Row over Iraq oil law AGAIN! The Never Ending Parliament Debate...

[saramiller]

SHHHH!!!
...SO MUCH FOR THE OIL MINISTER'S "SLAM DUNK"..."we'd be passin' gas...BUT, it would seem no HCL...":no:


06 May 2007 (Aljazeera)
http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/17129


A draft law being considered by the Iraqi parliament would enable US companies to take control of Iraq's oil industry, oil experts in the country say.

The proposed bill, approved by the Iraqi government in February after months of wrangling, opens the country's oil sector to foreign investors 35 years after it was nationalised.

"The law is designed for the benefit of US oil companies," Ramzy Salman, an Iraqi economist who worked for the Iraqi oil ministry for 30 years, said.

"If approved, it would take things back to where they were before the nationalisation of Iraq's oil in 1972."

But he said the situation would be reversed when Iraqis regained their "true sovereignty".

'Serious gaps'

Salman said: "If there is something that should be worked on, it is the constitution.

"The constitution contains serious gaps in terms of who is in charge of the oil and its revenues ... [despite the] oil in Iraq being under every Iraqi river, desert, marsh and farm."

The new law, if approved, would authorise production share agreements (PSAs), which offer huge profits for foreign oil companies.

PSAs are normally ideal for poorer countries exploring virgin lands or wanting to extract oil from fields where the resource is well below the surface and are designed to protect investors from the risks involved in such exploration projects.

'Completely inappropriate'

But Iraqi oil experts say investors face virtually no risk, as the country's oil is the cheapest to extract worldwide, and is of such a high quality that it sells at a premium on world markets.

Issam al-Chalabi, Iraq's former oil minister, said PSAs were completely inappropriate for Iraq.

He said: "An oil barrel in most of Iraq’s oilfields costs between 50 cents and one dollar to extract. Iraq's fields are also proven, and investing in them is risk-free.

"These kinds of agreements are normally given when there is a risk, as the case in Sudan, Yemen and several other countries, where companies invest money with great risk that they would not find oil, or they find difficult to extract oil."

Political motives

Al-Chalabi said PSAs were a highly profitable formula for oil companies and in many cases they were granted for "political reasons".

"Under no circumstances would Iraq relinquish its authority, its responsibility and its control over Iraq's natural resources"

Hussein Shahristani

"In the 1990s, the government of Saddam Hussein gave PSAs to Russian and Chinese oil companies, but it was more of a political decision than economic," al-Chalabi said.

"The US and its allies lobbied in the 1990s against Iraq in order to tighten UN sanctions, while Iraq was betting on Russia and China to help remove or at least ease the sanctions."

He said the contracted Russian and Chinese oil companies were mostly government-owned.

The 12.5 per cent profit protected by the new law is also disputed by many as being too high.

Al-Chalabi said the percentage was excessive given current oil prices.
"Iraq's PSA with the Chinese and Russians gave a profit percentage less than 10 per cent when the oil barrel price was around $25, but now the barrel is over $60 which means the percentage of 12.5 per cent is too high," he said.

Break-up of Iraq
The draft law would give Iraq's provinces a free hand in giving exploration and production contracts, which some fear will lead to a decline in the authority of the central government over the country's main resource.
Observers say that if the new law is approved, it will also encourage separatists in the oil-rich provinces to split off.

Eventually the break-up of Iraq would be impossible to prevent.
Iraq's constitution allows governorates to form a semi-independent regions, which enjoy full rights in controlling natural resources.

Dhafir al-Ani, an Iraqi member of parliament, said: "The proposed oil law is the best possible in the current situation.

"However, if there are some gaps in it, then the reason is the constitution, which contains several controversial issues and needs to reconsidered."

[I]
Government denial

Iraqi officials insisted in a forum held in Dubai last month that the bill due to be submitted to parliament will keep the country's oil wealth in Iraqi hands and benefit all of its warring communities.

"Under no circumstances would Iraq relinquish its authority, its responsibility and its control over Iraq's natural resources," Hussein Shahristani, the country's oil minister, told reporters in the United Arab Emirates.

Muhammad Bahr al-Ullom, who laid the early foundations of the current draft oil law when he served as Iraq's first post-war oil minsiter in 2004, has told reporters that he is in favour of the new law. He said it would not put Iraq's oil at the hands of foreign oil companies and it would not devide Iraq.

Al Jazeera.net contacted Bahr al-Uloom in Iraq and agreed with him to call a few hours later for a telephone interview. However, there was no answer to a telephone call at the appointed time or when subsequent attempts to reach him were made.


Kurds and the new law

Ashti Hawrami, oil minister for the Iraqi Kurdish region, said at the Dubai conference that the Kurds would reject any ammendments to the suggested law and that they would go ahead with deals they have already made, whether the law was approved or not.

Al-Ani agreed with Salman that the proposed law was a "political" deal to strengthen US allies in Iraq.

He said: "We are a democratically elected legistlative body, if we would blindly approve anything presented to us, then why are we there?

"I prefer we go home. We have increasing signs that the law is a political deal."

Iraq's Kurdish semi-autonomous region has already given PSAs to foreign oil companies, and is in favour of the proposed oil law.

The region may well gain control of the oil-rich governorate of Kirkuk through a referendum due to be held later this year.

If the new law is approved and the Kirkuk referendum came in favour of the Kurds, the Kurdish region would enjoy huge economic power.

[JIMBODEANR]

HE SAY'S THAT THERE IS NO RISK... What about the risk of being blown up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

git er done dude asap your people are dying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[coconut]

Pass the HCL - Wolfowitz will assist in the reval - two way street, start your engines my fellow Parliamentarians.

Me thinks we have a hostage situation - one for the other.

[ksdunlap]

Yet opposition to the law is mounting at parliamentary, expatriate and grassroots level. In a recent statement, the Association of Muslim' Scholars said: "We call on members of the parliament to reject this law. This critical draft law would revive foreign companies' control on Iraqi oil wealth that Iraq had gotten rid of years ago’. The National Accord Front, Iraqi National Dialogue Party and prominent members of the Sadr bloc and Alawi’s Iraqi list have all publicly spoken against the law. Also, at a gathering in Jordan in February, 50 Iraqi technocrats and former senior civil servants in Iraq’s oil ministry issued a statement in which they criticized the law for its ‘gaps and ambiguities’, rejected long-term contracts and called for more parliamentary scrutiny of the oil investment process. They said: "Long-term contracts of exploration, development and production with international companies are better avoided until the security situation improves…In all cases, it is better to present contracts with international companies to the parliament for approval."

A ministry of oil source who cannot be named explained, "I know that Iraq doesn’t need PSAs, but there are some things that the Americans will not compromise on. They will not compromise on PSAs." It appears that the US and its’ partners have drawn a red line that cannot be crossed. Conversely, powerful actors within Iraqi civil society have also drawn their own red line. Five trade union federations representing hundreds of thousands of workers stated in December 2006, "We strongly reject the privatization of our oil wealth, as well as production sharing agreements, and there is no room for discussing this matter. This is the demand of the Iraqi street, and the privatization of oil is a red line that may not be crossed."

So it appears that the lines have been drawn - between the interests of foreign oil companies and their sponsoring states and the interests of the Iraqi people, constrained by the political and economic violence of occupation. The developments of the coming months will reveal whose interests the oil law will finally serve.

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=13449

[ksdunlap]

The minority Sunni Arabs are at the heart of the insurgency against the Shiite-led government, and hold swaths of land in western and northern Iraq that produce little oil, though geologists believe there are substantial untapped reserves there.

The Sunnis have been pushing for centralized control of the oil industry to assure equitable distribution of the revenues, while the Kurds have favored strong regional control. The Shiites have fallen somewhere in between.

The Kurds held up cabinet approval of the draft law for months, seeking to ensure that it guaranteed maximum regional autonomy to sign oil contracts. They fear that the central government might steer exploration and development contracts toward the Shiite-dominated south, at the expense of other regions.

The Kurds recently discovered two fields in northern Iraq, after signing contracts with a Norwegian and a Turkish company. But on Wednesday the Iraqi oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, a Shiite, said at a conference in Saudi Arabia that any contracts signed by the Kurds before passage of the oil law were considered invalid and illegal, news agencies reported.

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=13456

[coconut]

No, you go first.

Iraq: if you re-evaluate our currency to it's true worth we will pass the HCL.

Wolfowitz/USA: if you pass the HCL we will help re-evaluate your currency.



Pass the HCL - Wolfowitz will assist in the reval - two way street, start your engines my fellow Parliamentarians.

Me thinks we have a hostage situation - one for the other.

[ksdunlap]

Kucinich Condemns 'Blood for Oil' Measure

by Cong. Dennis Kucinich, http://www.kucinich.house.gov




Kucinich Statement on the Iraq Supplemental Conference Report HR 1591

Washington, Apr 25, 2007

This "Supplemental" is a plan to extort Iraq's oil wealth under the guise of a plan to end the war. Funds for the security of the Iraqi government are contingent upon Iraq giving up control of oil. This legislation is a repugnant, high pressure tactic to force Iraq to pass a "hydrocarbon act" which will effectively privatize the oil wealth of Iraq. The key deception is that the hydrocarbon act, which sounds like an environmental law, lets Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds "share" whatever is left after US oil companies take unconscionable profits. This bill is not a plan for peace. It is blood for oil. It is a guarantee of more war and the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq.

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=13443

[graciewacies]

Kucinich Condemns 'Blood for Oil' Measure

by Cong. Dennis Kucinich, http://www.kucinich.house.gov




Kucinich Statement on the Iraq Supplemental Conference Report HR 1591

Washington, Apr 25, 2007

This "Supplemental" is a plan to extort Iraq's oil wealth under the guise of a plan to end the war. Funds for the security of the Iraqi government are contingent upon Iraq giving up control of oil. This legislation is a repugnant, high pressure tactic to force Iraq to pass a "hydrocarbon act" which will effectively privatize the oil wealth of Iraq. The key deception is that the hydrocarbon act, which sounds like an environmental law, lets Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds "share" whatever is left after US oil companies take unconscionable profits. This bill is not a plan for peace. It is blood for oil. It is a guarantee of more war and the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq.

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=13443

Come on now ksdunlap!!
All of these articles are from uslaboragainstwar.org

[ksdunlap]

1—We send a message to all the members of the Iraqi Parliament, when debating the oil and investment laws, to bear the Iraqis in mind, to protect the national wealth, and to look at the neighbouring countries. Have they introduced such laws even when their relations with foreign companies are closer than in Iraq?
2—If those calling for production-sharing agreements insist on acting against the will of Iraqis, we say to them that history will not forgive those who play recklessly with the wealth and destiny of a people and that the curse of heaven and the fury of Iraqis will not leave them.
3—We strongly warn all the foreign companies and foreign capital in the form of American companies against coming into our lands under the guise of production-sharing agreements.
4—Open the way to Iraqis to manage their own oil affairs. They are able to do that; they have the experience in the field and the technical training, have overcome hardships and proven to the world that they can provide the best service to Iraqis in the oil industry. The best proof of that is how after the entry of the occupying forces and the destruction of the infrastructure of the oil sector the engineers, technical staff and workers were able to raise production from zero to 2,100,000 barrels per day without any foreign expertise or foreign capital. Iraqis are capable of further increasing production with their present skills. The Iraqi state needs to consult with those who have overcome the difficulties and to ask their opinion before sinking Iraq into an ocean of dark injustice. Those who spread the word that the oil sector will not improve except with foreign capital and production-sharing are dreaming. They must think again since we know for certain that these plans do not serve the sons and daughters of Iraq.

http://www.basraoilunion.org/

I guess that one is to.

[oldskiier]

All being said !! the Gov has the votes to pass it!!! and the Kurds are for it !!! DONE DEAL !!!! put it to vote !!!:happy64: It will be done before the Oil sumitt !!!

[Midnight Tide]

So here is the question: when are they supposed to vote on this?

[JIMBODEANR]

That's what I am talking about...

[oldskiier]

1—We send a message to all the members of the Iraqi Parliament, when debating the oil and investment laws, to bear the Iraqis in mind, to protect the national wealth, and to look at the neighbouring countries. Have they introduced such laws even when their relations with foreign companies are closer than in Iraq?
2—If those calling for production-sharing agreements insist on acting against the will of Iraqis, we say to them that history will not forgive those who play recklessly with the wealth and destiny of a people and that the curse of heaven and the fury of Iraqis will not leave them.
3—We strongly warn all the foreign companies and foreign capital in the form of American companies against coming into our lands under the guise of production-sharing agreements.
4—Open the way to Iraqis to manage their own oil affairs. They are able to do that; they have the experience in the field and the technical training, have overcome hardships and proven to the world that they can provide the best service to Iraqis in the oil industry. The best proof of that is how after the entry of the occupying forces and the destruction of the infrastructure of the oil sector the engineers, technical staff and workers were able to raise production from zero to 2,100,000 barrels per day without any foreign expertise or foreign capital. Iraqis are capable of further increasing production with their present skills. The Iraqi state needs to consult with those who have overcome the difficulties and to ask their opinion before sinking Iraq into an ocean of dark injustice. Those who spread the word that the oil sector will not improve except with foreign capital and production-sharing are dreaming. They must think again since we know for certain that these plans do not serve the sons and daughters of Iraq.

http://www.basraoilunion.org/

I guess that one is to.

I'm all for this !!!! they will have to RV 1:5 USD to have the money to improve there oil fields..and build refineries......get to it !!!....:happy64:

[saramiller]

Saddly...come 30 May...

The Oil Minister and the PM will still be signing Oil Deals...and the Kurds will be doing their own (leading to the process of 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's vision of the Balkanization of Iraq) as the backdoor...get out of jail FREE clause written into the bill was that 30 May was the drop dead point for Parliament to have a say or to play a constructive role...

REMEMBER...these oil conferences were already postponed a month from 19 April because they were afraid that this was going to happen...

You just don't know whose spin to believe and who has...if anyone...the power to deliver...the HCL...this week...:confused:

The Kurds and the Central Government were to have met this past weekend...

Did they???

I can't find anything that says they did...

Is there any debate on the issue planned/scheduled this week with Parliament???

[oldskiier]

Saddly...come 30 May...the Oil Minister and the PM will still be signing Oil Deals...and the Kurds will be doing their own as the backdoor...get out of jail FREE clause written into the bill was that 30 May was the drop dead point for Parliament to have a say or to play a constructive role...

REMEMBER...these oil conferences were already postponed a month from 19 April because they were afraid that this was going to happen...

You just don't know whose spin to believe and who has...if anyone...the power to deliver...the HCL...this week...:confused:

The Kurds and the Central Government were to have met this past weekend...

Did they???

I can't find anything that says they did...

Is there any debate on the issue planned/scheduled this week with Parliament???

I think they are going to keep alid on it till it passes !!!!


Government denial

Iraqi officials insisted in a forum held in Dubai last month that the bill due to be submitted to parliament will keep the country's oil wealth in Iraqi hands and benefit all of its warring communities.

"Under no circumstances would Iraq relinquish its authority, its responsibility and its control over Iraq's natural resources," Hussein Shahristani, the country's oil minister, told reporters in the United Arab Emirates.

Muhammad Bahr al-Ullom, who laid the early foundations of the current draft oil law when he served as Iraq's first post-war oil minsiter in 2004, has told reporters that he is in favour of the new law. He said it would not put Iraq's oil at the hands of foreign oil companies and it would not devide Iraq.

[Crow]

Saddly...come 30 May...the Oil Minister and the PM will still be signing Oil Deals...and the Kurds will be doing their own as the backdoor...get out of jail FREE clause written into the bill was that 30 May was the drop dead point for Parliament to have a say or to play a constructive role...

REMEMBER...these oil conferences were already postponed a month from 19 April because they were afraid that this was going to happen...

You just don't know whose spin to believe and who has...if anyone...the power to deliver...the HCL...this week...:confused:

The Kurds and the Central Government were to have met this past weekend...

Did they???

I can't find anything that says they did...

Is there any debate on the issue planned/scheduled this week with Parliament???

I say forget the HCL it's nothing but trouble now form a group and review contracts and get started, do another HCL at a later date.CROW.......76

[Crow]

I say forget the HCL it's nothing but trouble now form a group and review contracts and get started, do another HCL at a later date.CROW.......76

CROW CROW CROW

[jimbo]

I know that the HCL will help in the reval of the NID. However is it really needed now that the ICI is pass? With the ISX to open up in 3 weeks according to paganiniraq previous thread even if the HCL takes alittle longer the reval still has to happen. JMO

[madamowicz]

C'mon guys. . . remember that Kucinich was mayor of Cleveland when the city defaulted. I can't believe anyone takes anything this guy says seriously. He's been the union's mouthpiece for years and is so far left that he makes the others (Dem hopefuls) look believable.

[AAD]

they will have to RV 1:5 USD to have the money to improve there oil fields..and build refineries......get to it !!!....:happy64:

What...:eek: LOL! :D

[po-cajun]

I'm all for this !!!! they will have to RV 1:5 USD to have the money to improve there oil fields..and build refineries......get to it !!!....:happy64:

I need some of what your drinking!!!!!:lmao: :lmao:

[REITman]

All being said !! the Gov has the votes to pass it!!! and the Kurds are for it !!! DONE DEAL !!!! put it to vote !!!:happy64: It will be done before the Oil sumitt !!!

I agree! There has to be debate before the vote. It's good to see the debate taking place. Now bring it to a vote!!

[rueben]

The Struggle Over Iraqi Oil
Eyes eternally on the prize

"The struggle over Iraqi oil has been going on for a long, long time. One could date it back to 1980 when President Jimmy Carter – before his Habitat for Humanity days – declared that Persian Gulf oil was "vital" to American national interests. So vital was it, he announced, that the U.S. would use "any means necessary, including military force" to sustain access to it. Soon afterwards, he announced the creation of a Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, a new military command structure that would eventually develop into United States Central Command (Centcom) and give future presidents the ability to intervene relatively quickly and massively in the region.
Or we could date it all the way back to World War II, when British officials declared Middle Eastern oil "a vital prize for any power interested in world influence or domination," and U.S. officials seconded the thought, calling it "a stupendous source of strategic power and one of the greatest material prizes in world history."

http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=10925

[Garf]

It's all about (the bunfight over) the Oil !!

[ksdunlap]

Come on now ksdunlap!!
All of these articles are from uslaboragainstwar.org
Oh so you mean the articles are made up and not true

[Jeffro]

Oh so you mean the articles are made up and not true


Oh so you mean you believe everything you read? If it's a published article then it's true?

[ksdunlap]

Oh so you mean you believe everything you read? If it's a published article then it's true?

Yea right the HCL is a done deal they just want to make us suffer so they keep delaying it. How long have they tried to get this thing passed?

[twodogs]

Here is some possibly good news .................
Voices of Iraq : Minister-Parliament 2007 - 05:13 PM BTBooks : adel on Monday, 07 May 2007-5:13 PM BT
اBayati : portfolios resolved before Parliament this week
من عادل فاخرAdel luxurious
بغداد- (أصوات العرق)Baghdad - (Voices race)
Mr. Abbas Bayati, a member of the House of Representatives from the United Iraqi Alliance bloc, today, Monday, that a number of ministerial portfolios has been resolved in the context of a cabinet reshuffle expected by the Committee charged by the Prime Minister, will be presented to the House during the current week to get confidence. ."Bayati added in a statement to the News Agency (Voices of Iraq) Independent today, Monday, that "would change ten ministries, will include the Ministries of Defense and Interior." .
At the same time, Bayati explained that the parliament will discuss and approve of a number of laws before the summer recess of the Board scheduled Among these laws Law oil and other important laws.
.He pointed out that the Council will seek to reduce the length of vacation scheduled to complete more projects awaiting legislation from the Council.
..The number of deputies objected to the demand of the American President George Bush to postpone the upcoming holiday Iraqi Parliament pending the completion of the legislation needed by the country, where some considered this requirement interference "unreasonable or unacceptable" ... ".With Vice Others felt that the matter does not come from being "Tip and desire", and a third team went to the theme "the Iraqi Parliament."

[graciewacies]

Oh so you mean the articles are made up and not true

yes
I don't listen to anti-war rhetoric!! :wave:

[ksdunlap]

yes
I don't listen to anti-war rhetoric!! :wave:

Nice to know I take all things in and make my own decision I am not anyone's puppet

[graciewacies]

Nice to know I take all things in and make my own decision I am not anyone's puppet

Me either... which is why...



I don't listen to anti-war rhetoric!!

[yunowu]

I hope that they pass the HCL. But if they don't... Oh well !! Gents and Ladies, afterall it is IRAQ !!!! Sigh.........:(

[Galco]

Wait you want to take a vacation? Well you can if you get your chorus done then you can go on vacation.. Now depending on how fast you get them done will determine how long you get to take. the longer you take the less time you get. ok, go and have fun now. :lmao: :shhh: