KurdistanObserver.com
Mashahadani: Kurdistan Has The Right To Sign Oil Contracts
Arbil, Mar. 10, (VOI) – Speaker of the Iraqi parliament said in a press
conference, in Arbil on Monday, that the Kurdistan region has the right to sign
oil contracts with foreign companies.
"This is according to the Iraqi Constitution," Mahmoud Mashahadani said, adding
"in the constitutional amendments committee, some parties demand having a
central control over Iraq's oil resources, and we are on our way to changing
some constitutional contexts."
Mashahadani did not explain whether the constitutional amendments would approve
these demands.
In 2007, Kurdistan's regional government signed 15 contracts with foreign
companies; a matter that engendered a political problem between the regional
cabinet in Arbil – capital city of Kurdistan region, and the central government
in Baghdad – capital city of Iraq.
Iraqi Minister of Oil Hussein Shahristani considered the contracts "illegal,"
based on the fact that they were approved prior to enacting the Oil and Gas Law,
and he decided to deprive foreign companies that signed those contracts from
investments in the oil sector in other areas of Iraq.
"The federal court will make the conclusive decision
concerning the oil contracts that Kurdistan has signed with some foreign
companies," Mashahadani said.
Regarding the Oil and Gas Law, Mashahadani said "We finished with around 90% of
the law, but some technical and economic attributes remain, and for these we are
waiting for the coming parliamentary term to proceed in discussions."
Many parliamentary and political parties oppose the Oil and Gas Bill, drafted in
July 2007 by the Iraqi federal government of Premier Nouri al-Maliki.
Mashahadani is affiliated with the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), which is one of
the entities that opposes the oil and gas bill, saying that this Act offers
unprecedented "privileges" for foreign investors to construct oil and gas
facilities and refineries they can exploit over a period that can reach up to 50
years, and that this legislation will allow the regions of Iraq to dominate the
resources owned by the public.
