The federal government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq could soon reach an agreement on a new draft hydrocarbon law that would help resolve an impasse over who should control oil resources, Iraq's oil minister said Thursday.
The federal government in
Baghdad
and
the semi-autonomous region of
Kurdistan
in
northern
Iraq
could
soon reach an agreement on a new draft hydrocarbon law that would help resolve
an impasse over who should control oil resources,
Iraq
's oil
minister said Thursday.
Disputes between the federal government in
Baghdad
and
the Kurdistan Regional Government in
Erbil
have
prevented agreement on a draft federal oil and gas law for more than five
years.
The law is important for settling a dispute between
Baghdad
and
the regional government in
Kurdistan
, as
the Iraqi government doesn't recognize many deals signed by the Kurds with
foreign companies. It wants to review these deals and bring them in line with
oil laws valid in
Baghdad
.
"The parliament has tasked the federal oil minister and minister of
natural resources in
Kurdistan
to reach a version of the law
acceptable to all parties," federal oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaiby told
reporters in
Baghdad
.
"A new amended version of the law is expected shortly. It depends on
discussions," Mr. Luaiby said without giving a timespan for reaching an
agreement.
Mr. Luaiby and Ashti Hawrami, the Kurdish minister of natural resources, met in
Baghdad
last week to attempt to reach
a version of the law that would be acceptable to both sides.
The Iraqi government maintains all the contracts signed with the
Kurdistan
government are illegal, but it has been defied by oil companies, which are
increasingly drawn to the region as oil contracts in southern
Iraq
have
turned out to be less attractive than anticipated.
Last November, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) provoked protests from
Baghdad
when
it became the first big Western oil company to enter
Kurdistan
. Tensions
rose even higher in recent weeks when U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp. (CVX),
France's Total SA (TOT) and the oil producing arm of Russia's OAO Gazprom
(GAZP.RS) all struck their own deals in Kurdistan.
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