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Libya to Redefine All Contracts with Oil Companies
Emmanuel Tumanjong, Dow Jones
The Libyan government says it will review all future contracts with oil companies in a bid to reap more benefit for the country, a senior Libyan government official told Dow Jones Newswires.

"Libya is going back to renegotiate all its oil contracts," Libya's national representative at the African Petroleum Producers' Association, Seddigui N. Ismail said in an interview at the APPA meeting in Yaounde last week.
(31 March 2008)

The Battle of Basra and its Oil Dimension
Walid Khadduri, Al-Hayat
No Arab oil industry has witnessed the difficulties and challenges facing the oil sector in Iraq over the past 25 years, especially during the past five years of occupation. Currently, a battle is raging for political control over Basra, Iraq's only marine gateway, its second largest city, and the source of almost 90% of its oil reserves which currently account for two million barrels a day.

This is not to mention three huge oil fields with production capacity of over two million barrels a day that have been explored but not developed yet. These are the Majnoun field, the Gharb al-Qurna field, and Nahr bin Omar field. This battle will represent decisive turning point in the modern history of Basra and in the history and future of Iraq's oil industry.
(31 March 2008)

Abu Dhabi May Face Blackouts as Power Demand Soars
Ayesha Daya, Bloomberg
Abu Dhabi, which holds about 8 percent of the world's oil reserves, may experience blackouts within four years if the capital city of the United Arab Emirates fails to build additional power capacity by 2012, an official at its monopoly electricity utility said.

... The biggest of the seven emirates is investing record receipts from oil in tourism, real estate, aviation, logistics and energy-intensive industries, such as petrochemicals, to diversify its economy away from crude sales. Economies in the Middle East will expand 9.2 percent this year as oil revenue spurs spending on airports, power plants and business parks, Morgan Stanley has forecast.
(23 March 2008)