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White House declines comment on Iraq's Kurdistan
oil deals
3.10.2007
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October
3, 2007
WASHINGTON,-- The White House on Wednesday
declined to criticize
four controversial oil deals
inked by Iraq's Kurdistan regional government in
defiance of criticisms from leaders in Baghdad.
The US State Department had questioned a previous
deal between the Kurdistan regional government and
Texas-based Hunt Oil Company, noting that it might
fall afoul of a hoped-for but long-delayed law on
national oil revenue sharing.
"I don't know anything about those other deals,"
spokeswoman Dana Perino said, adding: "I believe
that the central government still has to approve
final contracts before they can be made final." |
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Perino also emphasized the need for passage of the
hydrocarbon legislation, which would lay out an
equitable distribution of oil monies among Iraq's
warring sectarian groups, helping to defuse violence
there.
"Oil revenues are being distributed throughout the
country, but we believe the law needs to be passed,"
she said.
The regional government said in a statement posted
on its website that it had approved four contracts
for exploration and production, and had sanctioned
two new refinery projects in the Kurdistan
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq'.
AFP
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