Since the oil sector is the main artery of the Iraqi economy, any growth in it will cast a shadow on the development of national development plans that the government aims to implement and the people seek, especially in light of the accumulation of current global crises in several areas, including energy, food, and lack of services.
Given the deterioration and backwardness of the infrastructure of this sector in Iraq due to its neglect in the last two decades of the last century and what happened to it due to successive wars and the tendency to improvise in managing the exploitation of this wealth and not dealing positively with foreign investment in it, its efficiency has decreased and its developmental role has weakened, especially in the field of oil industries,
which necessitated the necessity of reconsidering it and including it in developing and promising plans and through multiple licensing rounds for oil and gas fields, which is what the current government, represented by the Ministry of Oil, has implemented.
The purpose that the government has currently adopted from the oil sector development projects based on investing all elements of national wealth leads to building an integrated Iraqi economy by increasing resources and building real capital,
whether human or material, to ultimately lead to creating a multi-use production such as extracting oil derivatives to develop the rest of the economic sectors and sufficient to compensate society for losses and the loss of opportunities for progress during previous periods that caused the disruption of the ability to achieve comprehensive economic and social plans in the country,
which made the ministry currently seek to reach the stage of completing promising projects after announcing the near completion of the project to produce what is called (white derivatives) by converting black oil and other waste into secondary materials refined in a technical and scientific manner with an achievement rate of (85%),
which is hoped to see the light soon and increase the production of fuel in the south refineries to one million and (300) thousand barrels per day and work to improve the quality of gasoline with high quality and efficiency,
which confirms the remarkable development of the refining field during the present time, which is positively reflected in the provision of oil derivatives for local consumption in a sustainable manner.
In light of the government’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum derivatives and its efforts on the basis of which it implemented multiple technical programs, the stage of achieving self-sufficiency in the national product and reducing the import of petroleum derivatives from abroad before the middle of next year (2025) has become almost certain, as a set of technical procedures have been determined,
including entering into stages of the petroleum industry and using advanced equipment and technologies by benefiting from advanced technology in this field and considering this a large part of the world of the economy and an important tributary in strengthening financial resources and developing important industries and promising means to expand the frameworks of serving citizens in the field of energy and fuel for daily uses.
The technical measures that the Ministry of Oil seeks to implement embody the optimistic view of those in charge of the national economy of what could establish major plans in this field, the purpose of which is to increase the benefits expected from investing in the oil sector and producing other highly developed and growing industries,
especially after the increase in fuel production from the southern refineries in remarkable quantities, indicating that the oil sector and refining projects are witnessing great development at the present time, which could be positively reflected in the availability of petroleum derivatives for various purposes.
Why does Iraq import gasoline and gas despite exporting oil? An economist answers
Duraid Al-Shaker Al-Ghazi, revealed the reason behind the country’s import of petroleum derivatives such as gasoline and gas despite its export of oil outside the country, while he pointed out that there are mafias controlling this file to continue the import of these derivatives.
Al-Ghazi pointed out that “over the past 20 years, the issue of importing petroleum derivatives has lacked a political and economic decision, despite the fact that there are many countries that have become rich due to their experiences and investment in these derivatives.” He noted that “the appointees, not the concerned ones, have not reached the point of being decision makers in this important issue.”
Al-Ghazi stated that “any country in the world has several refineries, while the production of these refineries is divided between domestic consumption and export, except in Iraq.”
He pointed out that “it is funny that the state has established a refinery with a specific capacity in each governorate, and has not taken into account the oil production capacities, while they have not obtained the approvals of international organizations, as we in the country are aiming to establish a large refinery, but there is no noticeable result due to the mafias that control the import of derivatives.”
Al-Ghazi continued, “Despite the start of production at the Karbala refinery, in addition to some of the old refineries that have been restarted, they are operating poorly, which has made the government’s plans inconsistent with the expansion of domestic consumption, as there are many contradictory statements about meeting local needs and the abundance of various products that we hear from time to time.”
The economic researcher added, “The availability of derivatives can be easily achieved by renting a refinery or two with high refining capacities in any country, where the government sends crude oil to it within the limits of our agreement with OPEC Plus, where the returns will be at least five times the establishment of a refinery or by importing oil derivatives.”
He stressed, “Thus, we will save billions of dollars that will develop the productive sectors or be used to extinguish the problems that all government policies have failed to extinguish by investing in gas and ending its burning in the atmosphere to reach the stage of self-sufficiency and export,
in addition to getting rid of the process of using water wells to extract oil, which causes thirst in agriculture and wastes water that we are in dire need of.”
According to televised statements by Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani, Iraq is on track to achieve self-sufficiency in gasoline next year, with the increase in production from refineries, both existing ones and those to which new units have been added with the aim of increasing the country’s production of this widely used fuel.
A New Decline In The Dollar Exchange Rate In Iraq.. This Is The List
Alsumaria News – Economy Alsumaria News publishes the exchange rates of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar in the local Iraqi markets for Wednesday, August 28, 2024.
The dollar prices recorded a slight increase with the opening of the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges, recording 148,850 dinars for every 100 dollars. As for the selling prices in the exchange shops in the local markets in Baghdad, the selling price reached 149,750 dinars, while the purchase price reached 147,750 dinars for every 100 dollars.
On February 7, 2022, the Council of Ministers announced its approval to amend the dollar exchange rate to 1,320 dinars per dollar.
For about a year, specifically since the Central Bank began operating the electronic platform and the international financial transfer system “SWIFT”, the dollar exchange rate in Iraq has not witnessed stability despite the government and the Central Bank’s attempts to control the exchange rate in parallel markets.
