Botas Launches Studies For P/L To Import Gas FromIraq.

The Turkish state-owned pipeline and gas company Botas has launched feasibility studies for the Turkish segment of a planned Iraq-Turkey natural gas pipeline, to be built parallel to the existing Kirkuk-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline. Botas will complete the segment of pipeline which crosses through

The project aims to transfer 10 BCM/year of Iraqi natural gas annually. The project management will be carried out by the Iraqi Oil Ministry and the Botas-Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) joint initiative. The project will be completed by private contractor Tekfen. The pipeline will be 30-40 inches wide. A liquid natural gas terminal will be established in Ceyhan, in the region of Yumurtalik, to process and transport a portion of the gas.

Dispute With Iran Over Oil Wells: Baghdad on Feb. 4 complained that Iran was taking crude oil from Iraqi wells along the border. On the same day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said the claim seemed to be baseless and those who made such claims did not provide enough information. He said Iran was ready to hold a committee with technical boards from both countries to look into the issue.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry sent a letter to Tehran officials accusing Iran of unlawful oil extraction from Iraq's oil wells. The letter delivered by Iraq's embassy in Tehran says Iran should stop oil activities in those wells until both sides signed a memorandum in this regard.

The Foreign Ministry in Baghdad said an Iraqi board was to travel to Iran soon to discuss border-related issues and joint oilfields. The wells from which Iraqi crude oil was allegedly taken by the Iranian side were from Abu Ghirab and al-Fakkah fields, in the southern province of Missan on the border with Iran. The two fields are among the richest oil patches in Iraq.

The Associated Press quoted an un-named official from Iraq's South Oil Co (SOC) as saying Iran had been "pumping [crude] oil from their portion of the field at such high rates that nine of 22 wells in Iraqi territory have been left inoperable". Al-Sabah, a state-run daily, said Iraq's Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to Tehran through its embassy in Baghdad.

The newspaper quoted Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Muhammad al-Haj Hmoud as saying: "The Iraqi government demanded the Iranian side to stop activities relating to these fields until an agreement between the two countries is reached".

Az-Zaman, an Iraqi newspaper, however, reported that the Iraq Oil Ministry was denying claims that Iran had stolen oil from Iraq. Az-Zaman said its reporter Muhammad Hameed had spoken to the Iraqi Oil Ministry Inspector-General Abdul-Karim al-'Aibi who offered the following summation of the claim: "I cannot understand the aim of making such statements as well as their timing. It is strange to raise the issue of joint oil fields with Iran and ignore how Kuwait has been stealing millions of barrels for years and up to the present time".

The fields in question were not even mentioned by 'Aibi in his statement to az-Zaman. 'Aibi told az-Zaman: "The joint fields with Iran are those of Naft Khaneh and Missan". According to 'Aibi, Iraq had created a special committee to "co-ordinate with neighbouring states the exploitation of joint oilfields".

According to the London-based al-Hayat daily, Faraj Moussa, deputy head of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, had evidence indicating that the Tehran regime had "seized" at least 15 oil wells in southern provinces neighbouring Iran. Moussa told the newspaper: "Iraqi reports have documented the Iranian violations of the Iraqi wells, by diagonal digging" - also known as slant drilling - "exceeding the borders and seizing the oil wells after expelling the Iraqi engineering cadres and workers".

OPEC Switch To Euro? MEED on Feb. 8 quoted OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri as saying OPEC may abandon the US dollar for pricing crude oil and adopt the euro but any such switch will "take time". Badri's remarks sent the dollar lower against on that day. But MEED quoted Badri as saying the switch to the euro was to be "within a decade to combat the dollar's decline".

Badri said: "It took two world wars and more than 50 years for the dollar to become the dominant currency. Now we are seeing another strong currency coming into the [frame], which is the euro". Badri, who is Libyan, was talking in general terms. But the market on Feb. 8 reacted immediately, with paper WTI on NYMEX jumping $3.53 to $91.64/b by 1900 GMT, reversing most of the week's losses that had been triggered by concern an economic slowdown (see omt7OmanExportsFeb11-08).