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Kurdistan Government: Path Iraq On For Oil Sector
Bad, Unlawful
28.4.2007
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April 28, 2007
LONDON --, Northern Iraq's semi-autonomous
Kurdistan government Friday said Iraq's federal
government was overstepping its powers by trying to
give too much authority to a new national energy
company which would control nearly all Iraq's oil
under plans being considered.
Kurdish Oil Minister Ashti Hawrami, in a statement,
said Baghdad was attempting to give a new Iraqi
national oil company almost 93% of the country's
proven petroleum reserves, among the biggest in the
world.
"If an unaccountable and inefficient Iraqi national
oil company is created with such a stranglehold on
Iraq's oil, all the peoples of Iraq will suffer,"
Hawrami said.
The sharp words underscore how far apart Baghdad and
the Kurdish government remain in trying to finalize
Iraq's much-delayed hydrocarbons law necessary for
setting the legal framework for attracting foreign
investment. All Iraq's main groups hope to have a
final deal submitted to Iraq's parliament for a vote
in May.
Hawrami said so-called annexes of the draft oil law
giving Iraq's new national oil company almost full
authority over the country's oil reserves were
unconstitutional and said they sent the wrong
signal to foreign investors.
He also criticized recent comments from Iraqi Oil
Ministry officials that none of the petroleum fields
to be given to Iraq's national oil company would be
open to outside investment.
"(The annexes) breach requirements under the Iraq
Constitution that the petroleum sector be developed
through private investment, with regional control
over new petroleum fields, and joint development
between regions and the federal government of
currently producing fields," Hawrami said. "The
message the annexes send is that Iraq is closed for
business."
Hawrami went on to say the Kurdistan Regional
Government, which has wide-ranging self-governing
powers under Iraq's federalist constitution, would
vote against the current draft law if it's submitted
to parliament for a vote. The federal government has
recently said it intends to submit the draft to
parliament.
nasdaq com
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