Iraqi Oil Ministry Objects to Contracts Signed With Local Kurdish Government, Excludes Violating Corporations from Investment in Iraqi Oil Industry

Oil ministry excludes corporations dealing with Kurdistan from investment in Iraq

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 11 /01 /2008 Time 9:15:00

Baghdad, Jan 11, (VOI) –

Iraq's oil ministry invited foreign corporations to invest in the oil field in all Iraqi provinces including those of Iraqi Kurdistan region and Kirkuk but excluded the companies that have signed contracts with the region without prior approval by the ministry, a spokesman said on Friday.

"The oil ministry would not allow international corporations that already signed oil contracts with the government of Iraqi Kurdistan to invest in Iraq," Aasem Jihad told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) by telephone.

The Iraqi oil ministry objects to the autonomous Kurdistan region's signing of contracts with foreign companies to prospect for, produce and export oil without referring to the central government in Baghdad.

The region had signed 15 contracts with 20 foreign oil corporations in defiance of the central government's objection and ahead of the Iraqi parliament's final endorsement of a new draft law on oil.

Parliamentary debates on the oil & gas draft were postponed more than once despite strong pressures practiced by the United States on the leaders of Iraqi parliamentary blocs to accelerate a new law. The postponement was due to differences among the political powers over some items.

The draft, adopted by the Iraqi cabinet since late February 2007, provides for distribution of oil revenues to Iraqi provinces based on the rate of population.
It also would open the door before foreign investments in the domain of oil and gas prospecting, production and export in Iraq, a country rated by specialized international agencies to have one of the largest reserves in the world.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.