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Delays Likely in Iraq Oil Bill
4.7.2007
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No
quick debate in Iraq on oil law
July
4, 2007
Baghdad, -- Sunni Arab and Kurdish politicians and a
powerful Shiite party said Wednesday they had not
agreed to a draft bill to regulate the country's oil
industry, raising the possibility of new delays in a
major piece of benchmark legislation sought for
months by the United States.
It appeared unlikely parliament would begin debate
on the measure Wednesday as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
had announced it would. A day earlier, al-Maliki
said his Cabinet had approved the draft bill and was
sending it to the legislature.
American officials are hoping that passage of the
oil bill and companion legislation to distribute oil
revenues will help rally Sunni support for the
government and reduce backing for the insurgents.
But deep differences between Sunnis, Shiites and
Kurds in al-Maliki's coalition have frustrated
attempts to get a draft to parliament, and despite
al-Maliki's optimism they appeared still unresolved.
Only 24 of the Cabinet's 37 members were present for
the vote because of boycotts by ministers from the
Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front and the Shiite bloc
local to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Both
groups have separate political disputes with al-Maliki.
An Accordance Front leader warned Wednesday that no
draft should be considered until the Sunnis sign on.
"Any draft law that is approved in the absence of
the Iraqi Accordance Front only represents the
groups that approved it," Khalaf al-Ilyan told al-Sharqiya
television. "If there are some who want to cancel
the voices of half of the Iraqi people then they
take the responsibility."
The head of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, Nassar
al-Rubaie, said, "We reject this copy of the oil and
gas draft law because it left nothing of Iraq's
unity."
The Kurds said they had neither seen nor approved
the final text and would oppose it if it made
"material and substantative changes" to an outline
agreed upon during weeks of negotiations.
"We hope that the Cabinet is not approving a text
with which the (Kurdish administration) disagrees
because this would violate the constitutional rights
of the Kurdistan region," the Kurdistan Regional
Government said in a statement.
Al-Rubaie and Kurdish legislator Mahmoud Othman said
parliament was unlikely to start debate on the
measure Wednesday. Together, the Accordance Front,
the Sadrists and the Kurdish parties hold 127 of
parliament's 275 seats not enough to defeat the
measure on thier own, but passage of it over such
large opposition would mean a failure of the
legislation's broader goal, reconciliation between
the groups.
The oil bill is a top concern of Iraq's Sunni
minority, which is centered in regions of the
country with little proven reserves and fears
Shiites and Kurds in the oil-rich south and north
will monopolize profits from the industry.
The 2005 constitution gave regional administrations
considerable powers in managing oil resources in
their areas, but the Sunnis want the new law to
ensure the federal government maintains a strong
role.
An influential Sunni Muslim organization, the
Association of Muslim Scholars, issued a fatwa, or
religious edict, denouncing the draft bill Wedneday
and saying its approval by the Cabinet is
"religiously prohibited and is considered null.
Those who did (sign on) should be questioned."
It said those who support the law "anger God for
usurping public money." The association's fatwas do
not hold broad support among Iraq's Sunnis but are
influential among hard-liners.
U.S. officials are hoping that passage of an oil
bill will rally Sunni support for the government and
the political process and reduce backing for
insurgents.
President Bush has pressed al-Maliki to take a
series of other political steps to reconcile with
Sunnis opening jobs to Sunnis who supported Saddam,
amending the constitution to satisfy Sunni
aspirations and holding local elections. The Iraqis
pledged to meet the benchmarks by the end of last
year but failed due to political haggling and the
security crisis.
Bush also ordered 28,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq
this year to try to tamp down on the violence and
encourage the Iraqis to reach political agreements
among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
The offensive in Baghdad and areas to the north and
south has boosted American casualties, although the
number of bombings and shootings has fallen in the
city in recent days.
The oil bill is part of a package of legislation
that would establish rules for exploiting Iraq's
vast oil wealth and provide a formula for
distributing revenues among the 18 provinces. Iraq's
proven oil reserves have been estimated at 115
billion barrels second largest in OPEC after Saudi
Arabia.
Some petroleum experts believe the real figure is
even higher because Iraq lagged behind other
countries in using modern surveying technology
during the years of international sanctions under
Saddam Hussein.
Production has fallen from 3.5 million barrels a day
to two million since the U.S. invasion because of
security problems, especially in the northern
fields. The bill is aimed at encouraging
international investments to modernize the fields.
Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish officials agreed last
month on the distribution of revenues, with the
northern Kurdish autonomous region getting 17 of the
net revenues each month, after deducting federal
government expenditures.
Kurds make up about 20 percent of the population
nationwide. The rest of the revenues will be divided
among the other provinces according to population.
AP
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