Friday, July 13, 2007
KRG rejects latest draft oil law
Oil
(Arabian Business) - Meaningful debate of Iraq's draft oil law could be stifled by news that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will not accept the version currently before parliament. Last week there was confusion about the draft that had been forwarded by Iraq's cabinet legal committee. Now it has become clear, in the words of the KRG's minister of natural resources Ashti Hawrami, "that the law has been changed fundamentally, therefore it cannot be accepted by the KRG."
According to Eamad Mazouri, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) general representative in the UAE, Baghdad had said the changes to the draft were only linguistic. "According to Hawrami, Baghdad was supposed to send [the KRG] the draft law along with annexes, including the one defining the distribution of revenues and a contract sample," said Mazouri. "However [the KRG] only received a revised version of the draft law and one annex concerning the distribution of oil revenues."
In a conference at the Kurdistan parliament, attended by both Iraqi and Kurdish MPs, the federal government speaker Ali Al-Dabahg claimed that the changes are not binding, since the whole draft law will need to be voted on in the Iraqi parliament. "The KRG will continue to insist on Kurdistan's rights in this law, as well as any other law that is against the current constitution [or] trying to diminish Kurds' legitimate rights," said Mazouri.
According to Eamad Mazouri, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) general representative in the UAE, Baghdad had said the changes to the draft were only linguistic. "According to Hawrami, Baghdad was supposed to send [the KRG] the draft law along with annexes, including the one defining the distribution of revenues and a contract sample," said Mazouri. "However [the KRG] only received a revised version of the draft law and one annex concerning the distribution of oil revenues."
In a conference at the Kurdistan parliament, attended by both Iraqi and Kurdish MPs, the federal government speaker Ali Al-Dabahg claimed that the changes are not binding, since the whole draft law will need to be voted on in the Iraqi parliament. "The KRG will continue to insist on Kurdistan's rights in this law, as well as any other law that is against the current constitution [or] trying to diminish Kurds' legitimate rights," said Mazouri.
Labels: Ali Al-Dabahg, Ashti Hawrami, draft oil law, Eamad Mazouri, KRG
Monday, July 02, 2007
KRg to invite bids from foreign companies on 40 oil blocks
Oil, Kurdistan
(AME Info FZ LLC) - The Kurdish regional government in Iraq is to invite bids from foreign companies for 40 oil blocks with a view to the new national oil law being agreed shortly, reported Reuters. The authority is planning investor conferences in Erbil, London and possibly Houston and its Oil Minister Ashti Hawrami said firms which are in a position to 'organise themselves quickly' will be in pole position to win the tenders.
Labels: Ashti Hawrami, bids, foreign companies, investor conferences, KRG, oil
Monday, May 21, 2007
KRG to block oil law over INOC's proposed share
KRG, Oil,
(Arabian Business) - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will block the draft hydrocarbons law in parliament, raising the stakes in a row with the Baghdad government over control of Iraq's oil reserves. Ashti Hawrami, the KRG's minister of natural resources, criticised the Federal Government for attempting to give an ‘unaccountable' Iraq national oil company, INOC, almost 93% of Iraq's proven reserves. He said the annexes, which form part of the law, would wrest oilfields from regional powers.
"This will deter foreign oil companies from investing in the country's oil sector," said Eamad Mazouri, the KRG's general representative in the UAE. "Iraq has agreed on a federal state. You cannot have a federal government, while issuing centralised powers." The threat to fight the bill in national parliament comes just days after the country's oil ministry warned regions against signing contracts until the law is passed. But the KRG said it will continue to negotiate production-sharing agreements with international investors.
"The oil industry does not fall under the exclusive powers of the federal government," added Mazouri. "We believe Baghdad is acting unreasonably in this regard." The draft law, which the US sees as a key step towards reconciling Iraq's sectarian violence, is vital to boosting output and rebuilding its infrastructure. But the law cannot be passed without the KRG's support, which Baghdad will not have until the Constitution of Iraq is honoured.
At a recent conference in Dubai, officials from the Federal Government said that none of the oil fields to be given to INOC will be open to investment from outside Iraq. "Iraq does not have the resources, expertise or technology to establish a national oil company," said Mazouri. "It will take years to build the company and Iraq needs oil revenues immediately to reinstate infrastructure and provide basic services to its people. The country needs foreign participation to move forward."
"This will deter foreign oil companies from investing in the country's oil sector," said Eamad Mazouri, the KRG's general representative in the UAE. "Iraq has agreed on a federal state. You cannot have a federal government, while issuing centralised powers." The threat to fight the bill in national parliament comes just days after the country's oil ministry warned regions against signing contracts until the law is passed. But the KRG said it will continue to negotiate production-sharing agreements with international investors.
"The oil industry does not fall under the exclusive powers of the federal government," added Mazouri. "We believe Baghdad is acting unreasonably in this regard." The draft law, which the US sees as a key step towards reconciling Iraq's sectarian violence, is vital to boosting output and rebuilding its infrastructure. But the law cannot be passed without the KRG's support, which Baghdad will not have until the Constitution of Iraq is honoured.
At a recent conference in Dubai, officials from the Federal Government said that none of the oil fields to be given to INOC will be open to investment from outside Iraq. "Iraq does not have the resources, expertise or technology to establish a national oil company," said Mazouri. "It will take years to build the company and Iraq needs oil revenues immediately to reinstate infrastructure and provide basic services to its people. The country needs foreign participation to move forward."
Labels: Ashti Hawrami, draft oil law, Eamad Mazouri, INOC, KRG
Monday, April 30, 2007
Kurds to try and block draft oil law
Oil, Kurdistan
(Al Jazeera) - Iraq's Kurdish region has said it will try to block a draft oil law in parliament, raising the stakes in a row with the central government. The Kurdistan autonomous region backed the draft law in February but has disputed annexes to it that would give control of oilfields to a new state-run oil company.
Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources in Kurdistan, said: "These annexes are unconstitutional and will not be supported by the Kurdish regional government in the federal parliament." The Kurdistan autonomous region could be on a collision course with Baghdad over the US-backed draft.
The threat to fight the bill in Iraq's national parliament comes just days after the oil ministry in Baghdad warned regions against signing contracts until the law was passed. Officials from the Iraqi government and Kurdistan have clashed over the annexes, raising the prospect of delays that have already dogged the lengthy drafting of the legislation.
Hawrami repeated a threat that his oil-rich region would implement its own oil laws if no agreement was reached on the dispute over the annexes. And Kurdish officials have already signed deals with foreign oil companies. "The annexes must recognise that the Kurdish regional government has already allocated exploration and development blocks in the Kurdistan region under Production Sharing Agreements pursuant to the Iraq Constitution," he said.
In a reference to Saddam Hussein, Hawrami said the newly created Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) would be a return to "old regime methods". "The concentration of power in the hands of INOC will represent a return to method of petroleum management of previous Iraqi regimes. "Where centralised oil power was ... used to fund violent campaigns by elites against neighbouring countries and against our own Iraqi citizens," he said.
Officials from the central government and Kurdish regional officials have said they would meet to settle the disputes, but Hawrami said sending a delegation to Baghdad was "futile". A US government official in Baghdad said on Sunday Washington was confident the law would pass. "I think that the government is committed to getting the oil law through. I know various bodies have expressed concern about the hydrocarbon law given the stakes involved," the official said. "The government has a majority in parliament."
Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources in Kurdistan, said: "These annexes are unconstitutional and will not be supported by the Kurdish regional government in the federal parliament." The Kurdistan autonomous region could be on a collision course with Baghdad over the US-backed draft.
The threat to fight the bill in Iraq's national parliament comes just days after the oil ministry in Baghdad warned regions against signing contracts until the law was passed. Officials from the Iraqi government and Kurdistan have clashed over the annexes, raising the prospect of delays that have already dogged the lengthy drafting of the legislation.
Hawrami repeated a threat that his oil-rich region would implement its own oil laws if no agreement was reached on the dispute over the annexes. And Kurdish officials have already signed deals with foreign oil companies. "The annexes must recognise that the Kurdish regional government has already allocated exploration and development blocks in the Kurdistan region under Production Sharing Agreements pursuant to the Iraq Constitution," he said.
In a reference to Saddam Hussein, Hawrami said the newly created Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) would be a return to "old regime methods". "The concentration of power in the hands of INOC will represent a return to method of petroleum management of previous Iraqi regimes. "Where centralised oil power was ... used to fund violent campaigns by elites against neighbouring countries and against our own Iraqi citizens," he said.
Officials from the central government and Kurdish regional officials have said they would meet to settle the disputes, but Hawrami said sending a delegation to Baghdad was "futile". A US government official in Baghdad said on Sunday Washington was confident the law would pass. "I think that the government is committed to getting the oil law through. I know various bodies have expressed concern about the hydrocarbon law given the stakes involved," the official said. "The government has a majority in parliament."
Labels: Ashti Hawrami, draft oil law, Iraq National Oil Co., Iraqi government, KRG, Kurdistan
Friday, April 27, 2007
Iraqi oil ministry says oil contracts not signed with central govt. will be considered illegal
Oil
(Reuters) - Iraq's oil ministry said on Thursday foreign firms should sign oil contracts only with the central government until a new oil law is passed, adding that deals outside its jurisdiction would be considered illegal.
An oil industry source told Reuters the warning, made in a ministry statement after Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani met the Russian envoy to Baghdad, referred to contracts signed recently without the approval of the central government.
"Foreign companies should only sign contracts through the central government and the oil ministry. The ministry warns companies who violate Iraqi law of the consequences of their actions and any contract that is signed outside the jurisdiction of the central Iraqi government is considered illegal." Iraq's Kurdistan regional government has signed several agreements with foreign companies, including a service contract last week with United Arab Emirate's Dana Gas.
While Kurds favour agreements that would share production with foreign firms, such deals have drawn criticism from some Shi'ite and Sunni Arab nationalists. Ashti Hawrami, the Kurdish region's minister of natural resources, said it could clinch deals with any company it chose. "If they do not want to agree on the remaining contentious points we will implement our own laws for the Kurdistan region according to the constitution," he told Reuters.
Iraq's central government and Kurdish officials are currently trying to resolve disputes over the draft oil law, which would determine control of the world's third-largest oil reserves. The law has yet to be approved by parliament. Hawrami has said annexes to the draft law that would wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state-oil company are unconstitutional.
Shares of Norway's DNO, an independent producer about to start drilling for oil at its Tawke field in the Kurdish-controlled north, fell as much as 4.5 percent after the oil ministry comments appeared to cast doubt on its production agreement with the Kurdish region. Shares later pared their losses. An oil industry source told Reuters in Baghdad that the Iraqi government had no problem with a "Norwegian firm" that had signed a deal with the Kurds, without specifying DNO by name. In Olso, DNO said it was confident about the validity of its oil production deal with Iraq's regional Kurdish authorities.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, an architect of the draft oil law, told Reuters after the cabinet passed it in February that it would allow the Kurdish regional government to review existing contracts it has signed with foreign firms to ensure consistency with the terms of the new law. Salih said a commission of independent experts would ratify consistency in case of contention and that regional authorities would be able to negotiate oil contracts with foreign companies based on "maximising revenues for Iraqi people."
An oil industry source told Reuters the warning, made in a ministry statement after Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani met the Russian envoy to Baghdad, referred to contracts signed recently without the approval of the central government.
"Foreign companies should only sign contracts through the central government and the oil ministry. The ministry warns companies who violate Iraqi law of the consequences of their actions and any contract that is signed outside the jurisdiction of the central Iraqi government is considered illegal." Iraq's Kurdistan regional government has signed several agreements with foreign companies, including a service contract last week with United Arab Emirate's Dana Gas.
While Kurds favour agreements that would share production with foreign firms, such deals have drawn criticism from some Shi'ite and Sunni Arab nationalists. Ashti Hawrami, the Kurdish region's minister of natural resources, said it could clinch deals with any company it chose. "If they do not want to agree on the remaining contentious points we will implement our own laws for the Kurdistan region according to the constitution," he told Reuters.
Iraq's central government and Kurdish officials are currently trying to resolve disputes over the draft oil law, which would determine control of the world's third-largest oil reserves. The law has yet to be approved by parliament. Hawrami has said annexes to the draft law that would wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state-oil company are unconstitutional.
Shares of Norway's DNO, an independent producer about to start drilling for oil at its Tawke field in the Kurdish-controlled north, fell as much as 4.5 percent after the oil ministry comments appeared to cast doubt on its production agreement with the Kurdish region. Shares later pared their losses. An oil industry source told Reuters in Baghdad that the Iraqi government had no problem with a "Norwegian firm" that had signed a deal with the Kurds, without specifying DNO by name. In Olso, DNO said it was confident about the validity of its oil production deal with Iraq's regional Kurdish authorities.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, an architect of the draft oil law, told Reuters after the cabinet passed it in February that it would allow the Kurdish regional government to review existing contracts it has signed with foreign firms to ensure consistency with the terms of the new law. Salih said a commission of independent experts would ratify consistency in case of contention and that regional authorities would be able to negotiate oil contracts with foreign companies based on "maximising revenues for Iraqi people."
Labels: Ashti Hawrami, Baghdad government, Barham Salih, Dana gas, DNO, draft oil law, Hussain al-Shahristani, Norway, Oil Ministry, UAE
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Iraqi, Kurdish officials to meet on draft oil law
Oil
(Reuters) - Officials from Iraq's central government and the Kurdistan region will meet this week to iron out last-minute disputes over a draft oil law that will decide control of the world's third largest oil reserves. Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said last week the law would be ready for submission this week to parliament, and he expected lawmakers to make no major amendments.
But Kurdish energy officials have called the draft's annexes unconstitutional, raising the prospect of more disagreements and delays that dogged the lengthy law-writing process. Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources in the autonomous Kurdistan region, told Reuters his objections centered on annexes of the law that would wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state-oil company.
Nechirvan Barzani, the Kurdish regional prime minister, said Kurds wanted to include a separate law on oil revenue management that would set up a Kurdish fund as part of a "package deal" with the oil law. "The oil draft law and the oil revenues distribution law should be passed together in parliament. Without the revenues law the oil draft law would be incomplete, " Barzani told Reuters. "The oil revenues should be deposited in a special account and the share of the Kurdish region must be defined clearly and we have no objection if this account is run by Iraq or an international committee".
The central government wants revenues put in a central account and distributed according to Iraq's population. Shahristani, who has said he will listen to the Kurdish government's opinions this week, said in January that the national oil company will be given control of the country's most prized oilfields, and fields on their periphery.
Hawrami said draft annexes would give the state oil company control of an unacceptably high 80 percent of Iraq's oil reserves. He said an Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) should maintain control of producing fields, but did not have the expertise or capital for discovered but undeveloped fields. The annexes under dispute include: current productive oil fields; discovered and undeveloped oil fields; discovered and undeveloped oil fields; and expeditionary areas.
But Kurdish energy officials have called the draft's annexes unconstitutional, raising the prospect of more disagreements and delays that dogged the lengthy law-writing process. Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources in the autonomous Kurdistan region, told Reuters his objections centered on annexes of the law that would wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them under a new state-oil company.
Nechirvan Barzani, the Kurdish regional prime minister, said Kurds wanted to include a separate law on oil revenue management that would set up a Kurdish fund as part of a "package deal" with the oil law. "The oil draft law and the oil revenues distribution law should be passed together in parliament. Without the revenues law the oil draft law would be incomplete, " Barzani told Reuters. "The oil revenues should be deposited in a special account and the share of the Kurdish region must be defined clearly and we have no objection if this account is run by Iraq or an international committee".
The central government wants revenues put in a central account and distributed according to Iraq's population. Shahristani, who has said he will listen to the Kurdish government's opinions this week, said in January that the national oil company will be given control of the country's most prized oilfields, and fields on their periphery.
Hawrami said draft annexes would give the state oil company control of an unacceptably high 80 percent of Iraq's oil reserves. He said an Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) should maintain control of producing fields, but did not have the expertise or capital for discovered but undeveloped fields. The annexes under dispute include: current productive oil fields; discovered and undeveloped oil fields; discovered and undeveloped oil fields; and expeditionary areas.
Labels: Ashti Hawrami, draft oil law, Hussain al-Shahristani, INOC, Iraq National Oil Co., Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani
Thursday, April 19, 2007
KRG will not sign draft oil law
Oil, Kurdistan
(Reuters) - Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will not sign up to details in the emerging oil law that would centralise control of most of the country's reserves, the region's top energy official said on Wednesday. Disagreement could delay the country's parliament from passing the law, seen as key to attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment needed to overhaul the industry and boost oil output. Annexes to the draft oil law that aim to wrest oilfields from regional governments and place them in the hands of a newly formed state-oil company are unconstitutional, Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources in the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq told Reuters.
Labels: Ashti Hawrami, draft oil law, Kurdistan Regional Government
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Kurdistan to increase the presence of foreign oil companies
Oil, Kurdistan
(AINA) - Iraqi Kurdistan wants to drastically increase the presence of foreign oil companies operating in the region by the end of the year. "We are in discussions with a number of other companies," Kurdish energy minister Ashti Hawrami told the Financial Times.
"It is more likely that the contractors will come (to Kurdistan) to start with and set up a base to hopefully then invest in the rest of Iraq. "Under the terms of a draft oil law expected to go before the Iraqi parliament in the next two months, Iraq's oil industry will be overseen by a Federal Oil Council and an independent national oil firm.
Revenue will be concentrated in a federal account, and redistributed to provinces on the basis of their populations, which would give the Kurds around 18 to 20 percent of the national cake. This represents a concession from the Kurdistan Regional Government, which wanted to retain revenues from newly-developed fields on its territory, but in return they have won the right to oversee development.
"It is more likely that the contractors will come (to Kurdistan) to start with and set up a base to hopefully then invest in the rest of Iraq. "Under the terms of a draft oil law expected to go before the Iraqi parliament in the next two months, Iraq's oil industry will be overseen by a Federal Oil Council and an independent national oil firm.
Revenue will be concentrated in a federal account, and redistributed to provinces on the basis of their populations, which would give the Kurds around 18 to 20 percent of the national cake. This represents a concession from the Kurdistan Regional Government, which wanted to retain revenues from newly-developed fields on its territory, but in return they have won the right to oversee development.
Labels: Ahdab oil field, Ashti Hawrami, foreign oil companies, Kurdistan
