The drafting of the law is supposed to be finished and approvals gained from the cabinet and parliament by the end of the year. “The Ministry is studying all the contracts concluded with companies including those concerning Kurdistan Region”.
This subject is one of many that have been discussed early this month during the three meetings of the Ministerial Energy committee presided by deputy prime minister Barham Salih. The Kurdish side has finished drafting the oil law of Kurdistan Region and was supposed to be presented to the Kurdish Parliament soon. However, some sources anticipated that the presentation of the bill will be postponed for later due to the continuous coordination and discussions with the Iraqi Energy committee in order to avoid any contradiction and duality in laws.
Also, the Ministerial Committee has agreed to transfer all oil profits, from the new and current fields, to a central authority and then distribute them according to the population in each province. But the disputes over who will distribute the money among provinces and regions, and who will discover and develop the new fields are still on.
Another dispute is still going on among the concerned sides over who will undertake the responsibility of negotiating and signing the excavation and developing contracts with foreign companies. In spite of the many statements of Minister Ashahristani about the central role of the Ministry in reconsidering and agreeing to all contracts, the Kurdish constitution draft is presuming otherwise and entrusting the Kurdish authority with these jurisdictions.
Officials in the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, headed by Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Hakeem, stated more than once that they will apply the same laws legislated in Kurdistan region in the suggested central and southern region as well.
Iraqi Minister of Oil, Hussain Ashahristani, confirmed that his ministry will start investing two fields east of Baghdad as well as Al-Ahdab field at Kut in the south of Iraq during the next few days. He said that his investment process is the first in oil fields; 30 thousand barrel a day of crude oil will be excavated from Al-Ahdab field as a first stage rising to 60 then to 90 thousand barrel a day as a maximum production power during the third stage. He pointed out that the excavated amounts will be invested to supply Al-Kut electricity station which will be operated soon by the Ministry of Electricity.(Source)Dar-AlHayat
