Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Draft oil law nears completion
Oil
Iraq's hotly debated draft oil law is to be sent to parliament "within the coming few days if everything goes well," the Oil Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. "The draft is with the State Shura Council now to be put in a legal form after being written in technical language," Assem Jihad told The Associated Press in a phone interview. He gave no date for the bill's introduction. "We are expecting to take no more than two months to discuss it inside the parliament ... between one and two months it depends on the parliament," Jihad added.
The Iraqi oil legislation, which was endorsed by the cabinet last February, will open the door for the government to sign contracts for exploration and production of the country's vast untapped reserves. It was designed to create a fair distribution of oil profits to all Iraqis and it is perhaps the most important piece of legislation for Iraq's American patrons. Passage of the law, thought to have been written with heavy U.S. involvement, is one of four benchmarks the Bush administration has set for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's struggling government.
The Iraqi oil legislation, which was endorsed by the cabinet last February, will open the door for the government to sign contracts for exploration and production of the country's vast untapped reserves. It was designed to create a fair distribution of oil profits to all Iraqis and it is perhaps the most important piece of legislation for Iraq's American patrons. Passage of the law, thought to have been written with heavy U.S. involvement, is one of four benchmarks the Bush administration has set for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's struggling government.
Labels: Assem Jihad, draft oil law, Iraqi oil legislation
