Kurdistan-Iraq, -- The Kurds have
not missed an opportunity during their visits and tours in the world
to promote their province as an attractive area for foreign and Arab
investors. This was emphasized by the president of the province,
Massoud Barzani, during his visit to Kuwait two months ago.
Barzani met members of the Kuwaiti Chamber of Commerce and
businessmen and encouraged them to come to the province. The same
was also repeated by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari during
his recent visit to Turkey, as he highlighted the economic openness
and boom currently experienced by the province, urging Turkish
companies to invest there.
In fact, investors of different nationalities have begun to head to
Kurdistan to seize investment opportunities in the projects carried
out in different cities there.
The recent investment law adopted in Kurdistan gratified the Kurdish
government's wishes. It offers facilities and concessions to foreign
investors, despite debates raised by Kurdish parliamentarians about
some articles, especially those on ownership of the project's land,
transfer of profits and capital outside the province, and the tax
exemptions given to importers of machinery and equipment.
This openness has also satisfied political forces in Baghdad. But
some of them are concerned about the Kurds' utilization of the oil
reserves of their province. They think that the Kurdish activity is
the start of the disintegration of Iraq and the rise of an
independent Kurdistan.
Although the Kurdish government talks about the oil projects and its
related plans with caution, several foreign investors are heading to
Kurdistan to avail themselves of the oil investments in the calm
oil-rich area.
The Kurdish government has permitted some Norwegian and Canadian
companies to prospect for oil. The Norwegian oil company DNO (Det
Norske Oljeselskap) has been prospecting since 2004.
Last month, it announced its first find of over 100 million barrels
of oil in the first oil well it has drilled in Zakho, 60 km to the
north of the Kurd-administered Duhok.
This has aroused the concerns of the government in Baghdad and
raised increasing resentment against the Kurdish government for
allowing foreign companies to invest in oil without the approval of
the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.
"Iraq's Ministry of Oil should consider any oil contract," said
Iraqi Minister of Oil Hussein Shahristani, calling for "amendments
on the constitution's articles that entitle provincial and central
authorities the right to allow investments in oil and natural
resources."
The Kurdish government gives due attention to oil investments,
putting them outside the Kurdish investment law. The oil sector
includes many facilities, and it is inconceivable that they could be
handed over to oil and strategic industry investors, to say nothing
of the peculiar features and requirements of the oil industry. The
law stipulates that no investor can own the land on which the
project stands just in case oil is discovered in it. Moreover,
permits for oil projects are only given by the Kurdish parliament.
There are also oil projects in Shiowashok, Koysnjek, Zakho and
Sulaymaniyah carried out by Norwegian and Canadian oil companies in
Kurdistan. Earlier, Shahristani announced the construction of the
first and biggest oil refinery in Kewisnjek.
Its production capacity exceeds the real capacity of the province
and comes within a 'self-sufficiency' plan adopted by the Iraqi
Ministry of Oil for providing fuel.
The Kurds, on the other hand, see that the projects in the province
do not contravene the Iraqi constitution, which gives the provinces
the right to utilize their natural and oil resources, provided that
the output is included in the national production.
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