The Iraqi government has
sent a draft oil law to parliament, the oil minister said on Wednesday, a major
step towards meeting one of the political benchmarks Washington has set for
Baghdad.
The announcement by
Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani came on the eve of a conference in Egypt
where foreign ministers from industrialized powers and the region will discuss
how to stabilize Iraq and seek reforms in return for reconstruction.
The draft is crucial to regulating how wealth
from Iraq's oil reserves would be shared by its sectarian and ethnic groups.
It was passed by Cabinet in February and hailed
at the time by Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as a pillar of Iraqi unity.
But a dispute between the central government and autonomous, oil-rich Kurdistan
over control of the world's third largest oil reserves has delayed its
submission. Speaking to reporters in Saudi Arabia, Shahristani said he hoped the
bill would pass by the end of May.
"It has been sent to parliament now. There has
been agreement among the political parties to work together to enact it by the
end of the month," Shahristani said. "The KRG (Kurdish regional government) is
not opposed to the draft law -- they are very happy with the draft law."
There was no immediate comment from Kurdish
officials, who have said annexes in the draft are unconstitutional because they
wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state-oil
company.
US President George W. Bush, who on Tuesday
vetoed legislation by the Democrat-controlled Congress that would have set dates
for the withdrawal of US troops in Iraq, is pressing Maliki to push
power-sharing agreements to help ease violence.
"In Baghdad, a non-binding legislative petition
sponsored by anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr calling for a US
pullout timetable gathered 133 signatures out of the 150 MPs present at the
275-seat legislature on Wednesday," said Salih al-Ugeyli, a spokesman for Sadr's
parliamentary bloc. Maliki has said US troops should leave Iraq once his army
and police are ready to take over security. Some lawmakers said they signed
Sadr's petition after adding a clause that said US troops should not leave as
long as Iraqis were not ready. Haider al-Ibadi, a lawmaker and head of the
economic and investment commission in parliament, told Reuters parliament had
not received the draft yet.
