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Iraqi parliament discusses two oil-related laws, two more
in pipeline, lawmaker says |
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Iraqi parliament discusses two oil-related laws, two
more in pipeline, lawmaker says
5.4.2008
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April
5, 2008
BAGHDAD, -- A parliamentary committee is
working on a pair of oil-related draft bills, one to
re-establish the state-run oil company and another
to fight oil smuggling, a senior lawmaker said
Saturday.
Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani, deputy chairman of the
committee on oil, gas and natural resources, said
legislation to re-establish the Iraqi National Oil
Co., was likely to be presented to parliament on
Tuesday.
The measure is part of a four-bill package, which
also includes legislation to regulate the country's
oil sector, reorganize the Oil Ministry and
distribute revenues among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish
regions.
Al-Hassani said he was uncertain when the other
three bills in the package would be ready for
parliament to discuss.
The bill to regulate the oil industry has been
bogged down since February 2007 because of
opposition from the Kurds.
Al-Hassani said parliament began discussing the
proposed anti-smuggling bill this week in hopes of
boosting government efforts to curb oil smuggling.
The law would call for tight penalties against
smugglers ranging from fines to years in prison and
confiscation to boats that are used for smuggling.
He said that there is no accurate study on how much
Iraq loses due to oil smuggling but his committee
estimates the figure at nearly 10 percent of total
revenue — or about US$5 billion (€3.2 billion) a
year.
The Iraqi oil sector has been hampered by decades of
neglect and lack of investment during Saddam
Hussein's rule. Since the 2003 U.S.-invasion,
attacks on oil infrastructure have held back
production,www.ekurd.net
which recovered prewar
levels only at the end of last year.
Iraq sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves,
totaling more than 115 billion barrels. Its average
production for February was 2.4 million barrels per
day and exports averaged 1.93 million barrels per
day.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, AP
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