The oil and gas law collides with disputes between the central and regional governments

The oil and gas law collides with disputes between the central and regional governments

3-13-2024

The oil and gas law collides with disputes between the central and regional governmentsInformation/Report:
There is still disagreement between Baghdad and Erbil over the oil file, which has remained an unresolved issue for more than two decades.

If the oil and gas law is passed, it will spark investments in the energy sector and enhance revenues for the public treasury.

A stable national road map for the oil sector will also be developed, attracting investments in oil and gas projects and establishing a unified oil policy, allowing Iraq to effectively benefit from its hydrocarbon potential, including in the Kurdistan region.

Previous parliaments had passed laws that address specific aspects of the oil industry, including the Crude Oil Refining Investment Law No. (64) of 2007, the Anti-Smuggling of Oil and Its Derivatives Law No. (41) of 2008, and the National Oil Company Law No. (4) for the year 2018.

Those who follow attempts to pass the law will find that the real and main reason for obstructing the passage of the law is related to political differences between Baghdad and Erbil.

A member of the Oil and Gas Committee, Bassem Ngemesh, confirmed this disagreement, and believed that these disagreements stand in the way of any attempt to pass the law under the dome of Parliament and obstruct the legislation of the strategic law.
In an interview with Al-Maalouma, Naghimish said, “The law awaits understandings between Baghdad and Erbil to legislate the oil and gas law under the dome of the House of Representatives,” noting that “passing the oil and gas law in the House of Representatives needs political consensus, which is what hinders voting on it until the moment.”

He explained that “the law was transferred many times during previous parliamentary sessions and was not included in the current parliamentary laws and legislation.”

He pointed out, “The oil and gas law is still a matter of controversy and disagreement among political parties.”

For his part, a member of the Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, Representative Adnan Al-Jabri, confirmed that the issue of approving the oil and gas law is still a prisoner of the disputes and the Kurdistan region’s oil export crisis.

Al-Jabri told Al-Maalouma, “The law represents the management of oil wealth in general for the country and not just for the Kurdistan region, and it will include adding articles that serve the areas near the oil fields.”
The Kurdish parties continue to obstruct the government in approving the oil and gas law, which a vote on within the corridors of Parliament has become a must, in order to end the violations and thefts carried out by the Kurdistan Regional Government in the oil smuggling file.

In addition, Firas Al-Muslimaoui, representative of the State of Law parliamentary bloc, revealed the laws planned to be legislated in Parliament in the coming period.

Al-Muslimaoui said, “The priority of the Presidency of Parliament and the House of Representatives is to legislate the laws sent by the government, and in the second stage come the proposals of laws and committees.”

He added, “Among the important laws that Parliament intends to legislate after its draft arrives is the oil and gas law,” stressing that “there is a parliamentary and governmental will to legislate it in a way that preserves justice in the distribution of wealth.”

The Oil and Gas Law in Iraq, which has been awaiting legislation in Parliament since 2005, stipulates that responsibility for managing the country’s oil fields must be entrusted to a national oil company, and supervised by a federal council specialized in this subject.

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