Iraq to consider restoring Russia pre-war contracts: Moscow

Iraq is to consider restoring lucrative contracts won by Russian companies before the 2003 war that ousted Saddam Hussein, Russia s Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said on Friday.

We agreed in principle to establish the task of restoring contracts concluded in the pre-war period between Russian and Iraqi companies, Sechin said.

I consider this to be very big progress, he added, following talks between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Iraqi counterpart Nuri Al-Maliki.

Sechin said that a special working group would be set up between the two countries in this regard. He did not say what contracts could be reactivated.

Russia s biggest private oil firm Lukoil in 1997 signed a $3.4 billion contract to explore the West Qurna 2 oilfield, but was expelled even before the 2003 US-led invasion because of disagreements with Saddam s regime. – AFP

Abu Dhabi fund not planning Daimler, Opel purchases

Abu Dhabi s government-linked investment fund Aabar does not plan to buy either further shares in Daimler or a stake in Opel, a spokesman for Aabar said.

Asked by Reuters about a report on Friday that Aabar was raising its stake in Daimler, the spokesman said: We are not.

Germany s Focus magazine said Abu Dhabi was in talks to raise its Daimler stake from 9.1 percent now to more than 20 percent. It also said Aabar had no plans to invest in Opel, brushing off speculation the fund could make a white-knight appearance.

Earlier in the week the Aabar spokesman had already denied reports that the investment fund planned to take a stake in Opel, which is frantically seeking an investor.

General Motors German unit Opel has said it needs ?3.3 billion ($4.38 billion) in state aid from European governments to save jobs and keep plants open.

But it also said it needs an outside investor to push through its restructuring plan, and so far no one has publicly declared interest in Opel.

The ailing carmaker s rescue has become a political hot potato ahead of German elections in September as pressure mounts to help Opel, which traces its roots to the 19th century and was once a symbol of the country s post-war recovery.

On Monday, Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg had said he could not rule out talks with the emirate over Opel, but he later rejected reports there were concrete plans to travel to Abu Dhabi next week to talk to potential investors.

A German labor leader at the cash-strapped carmaker has confirmed the government of German state of North Rhine-Westphalia held talks with Abu Dhabi about Opel last week, but without naming the possible investors there.

Last month, Abu Dhabi s state-controlled International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) bought a 9.1 percent stake in Daimler for almost ?2 billion. It had at the time already said it was satisfied with its holding for now. ($1=.7530 Euro) -Reuters

Saudi to deepen May oil supply cuts to 2 Asia buyers

Saudi Arabia, the world s top crude exporter, will slightly deepen cuts to contracted volumes of crude oil in May from April levels to two Asian buyers, industry sources said on Friday.

Saudi will supply crude at 8 to 9 percent below contracted volumes in May, versus cuts of about 7 percent in April to one term buyer. It will also reduce supplies to another by about 11 percent in May, versus estimated cuts of 8 percent for April, the sources said.

Late on Thursday, Saudi Arabia told at least one European customer to expect reduced crude allocations in May, but the kingdom was not seen cutting the volume of crude it supplies to US refiners, industry sources said. -Reuters

Turkey hopes to conclude IMF deal in May: reports

Turkey is hoping to conclude in May a new stand-by deal with the International Monetary Fund that could be worth up to $45 billion (?34 billion), newspapers reported Friday.

The daily Referans newspaper quoted Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek as saying that the government had agreed with the IMF on basic principles and officials in Ankara were currently drawing up the technical framework of the deal.

We have agreed that the budget will produce a deficit, or in other words, that we will not compensate for the decrease in tax revenues triggered by the contraction of the economy in 2009, Simsek said, adding that the government would set a limit on expenditure.

Turkey is now working on the macro-economic framework. The IMF should accept that framework; we do not expect there to be a problem but there could be some bargaining on issues such as the budget deficit, he said.

Simsek said Turkey hoped to complete technical work by the IMF s spring meetings in Washington on April 25-26 and to get IMF approval for the stand-by deal in two to three weeks.

When queried on the size of the loan, the minister did not give a figure, but said it would meet Turkey s external financing needs during the length of the deal, the daily Radikal newspaper reported.

Radikal speculated that the new deal would be signed for three years and could be worth up to $45 billion. Other newspapers said it could be between $30 to 40 billion.

Financial analysts had previously speculated that the deal would be worth up to 20 billion dollars.

Turkey is under increasing pressure to sign a fresh IMF accord amid alarming signs from the economy. Gross domestic product slumped 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and industrial output plummeted a record 23.7 percent in February, strengthening expectations that a recession is on the way.

Turkey and the Fund initially began talks in January for a fresh loan after Ankara successfully completed a three-year, 10-billion-dollar stand-by deal in May which significantly stabilised the economy and resulted in strong growth.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would soon invite an IMF team to resume talks after he ironed out differences with IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Erdogan s government is under fire at home for delaying the deal ahead of local elections on March 29 which saw the party lose support for its handling of the economic crisis. – AFP