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Iraqi Kurds warn against major changes to
oil law
5.7.2007
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July
5, 2007
Baghdad, Iraq, -- Iraq's Kurdish
regional government warned on Wednesday against any
major changes to oil legislation set to go before
parliament, saying it had not seen the final bill
approved by the cabinet.
The amended oil bill -- a key plank in efforts to
help unite the country's warring communities -- was
endorsed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's
government on Tuesday and forwarded to parliament
for its first reading on Wednesday.
But the northern Kurdish administration, a key party
to the negotiations on the legislation, said it had
"not seen and approved the final text of the law."
"We hope that the cabinet is not approving a text
with which the KRG disagrees because this would
violate the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan
Region," a statement from the northern regional
administration said.
The draft law was first approved by the Baghdad
cabinet in February but Iraq's warring Shiite, Sunni
and Kurdish factions
later demanded certain amendments.
The Kurdish administration said it was uncertain as
to which version of the law was approved on Tuesday,
although Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh
said the latest text contained only linguistic
changes to the February draft.
"While the KRG is happy with the legal committee's
language improvements and restructuring of the legal
text, we reject
its changes to the substance of the law," the
Kurdish government said.
"If it has agreed to the version that included
material and substantive changes, the KRG rejects
this document. We have not been informed which text
the Iraqi cabinet has approved."
A number of foreign companies have already entered
into contracts with the Kurdish government and the
Kurds fear that the new law may lead to the
termination of the deals.
In May, Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani said any
contract signed before the adoption of law would be
cancelled.
Kurdish officials say they will honour the
contracts, and also claims to have reached an
agreement with Baghdad whereby it will receive 17
percent of the country's oil revenues.
The draft law, seen by Washington as one of the key
factors for ending the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq,
lays down control of the country's oil wealth and
how it would be distributed across the communities.
Iraq's oil reserves are largely in the Kurdish north
and the Shiite south and the Sunni Arabs from the
central and western regions fear they could be
robbed of the revenues from the crude exports.
Oil exports are Iraq's single most important source
of revenue, even after more than four years of
frequent insurgent attacks on oil facilities.
US officials have repeatedly urged the Iraqis to
adopt a consensus law on sharing revenues and on
international investment in order to head off future
conflict and allow the oil sector to develop.
Iraq's proven oil reserves, estimated at 115 billion
barrels, are thought to be the third largest in the
world, but since the US-led invasion production has
tumbled from 3.5 million barrels per day to around
two million.
AFP
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