Iraq will see drastic changes in the security situation and many foreign troops will be able to leave the conflict-ravaged country by the end of 2007, the Iraqi oil minister said Tuesday in Tokyo. Hussain al-Shahristani, who arrived Sunday for a three-day visit, did not say when he expects U.S. troops to leave. But he said the Iraqi government is recruiting young men to take charge of security from foreign troops.Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, al-Shahristani also urged Japanese and other foreign companies to invest more to tap Iraq's rich oil and gas resources. He said the government will target an increase in crude oil production of 4 million barrels a day by 2010 from 2.5 million barrels now. Depending on how much progress is made developing new oil fields in the north, Iraq, with cooperation from foreign companies, will further push up capacity to 6 million barrels a day by as early as 2012, al-Shahristani said.
| That would collapse anything OPEC might consider doing. We'd be back to giving away drinking glasses with each fill-up at the pump. |
Kyodo News Japan has agreed to provide a loan of some 2 billion yen to upgrade a refinery in Basra, Iraq, and another 18.1 billion yen to rehabilitate a fertilizer plant, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Trade minister Akira Amari and Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani reached the agreement at a meeting Monday and signed a joint statement Tuesday. "Iraq appreciates Japan's commitment to provide yen loans to the Engineering Services for the Basra Refinery Upgrading Project," the statement says. "In addition, Iraq expresses its hope that the same measures will be taken for two other projects in the near future," it says, referring to the proposed Crude Oil Export Facility Rehabilitation Project and the LPG Value Chain Project.
"Japan, in turn, expresses its expectations that deepening mutual cooperation in this area through these projects will help further the close relations between the two countries, including Japan's securing of its energy needs, by participation in the development of oil and natural gas fields in Iraq," the document says.
The loans are part of a $3.5 billion (410 billion yen) loan package Japan has already agreed on with Iraq. It will be the first assistance provided for an oil-related project, METI officials said.