BIG WAVE
07-21-2007, 09:14 PM
Baghdad, Jul 21, (VOI)- Parliamentarian Abbas al-Bayyati, from the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition, said on Saturday the political disputes had turned the oil and gas draft law into a political pressure card that led to postpone its debate in parliament till the end of the summer recess.
"The oil and gas law was drafted to serve Iraq and its people but the political disputes turned the proposed law into a political pressure card," al-Bayyati told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
The legislator said "the draft so far has not been scientifically and objectively discussed, and most of the raised objections were concerning the jurisdictions of the regions and provinces and the signing and carrying out the contracts."
"The parliament needs, at least, for a week to pass the bill into law and the remaining period is not enough to set it to debate and thus the discussion of the draft was postponed till the House is back from the summer recess," said al-Bayyati noting that his bloc wanted a transparent vote on the draft under the eyes of the Iraqi nation.
The Iraqi House of Representatives will go on a month-long-vacation as early as August.
As regards the objections raised on the draft, al-Bayyati said "the blocs that believed in a centralized administration from Baghdad stressed on having the final say on the regions and provinces' contracts in the hands of the oil and gas federal council, while those advocating federalism viewed the role of the oil and gas federal council as merely ratifying the contracts within a specific period."
The legislator also drew the attention to dialogues underway now among political blocs on the sharing contracts from within the oil and gas draft law, for some saw it as "an attempt to set the national wealth as a mortgage to the foreign companies while others viewed it as a need by the country to develop its oilfields to increase its daily production from currently 1.5 million barrels up to three or four millions barrels."
A third opinion, the parliamentarian pointed out, was evolved to the effect that sharing in return for service which meant a share of the production would be given to the companies in return of their services.
He added "sharing contracts should be supervised by the parliament and cabinet though some lawmakers saw such contracts as being implemented in Iraq under the former regime and also applied in other countries."
The draft oil and gas law for the management of oil resources is considered one of the most controversial issues in Iraq, and there are differences among political blocs on the law regarding the equitable distribution of revenue.
The law, if approved by parliament, will give Iraqi and foreign investors the right to set up establishments and oil refineries and use them for 50 years.
Most of Iraq's known oil reserves are located in the Shia-dominated south and the Kurdish north.
Iraq sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves and officials have sought, since last year, to finalize the draft law.
The law is vital for attracting foreign investment to Iraq, to boost its oil output and rebuild its economy.
Recent disputes have arisen after Iraq’s oil ministry warned regions in late April against signing contracts until the law was passed.
The Kurdistan regional government has signed several agreements with foreign companies.
SK
http://66.111.34.180/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=50900&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1
"The oil and gas law was drafted to serve Iraq and its people but the political disputes turned the proposed law into a political pressure card," al-Bayyati told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
The legislator said "the draft so far has not been scientifically and objectively discussed, and most of the raised objections were concerning the jurisdictions of the regions and provinces and the signing and carrying out the contracts."
"The parliament needs, at least, for a week to pass the bill into law and the remaining period is not enough to set it to debate and thus the discussion of the draft was postponed till the House is back from the summer recess," said al-Bayyati noting that his bloc wanted a transparent vote on the draft under the eyes of the Iraqi nation.
The Iraqi House of Representatives will go on a month-long-vacation as early as August.
As regards the objections raised on the draft, al-Bayyati said "the blocs that believed in a centralized administration from Baghdad stressed on having the final say on the regions and provinces' contracts in the hands of the oil and gas federal council, while those advocating federalism viewed the role of the oil and gas federal council as merely ratifying the contracts within a specific period."
The legislator also drew the attention to dialogues underway now among political blocs on the sharing contracts from within the oil and gas draft law, for some saw it as "an attempt to set the national wealth as a mortgage to the foreign companies while others viewed it as a need by the country to develop its oilfields to increase its daily production from currently 1.5 million barrels up to three or four millions barrels."
A third opinion, the parliamentarian pointed out, was evolved to the effect that sharing in return for service which meant a share of the production would be given to the companies in return of their services.
He added "sharing contracts should be supervised by the parliament and cabinet though some lawmakers saw such contracts as being implemented in Iraq under the former regime and also applied in other countries."
The draft oil and gas law for the management of oil resources is considered one of the most controversial issues in Iraq, and there are differences among political blocs on the law regarding the equitable distribution of revenue.
The law, if approved by parliament, will give Iraqi and foreign investors the right to set up establishments and oil refineries and use them for 50 years.
Most of Iraq's known oil reserves are located in the Shia-dominated south and the Kurdish north.
Iraq sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves and officials have sought, since last year, to finalize the draft law.
The law is vital for attracting foreign investment to Iraq, to boost its oil output and rebuild its economy.
Recent disputes have arisen after Iraq’s oil ministry warned regions in late April against signing contracts until the law was passed.
The Kurdistan regional government has signed several agreements with foreign companies.
SK
http://66.111.34.180/look/english/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrArticle=50900&NrIssue=2&NrSection=1