WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The Kurdistan Regional Government supports a federal
oil and gas council as a check on contracts and oil revenue distribution in
Iraq.
Qubad Talabani, the KRG's representative to the United States, told United Press
International Friday the council it supports is an intergovernmental body that
wouldn't have final say, but would serve as a mechanism of common cause for the
rival factions in Iraq.
The Kurds and Shiites control the vast majority of Iraq's 115 billion barrels of
proven reserves. Sunnis, in the minority though in control during Saddam
Hussein's regime, fear unchecked regional control would deprive them of any of
the oil revenue.
Kurds fear a strong central government, led by the majority Shiites, would do
the same.
The council will be "a fair body," Talabani said, without veto power but will
recommend and comment on issues "based on technical or economic reasons" under a
"central framework that guarantees regions rights to revenues."
The council would operate under the package of laws being referred to as the
hydrocarbon law, which will set out rules for governance, control and revenue
sharing of Iraq oil and natural gas development.
The council, made up of representatives of the regions and other key
governmental posts from finance and trade, would oversee the mechanism for
distributing the oil revenue. It would also be able to review contracts the
region sign with oil companies.
