Al-Hilali reveals the essence of the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the oil and gas law.
Al-Hilali reveals the essence of the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil over the oil and gas law.
6-1-2025
Al-Maalouma/Anbar…
Member of Parliament, Ibtisam Al-Hilali, revealed on Sunday the core of the disagreements between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) regarding the approval of the oil and gas law, stressing that these disagreements are an obstacle to the law’s passage in parliament.
Al-Hilali told Al-Maalouma News Agency that “the Kurdish parties are obstructing the passage of the oil and gas law due to fundamental disagreements related to sovereignty over oil fields, production mechanisms, and revenues.” She explained that “the main disagreement lies in the region’s insistence on managing the fields and allocating revenues to its benefit, while the federal government insists that all oil fields be subject to its direct supervision and that the revenues be deposited in a unified central account.”
She added that “the Kurdistan Regional Government insists on including a clause in the law that allows it to contract directly with foreign companies and allocate the proceeds of these contracts to special accounts not subject to Baghdad’s oversight,” stressing that “this point is one of the most prominent and deepest points of disagreement between the two sides.”
Al-Hilali pointed out that there is “a genuine will within the House of Representatives to proceed with the legislation of the law during the next phase, after voting on it was postponed for five consecutive sessions due to objections from the Kurdish blocs.”
She emphasized that “the draft law explicitly stipulates that the management of the oil fields must be under the exclusive supervision of the federal government.”
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