Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Bloomberg.com
May 9, 2008 By Peter Cook and Janine Zacharia, Bloomberg News
U.S. businesses are losing opportunities to invest in Iraq to foreign competitors, Iraq Industry and Minerals Minister Fawaz Hariri said.
“U.S. business is losing out,” Hariri, 51, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today in Washington. European countries including France and Germany are taking advantage of investment opportunities in Iraq more than U.S. companies, he said.
The window of opportunity for U.S. companies “is very small,” Hariri said. He said he is in the U.S. to try to get U.S. business “excited” about investing in Iraq.
Hariri predicted Iraq's daily crude oil production may reach 3 million barrels per day by year's end. Oil production averaged 2.38 million barrels per day April 28-May 4, according to the U.S. State Department.
The Iraqi government, benefiting from increased oil revenue, would be required to pay more of the cost for domestic security and reconstruction projects under legislation the U.S. Senate will consider this month.
Crude oil rose above $126 a barrel today in New York to a record as the dollar weakened against the euro and yen, prompting investors to buy commodities as a hedge against the currency's decline.
Since the 2003 invasion to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the U.S. government has spent about $45 billion on Iraqi reconstruction efforts and $465 billion for military operations in the country.
“Whoever goes in first will get a piece of the pie,” Hariri said today. “U.S. businesses should benefit from the investment this country made in Iraq.”
Hariri said he was not so much “frustrated” with the lack of U.S. investment as “disappointed.”
“There is some reluctance on the part of many of the U.S. firms on committing to invest in Iraq immediately, and they have, from their perspective, good reasons for doing that,” he said.
The reasons include a very “gray legal environment that they can depend upon,” he said. “There are issues pertaining to insurance, there are issues pertaining to personnel they need -- outside their concerns about security.”
Hariri said the Iraqis must “try to provide some reasonably convincing answers as to how we can provide them the environment where these issues are not show-stoppers. They are at the moment,” Hariri said.
“They are losing good markets and others are coming in,” he said. “The Arabs from the Gulf States politically still have many questions and reservations about the Iraq situation but business-wise they are coming in with their billions of dollars of oil money.”
French investment has continued to increase because “the French view is that Iraq is here to stay,” he said. “We have excellent relations with the newly elected French president, who is far more supportive of Iraq policy” than his predecessor, Hariri said.
Airbus SAS, which lost out to Boeing Co. in a $2.2 billion deal this month for 30 aircraft, for example, is courting Iraqi ministers for future purchases, he said.
“We believe we should diversify and we should be looking at Airbus technologies,” he said. Airbus is owned by European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Co. and BAE Systems plc.
Iraq, holder of the third-largest oil reserves among OPEC countries, is also speaking to Dow Chemical Co. about bidding to expand capacity of an existing petrochemical plant at Basra by 1 million tons at a cost of $2 billion, he said.
Likewise, Exxon Mobil Corp. has bid for some oil field service contracts, he said.
May 9, 2008 By Peter Cook and Janine Zacharia, Bloomberg News
U.S. businesses are losing opportunities to invest in Iraq to foreign competitors, Iraq Industry and Minerals Minister Fawaz Hariri said.
“U.S. business is losing out,” Hariri, 51, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today in Washington. European countries including France and Germany are taking advantage of investment opportunities in Iraq more than U.S. companies, he said.
The window of opportunity for U.S. companies “is very small,” Hariri said. He said he is in the U.S. to try to get U.S. business “excited” about investing in Iraq.
Hariri predicted Iraq's daily crude oil production may reach 3 million barrels per day by year's end. Oil production averaged 2.38 million barrels per day April 28-May 4, according to the U.S. State Department.
The Iraqi government, benefiting from increased oil revenue, would be required to pay more of the cost for domestic security and reconstruction projects under legislation the U.S. Senate will consider this month.
Crude oil rose above $126 a barrel today in New York to a record as the dollar weakened against the euro and yen, prompting investors to buy commodities as a hedge against the currency's decline.
Since the 2003 invasion to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the U.S. government has spent about $45 billion on Iraqi reconstruction efforts and $465 billion for military operations in the country.
“Whoever goes in first will get a piece of the pie,” Hariri said today. “U.S. businesses should benefit from the investment this country made in Iraq.”
Hariri said he was not so much “frustrated” with the lack of U.S. investment as “disappointed.”
“There is some reluctance on the part of many of the U.S. firms on committing to invest in Iraq immediately, and they have, from their perspective, good reasons for doing that,” he said.
The reasons include a very “gray legal environment that they can depend upon,” he said. “There are issues pertaining to insurance, there are issues pertaining to personnel they need -- outside their concerns about security.”
Hariri said the Iraqis must “try to provide some reasonably convincing answers as to how we can provide them the environment where these issues are not show-stoppers. They are at the moment,” Hariri said.
“They are losing good markets and others are coming in,” he said. “The Arabs from the Gulf States politically still have many questions and reservations about the Iraq situation but business-wise they are coming in with their billions of dollars of oil money.”
French investment has continued to increase because “the French view is that Iraq is here to stay,” he said. “We have excellent relations with the newly elected French president, who is far more supportive of Iraq policy” than his predecessor, Hariri said.
Airbus SAS, which lost out to Boeing Co. in a $2.2 billion deal this month for 30 aircraft, for example, is courting Iraqi ministers for future purchases, he said.
“We believe we should diversify and we should be looking at Airbus technologies,” he said. Airbus is owned by European Aeronautic, Defense & Space Co. and BAE Systems plc.
Iraq, holder of the third-largest oil reserves among OPEC countries, is also speaking to Dow Chemical Co. about bidding to expand capacity of an existing petrochemical plant at Basra by 1 million tons at a cost of $2 billion, he said.
Likewise, Exxon Mobil Corp. has bid for some oil field service contracts, he said.