual and highly informative article:

http://www.ekrg.org/files/pdf/Ashti%20H ... 202014.pdf

[Anthea]

“I can’t speak now, we are escaping from the area" - Baiji refinery worker yesterday, before his phone cut out.

Let us hope that he and his friends managed to escape safely

[Anthea]

Facts: Baiji refinery is offline. Staff evacuated. ISIS controls town. Army not willing to let go. Locals are with ISIS. It's done deal.

[Anthea]

Baiji oil refinery secured as Iraq fighting continues

Iraqi government forces regained full control Thursday of the country's biggest oil refinery following heavy fighting as the country scrabbles to contain the Sunni militants which still threaten further advances in northern Iraq.

Insurgents pressing the major offensive were repelled from the 320,000 b/d-capacity Baiji plant after clashes Wednesday and early Thursday, according to reports. Fighting began at the refinery early on Wednesday, when some storage tanks for oil products were set ablaze.



OIL SECTOR IMPACT

ICE Brent crude continued to trade near an earlier nine-month high amid market concerns over the escalating violence in Iraq.

Oil exports from Iraq's two southern oil terminals remain unaffected by the violence. During the first half of June exports were loading at normal rates of 2.5-2.6 million b/d, Iraqi oil sources said Thursday.

The 320,000 b/d-capacity Baiji plant remains shutdown after its workers were evacuated on Tuesday sparking further queues for fuel at retail pumps.

Baiji produces approximately half of Iraq's refined products, including 7 million liters/day of gasoline. It also supplies gas feedstock for a northern gas processing plant, which has also been forced to close. This will cause a shortfall of around 1,300 mt/day of LPG in addition to reducing gas feed to power stations around Baghdad.

Turkey says it will continue to export disputed oil supplies from the autonomous Kurdistan region despite escalating violence in Iraq.

Italy's Eni has not evacuated any staff from the Zubair field in southern Iraq despite concerns of further advances by Sunni insurgents, Chairwoman Emma Marcegaglia said Thursday.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has proposed using its own pipeline system to enable the federal Iraqi government to continue exporting some crude from the Kirkuk oil field in the troubled north of the country.

POLITICS

US President Barack Obama is to make a statement on Iraq later Thursday as he faces rising pressure to respond to advances by Sunni militant.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday ordered security officers back to active duty to bolster forces battling the militant offensive.
Saudi Arabia warned Wednesday of the risks of civil war in Iraq with unpredictable consequences for the region, after Sunni militants seized large areas from Shiite-led government forces
Militants seized three villages in northern Iraq on Wednesday during clashes with security forces and residents that left 20 civilians dead, a local official said

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Baiji_oil_ref ... 6fb65.aspx

In light of the previouse message "Facts: Baiji refinery is offline. Staff evacuated. ISIS controls town. Army not willing to let go. Locals are with ISIS. It's done deal." We cannot guarantee either reports - Oil Voice are a non-political site and their report was probably true at the time it was published

The earlier small report purported to come from contacts in the area - to be perfectly honest nobody is certain what is happening

[Anthea]

Why the crisis in Iraq has the global oil industry on edge

The Middle East is under tumult and Iraq is experiencing its latest upheaval as the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) — also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) — is clamping down its hold on parts of the country and expanding its territory in others. ISIS is a former al-Qaeda offshoot that wants to redraw Middle Eastern borders while creating an extremist Islamic state, and its rise to power is destabilizing for the entire region. Neighboring Syria is already approaching failed-state status with around a fifth of the population seeking refuge in other countries. The groups is made up of Sunni insurgents, and Iran, a Shiite state, is duly concerned about the escalating violence. Oil is a major dispute in this confrontation just as it has been throughout the modern history of the Middle East.

After years of war, sanctions, and more war, Iraq’s oil production has surged in recent years and it passed Iran as the second-largest producer of crude oil in OPEC at the end of 2012. The eighth-largest producer of total petroleum in 2012 and the world’s fifth-largest proven reserves holder, Iraq may be one of the few places left where hydrocarbon resources have not yet been fully exploited, according to the EIA. Currently production is at about 3.3 million barrels of oil a day.

The recent outbreak in mayhem, including ISIS’s takeover of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, sent global crude oil prices rising on speculation. However with only about ten percent of Iraq’s recent oil exports going through the northern area of the country where ISIS has established a stronghold for now, the convulsive situation is not significantly impacting production.

“Most of the oil fields in the region are around Basra between Iran and Kuwait, so they aren’t really under threat right now and I doubt they will be,” Peter Juul, a policy analyst specializing in the Middle East at American Progress, told ThinkProgress. “Unless somehow ISIS runs the table and takes over the entire country, which would lead to general chaos — but I don’t think that will happen.”

Foreign investment from multinational oil companies like ExxonMobil, BP, and Chevron has helped revive Iraqi oil fields that suffered poor maintenance and oversight during the Saddam Hussein era. Even if the risk of the country collapsing is still remote, those companies are doubtlessly worried over the safety of their investments and workers in the region.

“The overall scenario is making people more cautious about sending money and people in,” said Juul. “The general political atmosphere is also worrying. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has not incorporated Sunnis into the government and other parts of the Shia Islamist parties don’t really like him either.”

Aside from the Shia majority in control of the government and the Sunni insurgents, there are the Kurds, an ethnic group based in a region called Kurdistan that includes a significant portion of northern Iraq. The Kirkuk oilfield, which produces some 400,000 bpd is a major hub for Iraqi energy exports. Whether the city is under the authority of the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) or the central government in Baghdad has been a source of tension in the past, with Baghdad maintaining that oil must be exported through Iraq’s state-owned SOMO. It may be a moot point as it is currently under control of the Kurds after their security forces fried it from ISIS last week.

“It’s back to the future in a lot of ways,” said Juul. “ISIS has some oil and also the Kurds taking over, it’s ethno-national and resource pride, and it’s a big issue that’s stuck in molasses.”

If the insurgents are able to continue pressing south and take over the major oil fields or at least disrupt production, OPEC’s spare production capacity per day is about equivalent to Iraq’s 3.3 million bpd. However if oil production is disrupted, markets will get even more uncomfortable and prices will rise.

“If there is real disruption out of Iraq, we could see at least a $10 to $15 rise in pricing,” Victor Shum, a vice president at IHS Energy Insight, a consultant in Singapore, told Bloomberg. “I think if oil prices go above $120, consuming nations will discuss releasing strategic stocks.”

Link to Full Article and many other links re information on the conflict's effect on oil:

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Why_the_crisi ... fc98b.aspx

[Anthea]

Iraq: oil sector under threat?

Only last week Iraqi Minister of Oil Abdul Karim al-Luaibi gave an upbeat assessment of Iraq’s oil sector, saying the embattled country was aiming for a daily production rate of 8.4M bpd. He may have cause to reflect on this optimism.

Currently Iraq is managing a daily production rate of some 3.4M bpd. It clearly has a long, long way to go, and it requires a stable regional geopolitical situation to allow it to develop its hydrocarbon sector. With the best will in the world, that is not how the situation could currently be defined.

Baghdad would argue that the oil majors in the south have the technology and the expertise to achieve this target of 8.4M bpd. That is probably true, but only if the expertise vested in the expatriate manpower remains in country, and as the fighting continues to swirl northwards of Baghdad, that is becoming a somewhat less certain assumption.

Crisis Response to ISIS advance

The major Chinese and Western IOCs - and other companies - have now dusted off their evacuation plans and are flying people out of the country. China has more than 10,000 workers across a number of sectors in Iraq, but they are largely concentrated in the southern region.

An employee of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation told the Global Times newspaper "As of today, most Chinese workers have gone to work as usual. But if insurgents begin to attack Baghdad, we will pull out of the country immediately."

A company representative told the newspaper that production at the four fields of PetroChina, owned by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has not been affected. However, a source reported that CNPC has evacuated some employees from the al-Ahdab oil field, which sits 180 kilometres from Baghdad.

The source said most employees at CNPC's other three oil fields – Halfaya, Rumaila and West Qurna – are staying. Exxon Mobil has evacuated all employees from West Qurna oil field in which Exxon Mobil and CNPC each hold a 25% stake. About half of BP's employees in the Rumaila oil field have gone. BP's share of the Rumaila contract is 37%, CNPC has 38%.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Hua Chunying said yesterday that a CNPC employee had been kidnapped last week in southern Iraq, but has since been released. Caixin Online, a Chinese news site, reported that the Iraqi government had warned this month that armed groups nationwide were kidnapping oil experts.

The Chinese MOFA has in the meantime issued security warnings and guidance to Chinese firms operating in Iraq. Spokeswoman Hua said: "We don't want to see that the situation will come to what it was like in Libya [in 2011] when we had to carry a large-scale evacuation. We have over 10,000 Chinese employees working in Iraq. It is to my knowledge that most of them are in relatively safe areas, instead of the conflict zones. Beijing will take all necessary measures to safeguard the security of Chinese citizens in Iraq.”

A question of security

The attack yesterday on the on the Baiji refinery north of Baghdad by Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) extremists calls into question the ability of Iraq to defend the oil infrastructure.

At the time of writing it remains unclear who controls the refinery; AP reports an anonymous, and probably terrified employee at the oil refinery, said it remained in government hands, though one of its fuel tanks was on fire after it was apparently hit by a mortar shell fired by ISIS.

The Iraqi army’s spokesman, Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Mussawi, said Iraqi army troops had defended the refinery, and 40 extremists had been killed in fighting there overnight and early Wednesday. We suggest that casualty figures are viewed with a certain degree of caution; Iraq’s ability to inflate successes and minimise failures is impressive.

What the attack on Baiji means

Given some of the more excitable reporting about the impact of the loss of Baiji on the global oil market, it is worth setting the attack in context.

The refinery accounts for just over 25% of Iraq’s refining capacity. The output of Baiji is exclusively for domestic consumption. So, if there were to be a break in supply, Iraq would see long queues at the petrol stations and further electricity shortages in an already creaking system, adding to the chaos and misery already facing Iraq.

The main impact of the attack will therefore be a further disruption to Iraqis’ lives as a result of fuel shortages for activities such as cooking (kerosene and LPG), road transport (petrol/diesel), electrical power generation, and air and ship bunkering (refuelling).

Disruptions and shortages will continue until Baiji is brought under full state control, and bringing it under full control has to avoid further damaging the downstream facilities.

The Iraqi exchequer will also see a short-term loss of revenue, but that is probably not too high on their “To Worry About Today” list, although a substantial disruption would see the list being rapidly reviewed.

A question of supply

However, oil traders must be as happy as clams. Although the fighting is hundreds of miles to the north, last week Brent crude spiked at its highest level for nine weeks - $114.69 per barrel. This morning it was up 0.81% at $114.26. Anyone who went long on oil is probably thinking about champagne and holidays in the sun.

The reality is that Iraq's oil production has not (yet) been significantly disrupted, but investors are clearly worried about long-term prospects for Iraqi oil. The Paris based International Energy Agency says Iraq is expected to contribute 60% of the increase in global supply in the next five years.

However, if the fighting spreads further towards Basra then the supply situation would change dramatically. The oilfields in the south account for a whopping 2.5M bpd of exports. And if the fighting turned off the taps, then the Iraqi exports would be hard to replace.

OPEC has some spare capacity, but you can bet, as the traders will, that any replacement for the loss of Iraqi volume will come at a substantial premium. The International Energy Agency – based in Paris - estimates OPEC has 3.3M bpd of spare capacity, and critically, 80% of that is in the oilfields of Saudi Arabia.

Now is arguably not a particularly good or sensible time for Iraq’s Prime Minister al-Maliki to be accusing Saudi Arabia of being behind ISIS.

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Iraq_oil_sect ... spx?ovs=sb

[Anthea]

Should the West save Iraq?

Why Does Obama Hesitate?

Obama hesitated for some while before deciding not to bomb Syrian president Bashr el-Assad out of power. To be sure, Russia helped that decision in a big way. If el-Assad had been chased from power and given a show trial like Saddam Hussein before being killed, or not even given a show trial like Muammar Gaddafi before being killed, fundamentalist Islamic forces would have held sway in Syria.

In Libya, the bombing party was fast - and the fundamentalists took over. Slowly but surely. Libya now produces almost no oil at all, some weeks, and more at other times. Its last prime minister fled the country in March. Libya will likely become three states - Fezzan, Tripolitana, and Cyrenaica but squabbling over oil revenues will ensure constant low-level turf war fighting. With the Benghazi killing of US ambassador Stevens in 2012, the basic ungovernability of Libya hit the headlines.

Iraq probably seemed different, at first, to Obama aides arguing the president must act with military force to prevent 'America's man', prime minister Nouri el-Maliki, from being deposed or killed by the Riyadh-friendly, humanity-unfriendly djihadist hordes swarming like ravenous insects in Iraq. By June 19 however, US glove puppet media like the 'Wall Street Journal' carried articles shouting that el-Maliki must go and for the moment at least, US fighter jets will not be bombing and strafing in Iraq.

Under new and different management of Iraq - notably by Kurdistan and Iran - oil production can likely be maintained. Ergo, no need to bomb!

Conversely if anti-regime hordes were at the gates of Riyadh and the already fundamentalist Sunni, anti-democratic Wahabite Kingdom was menaced US fighter jets, A 10 Tank Busters and cruise missiles would have already been in action for days - and to hell with the collateral victims and the political blowback! In fact this political blowback is a major reason for the existence of firstly Al Qaeda in Iraq, then ISIS.

Following too many oil-driven western military attacks, occupation and oppression - dating from the 1920s - Shia and Sunni militants may hate each other but have one shared aim in life. Kill an American or an European. Drive them out. Western oil-driven interference in the region has added new enemies for reprisal attacks to the age-old vendetta system of Shia-Sunni conflict. This sectarian, clan, tribal and family fighting system exited long before oil, and will likely exist long after oil.

Iraq No, Oil Yes

Obama and other western deciders are most surely and certainly influenced by the OECD's oil and energy watchdog agency the IEA. It's energy scenarios and forecasts for the next 21 years, to 2035, heavily feature long-term increases of oil supply from Iraq to help meet 'soaring oil demand'. As I noted in other recent articles on this subject, the IEA uses thinly-disguised Peak Oil alarmism (alongside its Global Warming alarmism), and has singled out Iraq as a silver bullet solution on the oil supply side.

The IEA's own Factsheet for Oil Supply in Iraq, published 13 June, and real world data on Iraq allows and enables plenty of doubt on this claim by the IEA. These merely repeat the unrealistic oil-happy bragging of Nouri el-Maliki's shaky coalition government.

Apart from being predicated on a semblance of civil peace in Iraq, the IEA's Iraq scenarios are based on continued forecasts of world oil demand increasing by about 12 - 15 million barrels a day by 2035 (from the IEA's estimate for early 2014 of about 90 Mbd). If we believed IEA forecasts, world demand for oil imports, by 2035, will increase by about one-half of today's total export supply of all 12 OPEC countries (which is about 30 Mbd). Apparently no problem for the IEA, when it puts on its Global Warming-Low Carbon hat, it says world fossil energy use, including oil, must be capped by or before about 2040 and then reduced to nothing by 'about the end of the century'. So we need Iraq oil now but not for all that long!

Despite Iraq's major success in raising oil output through 2011-2013, by about 25%, this growth was however already tailing off seriously by late 2013, and production on the eve of the ISIS invasion was around 3.1 Mbd enabling net oil exports of about 2.6 Mbd, of which only 1 Mbd went to the OECD group of countries.

The el-Maliki government's claims of future output are wide ranging, depending on spokesman, but some claims went as high as nearly 10 Mbd (the same as Saudi Arabia and Russia) 'by about 2029'.

Inside OPEC, shown by statements by different oil ministers at OPEC conferences, Iraq's claims are not treated as a threat to oil prices - due to continued fast growth of Iraqi output being unlikely or very unlikely, and peak Iraqi output being likely, at most or at best to be one-half the 10 Mbd goal. Many oil analysts doubt if Iraq can achieve better than 4 - 4.5 Mbd by the early 2020's, under the best conditions of civil peace and continued high levels of investment in the oil sector. The potential for decline from today's output of about 3.3 Mbd also exists, especially if there is investor retreat.

The Trouble With Oil

IEA claims, simply repeating the claims coming out of Baghdad, ignore or sideline other high potential and likely growths of national oil output, outside the Gulf region and Iraq. While the IEA cites US and Canadian shale oil production growth, and increasing oil output from Kazakhstan, it gives little attention to Azerbaijan's high potential for output growth and makes little reference to west and east African onshore and offshore oil and gas development. Shale oil production outside of North America is still treated, by the IEA, as either hypothetical or long-term. World NGL (natural gas liquids) output growth - which the IEA says is urgent and necessary due to depletion of 'conventional first generation' oil - will certainly occur but it will certainly not feature Iraq as a major NGL producer.

As we know the three-largest world oil producers (Russia, Saudi Arabia, USA) include two non-OPEC producers and their total combined output is close to 33% of world total oil demand. Only the OPEC member Saudi Arabia could likely cut oil output by any major amount - but past real world experience, in the 1986-2000 period shows that Saudi Arabia soon abandons 'price defending output cuts'.

Link to Full Informative Article:

http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Should_the_We ... 1f6cb.aspx

[Anthea]

Israel accepts 1st delivery of disputed Kurdish pipeline oil

U.S. against independent Kurdish sales

* Israel keen to build rapport with Kurds

* KRG denies dealing with Israel

* Israel previously bought small cargoes of trucked oil

* Third cargo begins loading at Turkish port of Ceyhan (Adds comments from Kurdistan Regional Government)

By Julia Payne

A tanker delivered a cargo of disputed crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan's new pipeline for the first time on Friday in Israel, despite threats by Baghdad to take legal action against any buyer.

The SCF Altai tanker arrived at Israel's Ashkelon port early on Friday morning, ship tracking and industry sources said. By the evening, the tanker began unloading the Kurdish oil, a source at the port said.

The Kurdistan Regional Government said on Saturday, a day after the news was first reported, it did not deal with Israel in the sale.

"The KRG categorically refutes the claim that it has sold oil to Israel," a spokesman for the Ministry of Natural Resources said in an email. "The KRG has not sold oil either directly or indirectly to such a destination."

The spokesman did not comment on questions asking who the KRG had sold the oil to, or how crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan had been delivered to Israel.

Reuters was not able to confirm whether the KRG sold the oil directly to a buyer in Israel or to another party. Oil cargoes often change hands multiple times before reaching their final destination.

In a statement on its website earlier on Saturday, the KRG said: "We are proud of this milestone achievement, which was accomplished despite almost three weeks of intimidation and baseless interferences from Baghdad against the tanker-ship owners and the related international traders and buyers."

Securing the first sale of oil from its independent pipeline is crucial for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as it seeks greater financial independence from war-torn Iraq.

But the new export route to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, designed to bypass Baghdad's federal pipeline system, has created a bitter dispute over oil sale rights between the central government and the Kurds.

The United States, Israel's closest ally, does not support independent oil sales by the Kurdish region and has warned possible buyers against accepting the cargoes.

Israeli leaders have been alarmed in recent months, however, by signs of a possible rapprochement between the United States and Iran.

Officials said Israel was keen to build good ties with the Kurds, hoping to expand its limited diplomatic network in the Middle East and broaden options for energy supplies.

It was not clear whether the crude in the SCF Altai has been sold to a local refiner or was slated to discharge into storage, potentially for another destination.

"We do not comment on the origin of crude oil being imported by the private refineries in Israel," an Israeli energy ministry spokeswoman said.

The port authority at Ashkelon declined to comment.

FIRST SALES

The first tanker to carry Kurdish pipeline oil is still homeless after loading in May. After a false start sailing to the United States, the United Leadership tanker turned back towards Morocco, where it is anchored after local authorities refused to let it discharge for the Mohammedia refinery.

The SCF Altai did not arrive directly from Ceyhan.

The United Emblem was the second tanker to load crude at Ceyhan from the KRG pipeline at the start of last week. It then made a ship-to-ship transfer near Malta to the SCF Altai during June 14-16, several Maltese shipping and market sources said and ship tracking showed.

A third tanker was loading one million barrels of oil from the pipeline, a source at the Turkish ministry said on Friday.

Several market sources said the United Emblem tanker, which loaded the second batch, had gone back to Ceyhan to load the third cargo. Ship tracking showed the tanker berthed at one of the Ceyhan jetties on Friday.

Israeli refineries have taken Kurdish crude oil before but in small volumes, which were shipped to Turkish ports by truck. Some oil has also been stored there.

The KRG began exporting a small volume of its Taq Taq crude grade by truck to Turkey in early 2013 and then added another grade Shaikan at the start of this year.

Israel has less to lose than other U.S. or European refiners, because it has no contract for Iraqi oil. Iraq participates in the boycott of Israel along with many other Arab states.

Italy has warned traders and refineries about the legal risks of importing the oil. Large companies with oilfield interests in southern Iraq have stayed clear, although a joint refining venture by Rosneft and BP used a cargo of trucked oil in May.

The KRG's pipeline is currently pumping around 120,000 barrels per day to Ceyhan. The region's natural resources minister is aiming to export 400,000 bpd by year-end.

Emboldened by its takeover of the major Kirkuk oilfield in northern Iraq, the KRG is also openly talking about the potential of exporting this oil through its pipeline as well after Kirkuk's usual pipeline outlet was sabotaged. (Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem, Amir Cohen in Ashkelon, Orhan Coskun in Ankara, Ron Bousso in London and David Sheppard in Arbil; Editing by Jane Baird and Stephen Powell)

Confusing

[Anthea]

Kurds Look For Oil Buyers As Tension With Iraq Increases
By Meagan Clark

After weeks of seeking a buyer for a disputed cargo of millions of barrels of oil pumped and exported from the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq, the cargo remains floating on the Mediterranean Sea amid conflicting ownership claims with Iraq’s central government.

The ship has been tracked to waters nearby Israel's Ashkelon port and Reuters reported that the tanker is expected to dock early on Saturday, although it was not clear whether the oil on board the SCF Altai tanker had been sold to a local refiner or was going to be stored. "We do not comment on the origin of crude oil being imported by the private refineries in Israel," an Israeli energy ministry spokeswoman was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“If that tanker docks, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will take an important step toward independence,” Nihat Ali Ozcan, an analyst at the Economic Policy Research Foundation in Ankara, Turkey, told Bloomberg.

Facing legal threats from Baghdad, European governments have been wary of accepting the contentious cargo that left the Turkish port of Ceyhan in early June.

The KRG exported the crude via a new pipeline from the autonomous region in Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The pipeline's construction, designed to bypass the central government's own pipeline network, is at the center of the ongoing row between Baghdad and the Kurds.

Baghdad and the KRG have been locked in a dispute over the right to sell oil produced in the autonomous region for months. Both parties insist that Iraq's constitution allows them to export the oil independently.

The KRG, which accuses Baghdad of withholding government funds it is owed, has long sought to increase its financial independence from the central government.

The SCF Altai tanker loaded the disputed crude from the United Emblem tanker during a ship-to-ship transfer near Malta, ship tracking data showed. The United Emblem was the second shipment of Kurdish crude to leave the port of Ceyhan. The first, United Leadership, remains at sea.

Kurdish administration representatives denied on Friday that they’re offering the load at half-price, according to a Bloomberg report.

Kurdish armed forces wrested control of Iraq’s key northern oil city, Kirkuk, from Islamist militants, who in turn took control of the city from the Iraqi army last week. The Kurds have long claimed the city should be a part of their autonomous region. Selling the oil would allow the Kurdish region to become one step closer to financial independence from Iraq and feed its expanding territory’s economy.

The Kurdish government views the oil exports as within its rights under the Iraqi constitution.

“The big question is: ‘who will control the oil’? Counterparts in Baghdad did not identify ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ KRG actions – they just wanted to control the issue completely,” KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said on June 4, in an address to Parliament. “We do not view this issue as a path towards Kurdistan’s independence, but rather as the expression of our constitutional rights… upon which we agreed when we returned to Iraq in 2003 and 2004, and they have to be implemented in Iraq.”

Turkey also sees the Kurdish oil, exported through its Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, as “entirely legitimate,” Turkey’s energy minister Taner Yildiz told Bloomberg. At the World Petroleum Congress in Moscow this week, he said the next shipment of oil is scheduled for Sunday, and that currently, 100,000 to 120,000 barrels of oil flow each day from northern Iraq, and 2.3 million barrels of oil are stored in Ceyhan.

According to Bloomberg, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Iraqiya television Tuesday that “the Iraqi people won’t forget those who conspired against them during tough times,” and “Turkey should be aware that this is like playing with fire. This is plundering the wealth of Iraq.”

Nigel Wilson of IBTimes UK Contributed to this report

http://www.investing.com/news/commoditi ... ses-290763

Admit it dear reader you are still confused