Slouching Toward 'Boursedom', and other ME Petroleum Tales

[Dover]

Just some updates on advances of the Iranian Oil Bourse project, Pipeline divides, etc:

The real impact of Iran's Oil Bourse seems to be under debate. But, an impact there WILL be.

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Iranian oil bourse hits wall
Mar 15, 2006
theglobeandmail.com


..."Oh, crikey, it's at a much earlier stage than people would think," said British consultant Chris Cook, who claims credit for coming up with the idea for the exchange in the first place and is a member of the consortium headed by the Tehran Stock Exchange that is charged with bringing the project to life.

"You can rest assured, there will not be a crude oil contract, Gulf-based, in my opinion, within a year -- and that would be really pushing it," Mr. Cook, a former director of ICE's predecessor, the International Petroleum Exchange, said when reached in Scotland.

The electronic exchange is to be located on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, an Iranian duty- and tax-free zone.

There has been far less talk about the planned bourse in the mainstream media than on the Internet, particularly on websites aimed at gold bugs and other economic conspiracy theorists.

..cont'd

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_14125.shtml

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Tehran, April 26 - Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said on Wednesday that the establishment of Oil Stock Exchange is in its final stage and the bourse will be launched in Iran in the next week.

He told reporters, upon arrival from Qatar where he attended the 10th General Assembly of International Energy Agency and consultations with OPEC member states, that registration of the Oil Stock Exchange is underway and the entity will operate after being approved by by Council of Stock Exchange.

He rejected a statement attributed to him saying that Oil Stock Exchange will bring to the ground the US economy and said, "I don't know who has speculated that I've not talked about US economy." Asked about conference on energy in Doha, he said that more than 60 countries and 30 oil companies and consultants took part in the conference.

Vaziri Hamaneh said that serious discussions were held including security of supply and demand, security of investment in energy and environment issues. ..cont'd

http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=212013

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Iranian Oil Bourse nearly ready to open

TEHRAN, June 5 (UPI) -- The Iranian Oil Bourse is in its final stages, Iran's Fars news agency reported Monday.

According to the Fars report, the board of directors of the International Bourse Co., which is charged with establishing the bourse, will review the final draft of the articles of association of the Iranian bourse this week.

The International Bourse Co. was registered last month, with an initial capital of $2,000, and is charged with setting up the Iranian Oil Bourse on Kish Island. The IBC is owned by the National Iranian Oil Co., which has an 80 percent stake, and by with Kish Free Zone Organization and the Mostaz'afan and Janbazan Foundation, each of which hold 10 percent stakes..cont'd

http://www.upi.com/Energy/view.php?StoryID=20060605-121956-6188r

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Iran to Begin Initial Phase of Oil Bourse in Late-September

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
Wednesday, July 05, 2006


Iran will start the initial phase of its planned Iranian oil bourse at the end of September, the news agency ISNA reported Wednesday.

An unnamed oil ministry official told ISNA that his ministry had already presented the relevant documents to the economic and finance ministry and the bourse organization.

The building that will house the oil bourse has reportedly already been purchased in the southern Iranian island of Kish. Petrochemical and oil-related products will be made available to customers in the first phase but the volume of the shares to be traded is not yet clear, the official told ISNA.

Economics and Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari said last April that the issue had already been agreed upon and that the oil ministry had given the go-ahead for the opening of the bourse.
The exchange will have a positive impact on oil sales, not only in Iran but in the wider Gulf region, and is slated to replace the current dollar-based oil exchange with one based on the euro, he said.

The International Petroleum Exchange in London and the New York Mercantile Exchange, on which oil is currently traded, both use the dollar.

Iran argues that as long as 60 percent of global oil and 25 percent of natural gas needs are met by Gulf states, oil dealing in either New York or London made no sense.
Iran also wants to circumvent dollar-based oil exchanges to avoid being impacted by the U.S. economy...cont'd

http://www.rigzone.com/news/region.asp?r_id=10

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CONTINENTAL DIVIDE:

It’s Not Just the Economy, Stupid:

At a international conference last month in Almaty, Kazakhstan, leading Russian political scientist Igor Panarin explained American policy toward Iran as follows: “Everybody knows that the real reason for American belligerence is not the Iranian nuclear program, but the June 2004 decision by the Tehran government to launch an Iranian oil bourse where oil will be traded in euros instead of U.S. dollars.” The oil market, he continued, would break the dominance of the dollar and lead to a decline of global American hegemony, something the Bush administration is determined to stop at all costs, even war.

It sounds like a crackpot idea lifted from a conspiracy theorist's Web site, but views like Panarin's are increasingly heard among well-informed circles in Western Europe. Plenty of academics and intellectuals are keen to show that while others more naive than they may fall for American propaganda, they see through the spin — they know that the real forces shaping world events are economic...cont'd

http://www.forward.com/articles/7751

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Iran's own Military Industrial Complex?

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Takes Stake in South Pars
AFX News Limited
Thursday, June 29, 2006


Iran's powerful ideological army, the Revolutionary Guard, is set to enter the oil and gas sectors in a move that would increase their stake in the Islamic republic's economy.

"The Revolutionary Guards have obtained the contract to develop phases 15 and 16 of South Pars," a huge offshore gas field divided between Iran and Qatar, General Abdolreza Abed said in an interview with the Shargh newspaper. Related Pictures

Abed, who heads up the Guard's economic operations, said the contract was worth US$2.09 billion.

The deal would be a major boost to the operations of the force, initially created after the 1979 Islamic revolution to protect the regime from foreign and domestic threats...cont'd

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=33633

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Russia, Iran Discuss Setting Up Joint Venture in Oil, Gas Industry
BBC Monitoring Middle East
Monday, June 26, 2006


Gazprom and Iran have decided to consider the possibility of setting up a joint venture to develop oil and gas fields.

The decision was made at a meeting of Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller and the Iranian deputy minister of oil, Nezhad- Hoseyniyan, Gazprom's press release said.

"The sides discussed possible lines of cooperation between Gazprom and Iranian oil and gas companies in the oil and gas industry, they also agreed on taking specific measures to step up work in promising directions", the press release said...cont'd

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=33495

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US dangles offer to pull Russian support for Iranian initiatives:

Washington | July 9

XFN-ASIA/Forbes - The United States said Saturday it is beginning negotiations with Russia on a potentially lucrative nuclear energy accord, but made clear any deal would be conditional on Moscow's full cooperation in US attempts to block Iranian nuclear ambitions.

Russia says will not store foreign nuclear fuel
11 Jul 2006 16:54:59 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Tom Miles

MOSCOW, July 11 (Reuters) - Russia does not plan to store spent nuclear fuel from foreign-made reactors as part of a possible atomic deal between Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush, Russia's nuclear chief said on Tuesday.

Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russian atomic energy agency Rosatom, said he expected Bush and Putin to discuss the idea of a U.S.-Russian deal on the peaceful use of atomic energy when they meet ahead of the Group of Eight summit at the weekend.

But he appeared to slap down reports in The Washington Post and the Financial Times that the White House was offering Russia a slice of the lucrative business to store spent nuclear fuel from U.S.-supplied reactors.

"We have never imported foreign spent fuel in the past, we do not import it now and we will not import it," Kiriyenko said, Interfax news agency reported.

"What Russia does is to return fuel that was created inside Russia," he said during a visit to the Urals town of Ozersk, where access for foreigners is limited because of nuclear installations.

Kiriyenko said a possible U.S.-Russia agreement would mark a nuclear "renaissance," but any deal could take a least a year...cont'd

http://agonist.org/20060709/us_to_dangle_nuclear_energy_deal_in_exchange_for_russias_help_on_iran

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OTHER NEWS:

Border Dispute Over Pipeline Simmers in Gulf

by Andy Critchlow, Bloomberg News
International Herald Tribune

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the two largest Arab economies, have clashed over a $3.5 billion natural gas pipeline project in the Persian Gulf, threatening to bring to a head a 30-year-old border dispute.

The undersea pipeline from Qatar to the UAE crosses Saudi territory and "cannot be constructed without the agreement of the kingdom," according to a July 8 memo faxed by the Saudi government to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, which is involved in financing the project. The UAE-controlled venture responded in a statement Tuesday and said the pipeline was almost complete and runs "exclusively" through Qatari and Emirati waters.

Saudi Arabia's objection to the project threatens to curtail growth in the UAE's economy. The UAE now produces 11,000 megawatts of electricity. The natural gas imports would help the Emirates meet their power needs, which are projected to rise to 20,000 megawatts by 2020, according to General Electric...cont'd

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=34110

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IEA Sheds Light on Unwanted Iranian Crude
by Sally Jones, Dow Jones Newswires
FWN Financial News
Wednesday, July 12, 2006


LONDON (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex)
The International Energy Agency shed further light Wednesday on reports that Iran is storing close to 20 million barrels of unwanted crude on tankers.

In its latest monthly oil market report, the Paris-based energy security watchdog said "latest indications point up to 10 vessels holding some 20 million

barrels of crude, much of this being heavy, sour Soroush/Nowruz production which has been difficult to market."

An official with the National Iranian Oil Co. told Dow Jones Newswires recently, "the number goes up and down, but yes it is sometimes at this level."

..snip..

A source familiar with Iran's oil industry estimates the oil ministry is typically spending close to $4 million a day on tanker storage. "We are spending around 5 cents for every barrel of oil we store daily," the source said.

Iran, has come under heavy criticism at home in recent weeks over reports that it may soon halt gasoline imports, which it can no longer afford.

Though the Islamic republic is the second-largest producer of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, it still needs to import around 40% of the 70 million liters a day of gasoline it uses because it lacks sufficient refinery capacity...cont'd

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=34040

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IEA: World Oil Supply Outlook for 2007 Looking Healthy
by Sally Jones, Dow Jones Newswires FWN Financial News Wednesday, July 12, 2006


LONDON, Jul 12, 2006 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex)
Global oil supplies are expected to recover in 2007, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday, easing supply concerns which have helped drive oil prices to fresh highs in recent weeks.

A spike in expected new field start-ups and a rebound from the depressed supply levels seen in 2005 and 2006, should lead to significant output increases from both the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers in 2007, the IEA said.

Non-OPEC supply growth is expected to rise by 600,000 barrels a day to 1.7 million b/d in 2007, taking non-OPEC supply to 53 million b/d.

OPEC capacity is also seen rising by 300,000 b/d by the end of this year and 800,000 b/d next year...cont'd

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=34019

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IEA Says 90% of Iraq Still Unexplored
AFX News Limited
Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Only 10 percent of Iraq has been explored for oil and 60 percent of proven reserves are in undeveloped fields, the International Energy Agency said in a report that assessed the opportunities for development in the country.

However, ongoing security concerns, corruption, sabotage, and political uncertainty make a government output target of 4 million barrels per day by 2010 "appear optimistic," the agency warned.

The comments were contained in a report on the medium-term outlook for the oil industry that included a section on the Iraqi industry.

The IEA said its forecast for Iraqi production capacity for the 5 years to 2011 was an average 2.5 million b/d--only slightly higher than current levels of 2 million b/d and 1.5 million b/d below the government's target...cont'd

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=34037

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