|
Iraq oil law to go to parliament next week
19.4.2007
|
|
|
|
April 19, 2007
DUBAI, -- Iraq's cabinet will present a
much-awaited oil law to parliament next week, the
country's oil minister said yesterday, but the
Kurdish region rejected aspects of the emerging
legislation.
An oil law is vital for Iraq to attract investments
by foreign firms to boost its oil output and shore
up its economy.
"It will be ready next week to be presented to
parliament," Hussain Al Shahristani told reporters
in the UAE, where 60 Iraqi parliamentarians and
experts met to discuss the war-torn country's law
that will give its regions the right to negotiate
with global firms on developing oilfields.
He said that all political blocs in parliament had
agreed to try to pass the law before the end of May,
but the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said
yesterday it would not sign up to some aspects of
the law.
Al Shahristani said he expected no major amendments
in the law, though some minor changes were possible.
But Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources in
the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern
Iraq told Reuters that annexes to the draft oil law
that aim to wrest oilfields from regional
governments and place them in the hands of a newly
formed state-oil company were unconstitutional.
"The annexes as they are written now will not be
accepted by the KRG," Hawrami said. "If I don't get
the lion's share of fields (in the region) then it's
a bad law. If the law dilutes regional control then
it is unconstitutional."
"This law has to be in harmony with the constitution
and if it doesn't then it must be thrown in the
trash," Hawrami added.
Al Shahristani said the Kurdish regional government
should have made its objections clear before the
draft law was approved by the cabinet in February.
But he said that the appendices have not been
studied in detail before the law was passed.
"They should have come to the energy council and
presented their views, these appendices have been
available for three months."
Role of foreign firms causes controversy
- Al Shahristani said the draft law would be
presented in a bundle that would include the oil and
gas law, a law outlining the functions of the
ministry of oil, another for Iraq National Oil
Company and a fourth for oil revenue management.-
The future role of foreign oil companies in Iraq has
caused controversy but Al Shahristani said such
concern was unfounded.- Al Shahristani said that
model contracts would not be included in the draft
law annexes. The federal council for oil and gas
would develop those contracts later.
Reuters
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 