The tiny Irish stock on the brink of landing 'the first' post-sanction oil deal in Iraq. Ref 'Fleet Street Letter' 12-04-04..

Re: Telephone conversation with Petrel this morning. They have no idea of the time scale for decisions being made, they have had no feed back from the iraq goveremnt and at this time do not know who will be making the decision as a result of the elections. They like us shareholders were hoping it would be done and dusted before the event. I got the impression that they are just as frustrated as we are. They did reaffirm that their objectives and goals remain unchanged. Does anybody know where one can purchase shares in patience.

Hi loadsadosh
Thanks for the update.

Hi Scottie
Given the recent contractS that this company has secured on Iraq's border It seems by the amount of sells going through that punters have taken their eye of the bigger picture in favour of chasing the dream, a big mistake in mho. PET offers the potential of real growth over the medium to long term. Once results on existing position start to come through HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT

On the way up, perhaps the punters are beginning to work it out?

Gone flat here,,,,,for how long.

daves dazzlers .........until there is some news to report!.......and...how I wish we could report something!!!
But just for interest purposes.........

I don't often read other bbs, usually too heavy for me, however I did read Advfn today and an E-mail, claiming, to be from Petrel(not sure DH OR JT probably DH) I'll not copy and post, its not that important, but in summary; it reaffirms commitment to Iraq and their undertaking with the ministry to keep the silence....
My only interest would be what Ministry?? who is heading that 'ministry' and to whom is the minister of that 'ministry reporting?? Is it the MOO or the Government?? The last we heard was the tenders had been sent to the Gov', before the elections, for them to award the contracts.
It's now a legislature in limbo, so who would be making those decisions....
Can there be any decision at gov' level until they form a government? and that is surely months away.

There are more questions than answers... and... Thats for sure.

the only certainty is....the oil (etc) will need lifting eventually and Petrel are still in Iraq and apparently well in with cross border neighbours, where, I think , the future may..pan out. But only an opinion and no I dont want to argue the toss with anyone thank you.
Its my day off and I am looking forward to a very interesting Lunch with some friends.....Arabs actually....they may know something but they are from Saudi so probably not of interest.
So to argue would upset the whole day, especially as I know .nothing, which will be obvious to anyone who takes the trouble to read this far....

good luck
alan

Iraq auditors target contracts corruption
By Beth Potter
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Published February 24, 2005


BAGHDAD -- Since Iraqis think their government is corrupt, the Board of Supreme Audit will audit all contracts made since U.S.-led forces invaded in April 2003 to find out the truth, its new president said Thursday.

Some $8.8 billion of Iraq funds handed out by U.S. administrators to Iraq ministries is "unaccounted for" because of bad management, a U.S. audit report released at the end of January said. The money was to be spent on salaries, operating and capital expenditures and reconstruction projects between October 2003 and June 2004, according to a report made by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

"The Iraq government needs to rebuild trust with Iraq citizens," said Abdul Basit Turki Saeed, Board of Supreme Audit president. "All contracts with all ministries will be audited, ones made locally or with international companies."

Saeed declined to say specifically what he would look for in the auditing investigation, although he said has the same questions others have raised in newspaper articles and rumors on the street. Salaries paid to "ghost employees," overpriced furniture contracts with kickbacks built in, billing for goods that weren't delivered, and ministers who flew packages of U.S. dollars worth millions out of the country are just a few of the complaints.

"I hope it don't find all of what I hear," Saeed said. "When we have the results of any investigation, I promise you, I will announce them."

Because interim officials knew there was no oversight, they did anything they could to steal money, said an official close to the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite Muslim coalition that won close to 50 percent of the Jan. 30 vote for the new 275-member national assembly.

"There is no accountability," the official said, declining to be named. "That's why public services have collapsed in the last few months. Just look at the fuel. Look at the electricity."

Consumers sit in long lines at gas stations around the capital, even though Iraq spends $200 million per month to import gasoline, oil minister Thamer Ghadban said recently. The Electricity Ministry has ordered several new generators worth millions of dollars, but power remains sporadic in Baghdad.

Ministry council officials, a group that includes key ministers and a vice president in the interim government, gave the audit order, Saeed said. Iraq's interim government is at a virtual standstill as wrangling continues over key spots in a new 275-member national assembly approved by voters Jan. 30 that's expected to be seated at the end of the month.

A recent Commission on Public Integrity report also highlighted problems at some ministries, the Alliance official said. The commission has no authority to build cases or haul people it suspects into court, however, the official said. The commission, along with independent inspectors general in each ministry, were put in place by former U.S. administrator to Iraq Paul Bremer. The Board of Supreme Audit existed under former dictator Saddam Hussein.

At the same time, Ali Maousin Alak, Oil Ministry inspector general, said he will create a training program to teach other inspectors general and their staffs how to deal with corruption.

"We have to make fighting corruption a priority. We have to build an impartial system in Iraq," Alak said in a speech to the Institute for Financial Studies at Baghdad University. "Our people must maintain impartiality."

Saaed was named to his job in October after previous head Ihsan Karim was killed in July when a bomb went off under his car during an Iraq investigation of the former United Nations oil-for-food program. The food-ration program operated in Iraq since 1996 under international sanctions to bring food and humanitarian goods to the country paid for by oil sales. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

The misused $8.8 billion -- all of it Iraq money -- came from oil sales and seized assets in the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction report. Auditors could not tell if the monies were spent properly. The audit did not look at oversight for the $18.4 billion approved for reconstruction by the U.S. Congress in November 2003.
.......................................

This may be an answer for the continued delay.......if anyone is interested??

LUKoil pushes for Iraq's large oil field

RBC, 25.02.2005, Kiev 10:15:12.LUKoil is planning to initiate negotiations to confirm its participation in development of the West Qurna oil field in Iraq as soon as the country's government has been formed, Vaghit Alekperov, head of LUKoil, stated yesterday. LUKoil owns 68.5 percent of shares in the development project of one of the world's largest oil fields - West Qurna, with oil reserves estimated at 20bn barrels.

Iraq working on plan to boost oil output

28-02-2005 , 06:48


The Iraqi oil ministry has announced long term plans in order to raise the level of oil production to 3.5 million b/d. A source at the ministry, said that the increase will be gradual and it will continue until 2007. He revealed that the cost for such plans is approximately US$4 billion. The source added, according to Alkhaleej newspaper, that the ministry also set a plan to increase liquefied natural gas production with the invitation of foreign companies to take part in the development of oil and gas fields.


The source clarified that the ministry is studying the option of reorganization the oil sector via the establishment of a national oil company as a governmental company that is financially and administratively independent, and integrate the current companies with it.

2005 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)

03/03/05

IRAQ'S new 275-member national assembly will hold its first session next week with or without an agreement on the line-up of the country's next government, a Shiite official said today.

"The plan is to open the national assembly next week," between March 6 and 10, said Jawad al-Maliky, deputy to the front-running Shiite candidate for prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
"We will open the parliament whether or not there is an agreement," said Mr Maliky, who is Mr Jaafari's number two in the fundamentalist Shiite Dawa party and deputy speaker of the current interim parliament.

"We want to reach an understanding before the parliament and when we convene we want to have reached an understanding about the government and the ministries," he said.

Mr Maliky's comments were the firmest indication to date that the Shiite political coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), wanted the next government to get up and running.

The UIA, which won 140 seats in the January 30 national election, has started negotiations with Iraq's Kurdish Alliance, which amassed 77 seats in the vote and is pressing demands for a federal state and guarantees on the final status of the disputed northern rich oil city of Kirkuk.

A Western official based in Baghdad said Maliky's announcement of an opening date for parliament was a pressure tactic to force the Kurds to agree to join a governing coalition.

Mr Jaafari met Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Massoud Barzani yesterday, and was due to meet Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Jalal Talabani today.

The Western official said it was doubtful the parliament would really open next week, if Mr Jaafari walks away without an agreement from his Kuridstan visit.

Senior Kurdish leader and interim deputy prime minister Barham Saleh told said yesterday the Shiite list was putting heavy pressure on the Kurds to form the government.

"It took them two-to-three weeks before they settled on a candidate and they demand from us immediately to give a yes or no vote, be patient," Mr Saleh said
----------------------------------------------
'opinion'
Political stance on parliament sitting next week or not contracts can not be
awarded before then???

March 3, 2005, 1:19AM

Oil-rich Iraq has rough road to prosperity
Its petroleum infrastructure is crumbling, and rebels continue to sabotage pipelines
By JAMES GLANZ
New York Times

BASRA, IRAQ - The five spindly towers, each 325 feet tall, were silent, with no flames burning at their collapsed and blackened tips.

But Abdul Raof Ibraheem, production manager at this huge propane and butane plant, knew very well what could happen if, say, a military helicopter were to fly over.

"Any spark," Ibraheem said, motioning with his hands. "Explode."

The plant spews out invisible, odorless, but extremely flammable waste gases because officials do not want to shut down the damaged equipment for repairs.

Properly functioning, the plant would burn off those gases in flares at the tops of the towers.

But if engineers tried lighting the damaged tips now, they could blow up the entire complex.

"Of course," Ibraheem said sheepishly, "it's dangerous."

Iraq is facing enormous pressure to convert its rich oil inheritance into a measure of comfort and prosperity. Despite having 100 billion to 200 billion barrels of oil reserves, the third largest in the world by some estimates, Iraq still must import half its gasoline and thousands of tons of heating oil, cooking gas, and other refined products.

And with the petroleum infrastructure crumbling, Iraqi officials must soon decide whether to invest in time-consuming repairs and upgrades, or try to extract everything they can from the creaky equipment, as Saddam Hussein did. It is a tricky decision. Because the rebuilding effort is financed from oil revenues, shutting down the system for desperately needed repairs cuts back on the money available for further repairs.

A journey last week to a number of the vital organs in Iraq's critical but often derelict southern petroleum industry wells, pipelines, pumping stations, ports, and plants for things such as heating fuel underscored how difficult those decisions are likely to be. It showed as well the depths of the industry's distress after decades of neglect, the looting and sabotage that followed the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and continuing attacks by insurgents.

About $3 billion has been set aside for the Ministry of Oil, the minister, Thamir Ghadhban, said in a recent interview. But the final level of financing depends on revenues, which in turn depend almost entirely on the security situation.

Losses caused by sabotage exceeded $6 billion last year, cutting revenues by nearly a third, Ghadhban said. The pace of attacks has dropped recently in the south but continues unabated in the north.

Saboteurs struck again in the north in late February, setting ablaze a pipeline that funnels oil to Kirkuk.

Iraqi industry minister Hajim Alhousin said that Iraq had signed two contacts with two international companies to prepare a study for the development of three oil fields.

The minister revealed that the first contact is with the British company ECL to develop the northern and southern fields at Alramila that started production back in 1951. The second one with Shell to develop Kirkuk fields, which started producing in the year 1934. The minister also disclosed that the two companies will bear all costs which are estimated at US$2 million.

For his part, Iraqi oil minister Thamer Algadaban confirmed that Iraqi revenues form crude oil reached US$13.4 billion since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

2005 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)

Petrel Resources PLC
04 March 2005


Petrel announces institutional placing


Petrel Resources (AIM: PET), the oil exploration company focused on Iraq and the
Arabian Western Desert, is pleased to announce an institutional placing of
2,440,000 Ordinary Shares at 43p each. Of these shares, 366,000 will be issued
and admitted to AIM on 6 May 2005 and a further 366,000 will be issued and
admitted to AIM on 7 July 2005.


In addition, Petrel has issued 61,000 Ordinary Shares in settlement of
professional fees in respect of the placing.


Accordingly, Petrel has applied for 1,769,000 Ordinary Shares to be admitted to
AIM now and it is expected that admission of these shares, and the commencement
of dealings, will take place on 7 March 2005. It is expected that the balance
of 732,000 shares will be admitted to AIM in two stages as noted above.


The funds will be used for Petrel's ongoing oil field development and
exploration activities in Iraq and Jordan.


Petrel awaits a decision by the Iraqi authorities on two tenders for oil field
service contracts to develop, as a contractor, two separate oil field projects
in Iraq:


a green field site in central Iraq, which has the potential to be
developed as a 100,000 barrel per day oil field


two neighbouring oil fields in southern Iraq. The brown field
facilities have the potential be developed to produce 200,000 barrels daily.


Further tenders will be submitted during 2005. Work is now underway on the
first of these tenders.


Petrel is also pushing ahead with its exploration in the Arabian Western Desert:


Work is concentrated on Block 6 in the relatively unexplored
Paleozoic Basin of Western Iraq. Work is underway on mapping, seismic
interpretation, satellite imaging and geological sampling. Four major
prospects have been identified from seismic lines in Block 6. This
combination of huge structures in an area of proven source rock and reservoir
sands makes Block 6 the most promising of the desert blocks


Petrel has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Jordanian government's Natural Resources Authority to re-process seismic and
conduct other exploration work on the 8,750 km2 East Safawi Block close to the
Iraq border. Petrel has the right to opt for a Production Sharing Agreement.


Contacts:

this should do the PET sp the world of good

Insititual placing and now director options, all the signs are pointing towards good news on the way, a new oil minister announced, I'm sticking with my prediction of good news coming from Syria or Saudi, to tie in with the regional play around block 6, also as the parliament is convening soon, decisions on the tenders must be due, either this month or next (that decision of course over hanging from about last October mind you)

Good luck all

Petrel Resources PLC
07 March 2005

Petrel Resources plc announces that at a board meeting of the Company held on 4
March 2005, the following directors were granted options at an exercise price of
43 pence per share:


Director Options granted

David Horgan 150,000
John Teeling 100,000
James Finn 100,000



All of the options are exercisable at any time before 4 March 2012.




This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange




__________________
Good Luck All

Tokyo

Petrel Resources PLC
10 March 2005

Petrel Resources announces that it received confirmation on 10 March 2005 that
funds managed by Gartmore Investment Management plc are now interested in
3,252,373 ordinary shares in the Company, representing approximately 5.29% of
the issued share capital of the Company.


This information is provided by RNS

Hi all,
I got back in today, couldnt resist it. Good to see you toyko.

wilbs

I'm in today. Just have afeeling that good news is not far away and we know that this can race ahead. Fingers crossed.

Oil ministry to sign contracts soon (17/03/05)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well acquainted sources said that Iraq's Ministry of Oil is on the verge of signing new contracts with global companies to upgrade the volume of Iraqi crude oil production into four millions barrels per day once Iraq's new government has been formed.



The ministry is to sign new contracts
The source added that stated aim of the ministry stipulates promoting oil fields and increasing investment depending on updated world technology. They indicated that the plan includes realising six millions barrels daily once financial allocations are available.
In other news, Iraq's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has denied reports by TV channels and newspapers that some 130,000 Iraqi dinars has been allocated monthly for unemployed registrants at labour and vocational training centres.

Engineer Layla Abdul Lateef Muhammed, the minister of labour and social affairs refuted the claims, citing them as groundless. She stressed the necessity for accuracy and faithfulness in circulating news as opposed to fabricating stories and toying with people's emotions.

Source: Iraq Directory

Iraq minister missing, aides kidnapped
AFX


BAGHDAD (AFX) - Iraqi interim minister of state for provincial affairs Wael Abdulateef was missing Sunday after a convoy he was travelling in was attacked south of Baghdad and 10 of his guards were kidnapped, an interior ministry official said.

Abdulateef was on his way back to Baghdad from his native southern city of Basra when the convoy was attacked at about 4:30 pm (1330 GMT) near the town of Al-Wahda, 30 kilometres (20 miles) southeast of the capital, added the official.

'We have no news of the minister,' he said.

newsdesk@afxnews.com