rcookie: THERE WILL NEVER…EVER…EVER…BE A TELEGRAPHING AS TO A WINDOW OR TIMEFRAME AS TO A VALUE CHANGE TO IQD…EVER…
KTFA:
ReddStarr: What???….come on….”starting quickly to repay accumulated debts”….guess they got the money to do so now….this says a lot family….and it’s opening new investment opportunities…wow….all IMO….of course….
As Iraq repays debt, Lukoil pledges to unlock investment!
VIENNA, June 3 (Reuters) – Iraq has positively surprised oil majors by starting quickly to repay accumulated debts, the head of Russia’s Lukoil said, pledging more investment to allow OPEC’s second-largest producer to maintain stellar output growth.
Iraq has become the world’s fastest-growing oil producer with output up 50 percent since it
signed contracts worth tens of billions of dollars with the likes of Lukoil, BP, Exxon Mobil andRoyal Dutch Shell at the end of the last decade to help develop its huge oilfields.
But growth in production to around 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd) has lagged initial plans as oil majors have repeatedly complained about red tape, poor security and rising debts.
Debt repayment to majors for their investments has slowed even further over the past two years as oil prices collapsed – but Vagit Alekperov, the chief executive and a major shareholder of Lukoil, said the situation was changing.
“Iraq is very actively repaying the operators. The situation has changed dramatically,” Alekperov told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an OPEC meeting in Vienna where he met several of the organisation’s ministers and officials.
Hit by low oil prices, Iraq is expected to have a financing gap of $17 billion this year unless it can secure more funding, according to the International Monetary Fund. The cost of fighting Islamic State militants is another burden.
In May, Iraq reached a $5.4 billion standby agreement with the IMF that could unlock $15 billion more in international assistance over the next three years.
“We know about the IMF talks and we know that the IMF makes it conditional for Iraq to pay back the contractors,” Alekperov said.
“We hope they pay back all debts by November so we can start a new investment cycle before the end of the year. Our long-term Iraqi production goal remains intact – 1.2 million barrels per day.
Iraqi fields have huge potential.”
Lukoil is producing 0.4 million bpd in Iraq and if it did triple output at the West Qurna field, the country would be able to produce more than 5 million bpd.
Only Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States produce more oil – more than 10 million bpd each. Iraq ultimately hopes to close the gap and extract as much as 8 million bpd from its huge reserves, the world’s fifth-largest after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Iran.
(click on the link to view the full article)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3623576/As-Iraq-repays-debt-Lukoil-pledges-unlock-investment.html
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Samson: France: Daash falling dramatically and the loss of Mosul, the beginning of the end
06.04.2016 10:27
{International: Euphrates News} French Defense Minister Jean-Yves {to} Odrian said Daash terrorist gangs will be defeated militarily and will be eliminated.
He announced to Odrian, yesterday evening, on channel {public} Sena parliamentary “Daash will be defeated. It falls significantly.”
He said at a literary program where he attended to offer his book titled “Who is the enemy?” It “will be eliminated Daash gradually.”
He explained that if lost Daash stronghold in Mosul in Iraq, this “beginning of the end” for him, hoping that the Iraqi forces are able to restore the city by the end of the year. The
French minister continued , “financial capacity Daash become much less, as the sale of oil, and polarization,
I am still convinced that it will be difficult, but I say it for the first time that Daash retreat and Daash defeat, including in tenderness stronghold in Syria. ” He
also pointed to Odrian that” a number “of the French fought alongside Daash during continuous attack forces Syrian democracy that includes Arabs and Kurds against Daash in Manbej northern Syria. ”
the city is located north – west of the country between Jarablos on the Turkish border and tenderness stronghold Daash in Syria. and regain control is essential to stop the flow of foreign fighters from Syria and to them.
the Minister of defense French “It is necessary to restore that region to cut moves ”
http://alforatnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=118702
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Samson: Zimbabwe to print local ‘US dollar’ as cash crunch bites
June 2, 2016
Zimbabweans formed long queues outside banks on Thursday as a cash shortage prompted the government to announce plans to print a local version of the US dollar and limit withdrawals.
The government adopted US and South African currencies in 2009 after hyperinflation — which peaked at 231 million per cent — rendered the national currency unusable as the country’s economy collapsed.
A recent shortage of foreign notes led Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya to unveil a raft of radical measures on Wednesday, including limiting withdrawals to $1,000 or 20,000 South African rand per day.
Mr. Mangudya said that the central bank would also print its own dollar-equivalent bond notes — “which are currently at the design stage” — to ease the cash crunch.
He denied the new banknotes were a step towards re-introducing the tarnished Zimbabwe dollar, but the plan was still criticised by some experts.
“This is extremely damaging to the interests of everyone and very dangerous to the economy,” independent economist John Robertson told AFP in Harare.
“It won’t be long before this becomes another inflation story. People will refuse to be paid their wages in bond notes.
“Shops will not accept them as they cannot be used to restock (from abroad). I am hoping that the government can be talked out of it.”
Bond coins were introduced in Zimbabwe in 2014 to tackle the problem of small change.
The new notes in denominations of $2, $5, $10 and $20 will play a similar role, acting as tokens.
Zim dollar to return?
They will be backed by a $200-million support facility provided by Afreximbank (Africa Export-Import Bank), the government said.
“This does not signal the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe currency,” Mr. Mangudya said.
“The fundamentals are not yet right for its comeback. This is just a measure to curb illicit flows out of the country.”
Economists blame the cash shortage on a trade deficit which saw the country’s import bills standing at $490 million in the first quarter against $167 million in exports.
Apart from limits on withdrawals, the amount of cash that can be taken out of the country per trip has been cut from $5,000 to $1,000.
In the queues outside the banks, tempers were running high
.
“I am supposed to be at work but here I am queueing since yesterday,” said Monique Fore, 39, a bursar at a school in Harare.
“It’s becoming embarrassing explaining to my landlord that I can’t withdraw money to pay rent.”
In some cases, banks have limited the amount that can be taken out to $200 — well below the maximum set by the government.
Shadreck Mafukeni, a 57-year-old carpenter working for a furniture manufacturer, said his salary had been deposited in the bank on Tuesday but he had been unable to withdraw any money.
“I need to pay rent, my children’s school fees and I also need to repay debts to several people I owe money.
“I have used the little money I had at home on the bus fare. If I don’t get money today, I will walk back home.”
Zimbabwe once removed 12 zeros from its battered currency at the height of hyper-inflation in 2009 when the largest note was the $100 trillion denomination.
State-sanctioned seizure of white-owned farms starting in 2000 left the agricultural sector in ruin, and triggered a sharp economic slowdown, with mass unemployment, emigration and many business closures.
President Robert Mugabe, 90, has ruled the country, which relies on imports for even basic commodities, since independence in 1980.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/zimbabwe-to-print-local-us-dollar-as-cash-crunch-bites/article8681684.ece
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