Over 100 Iraqi experts and former oil officials have sent a letter to Parliament, asking legislators not to pass the new draft oil law in its current form. The experts say that if passed without major revisions and amendments, the law as it stands would intensify Iraq’s current divisions and civil strife.
They warn that if certain paragraphs and annexes are not amended, the country risks losing a good portion of its massive oil wealth to foreign investors.
The letter, a copy of which was faxed to this newspaper, is the latest in a series of protests by various political factions, traded unions and professionals.
The Maliki government ratified the draft law in early July, but the experts argue that passing such a law would be unwise before important political factions sign off on elements that have the effect of revising the Constitution. Some of those changes deal with how to exploit and utilize Iraqi oil resources.
Those who signed the letter called on Parliament to shoulder its responsibilities and reject any oil development deals without its consent. In the present draft of the law, Iraq’s regions and provinces have the right to strike such deals on their own. The experts pointed out that the Kurds have already declared several blocks in their territory open for exploration, while the controversial draft is still being debated.
On the role foreign oil firms, the experts said they should be restricted to exploration and building infrastructure, while the allocation of oil reserves to them should be forbidden.
[Editor’s Note: According to the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, the draft oil law proposes giving multinational companies the primary role in developing Iraq’s huge untapped oilfields, under contracts lasting up to 30 years ].
The experts called on Parliament to re-launch the National Oil Company in a manner that will enable it to run and administer all of the country’s oil fields and reserves.
The draft law only assigns certain oil fields to the National Oil Company.
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