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Iraq nullifies Kurdistan oil deals
25.11.2007
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November 25, 2007
BAGHDAD,-- - Iraq's oil ministry has declared
all crude contracts signed by the Kurdistan regional
authorities with foreign companies null and void, a
government official said on Saturday.
"The ministry has nullified all contracts signed by
the Kurdistan Regional Government," the official
told AFP, asking not to be named. "They will not be
recognised."
The government in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish
region has signed 15 exploration and exportation
contracts with 20 international companies since it
passed its own oil law in August, infuriating the
Baghdad government. |
Hussein Shahristani, Iraqi Minister of Oil |
Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani has in recent weeks
angrily denounced the Kurdish authorities for
signing the contracts before the national parliament
approves a new oil and gas law, declaring them
"illegal".
The government official said the minister had now
gone further and nullified all the contracts and had
warned the foreign companies involved that they
would be blacklisted.
"Minister Shahristani had warned companies who sign
contracts without taking the advice of the oil
ministry that the ministry would ... blacklist them
from any future deals with Iraq," the government
official said.
"The minister had told them the oil ministry in
Baghdad is the only institution authorised to sign
oil contracts before the approval of the oil law."
Shahristani told Monte Carlo radio on Friday that
countries neighbouring Iraq would prevent the
Kurdish authorities from exporting oil.
"There is an understanding between Tehran, Ankara,
Damascus and Baghdad," he said.
"The Iraqi government had warned these companies of
the consequences of entering into these contracts,"
the minister added. "And the consequence is that
Iraq will not allow these companies to extract the
oil."
The Kurdish authorities reacted sharply on Saturday,
saying Shahristani should take the matter to the
federal tribunal which deals with disputes between
the provinces and the central government.
"The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed
contracts according to laws passed by the Kurdistan
provincial parliament which comply with the Iraqi
constitution," said a statement on the KRG website.
"The KRG considers that the minister is exceeding
his authority in making these statements," it added.
"His statements will not affect our contracts with
foreign companies."
It said his comments were reminiscent of the Arab
chauvinism of Saddam Hussein's regime.
"We are sorry to hear such statements, which are
close to Baathist ones," it said, referring to the
Baath party of the ousted dictator.
Regarding the minister's comments on preventing oil
being exported, the statement said: "Who said we are
exporting oil?
We said we signed oil contracts to explore and
produce oil -- we know that there must agreement
with the federal government on the issue of
exporting oil."
The regional government says the contracts will
benefit all Iraqis as 85 percent of the returns from
the deals would be for Iraq and the rest would go to
the contractor.
Iraq's oil and gas bill is stalled in the national
parliament amid bitter differences between rival
factions.
When approved, the new law will open up Iraq's long
state-dominated oil and gas sector to foreign
investment.
It will also stipulate that receipts be shared
equally between Iraq's 18 provinces, a key concern
for the Sunni Arab minority that Washington says has
fuelled the anti-American insurgency.
Iraq's oil reserves -- the world's third largest --
lie in the Kurdish north and Shiite south and the
Sunnis fear the two communities could monopolise
future income.
AFP
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