Iraqi Kurds Not Content With Draft Oil Law

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are unlikely to accept the draft oil and gas law, Pro-Patriotic Union of Kurdistan daily Aso reported on 5 April, quoting a Kurdish MP.

Iraqi oil and gas commission member Bayazid Hasan of the Kurdistan Alliance bloc told the paper that the Kurds were “not happy about the many amendments made to the draft oil and gas law”. He accused the Iraqi parliament of silence over the amendments, of which, he said, the parliament was well aware.

He said: “The draft that was presented to the Iraqi parliament is not the same as the one the KRG and the Iraqi premier politically agreed on in February 2007. Hence, passing the law has become a problem.”

Hasan suggested that the draft might have been amended by the Iraqi Oil Ministry.

He explained that the KRG demanded “the oil companies should be independent managerially and financially; the Kurds do not accept the companies to be supervised by the Iraqi oil minister even if they are linked to the KRG”.

Originally published by Aso, Kirkuk, in Sorani Kurdish 5 Apr 08, pp 1,2.

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