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Iraq Hopes For National Oil Co Law By End-2011 - Aide
July 13 2011
The Iraqi parliament is expected by the end of this year to pass a long-sought law re-establishing the Iraqi National Oil Company, or INOC, which former leader Saddam Hussein's regime invalidated in the 1980s, a top energy advisor to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.
Thamer al-Ghadhban said that the company would be involved in supervising Iraq's producing oil and gas fields, under-development fields and exploration blocks.
A draft law of the long-awaited new national oil company, which would revive a company established in the 1960s and merged into the Oil Ministry in 1987, was passed in July 2009 but has since been stalled in parliament.
Last week a parliamentary hearing to start debating the INOC law was attended by Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi, former oil ministers Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloom and Ghadhban, the head and members of the parliament oil and energy committee and several Iraqi oil experts.
INOC, if restored, would act as parent of the existing South Oil Co., Iraq's largest petroleum company, North Oil Co., Missan Oil Co. and Midland Oil Co., Ghadhban told reporters late Tuesday on the sideline of an Iraqi petroleum conference here.
According to the draft law, INOC would spearhead national and local strategy, would carry out operations from exploration to developing fields and would partner with or even compete against foreign companies to develop Iraqi fields, Ghadhban said. Oil and gas marketing could remain a responsibility of the Oil Ministry's State Oil Marketing Organization, he said.
INOC will be a cabinet-level organization led by a president with ministerial rank. The company's board will include officials from the ministries of oil, finance and planning and the Central Bank of Iraq.
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July 13 2011
The Iraqi parliament is expected by the end of this year to pass a long-sought law re-establishing the Iraqi National Oil Company, or INOC, which former leader Saddam Hussein's regime invalidated in the 1980s, a top energy advisor to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.
Thamer al-Ghadhban said that the company would be involved in supervising Iraq's producing oil and gas fields, under-development fields and exploration blocks.
A draft law of the long-awaited new national oil company, which would revive a company established in the 1960s and merged into the Oil Ministry in 1987, was passed in July 2009 but has since been stalled in parliament.
Last week a parliamentary hearing to start debating the INOC law was attended by Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi, former oil ministers Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloom and Ghadhban, the head and members of the parliament oil and energy committee and several Iraqi oil experts.
INOC, if restored, would act as parent of the existing South Oil Co., Iraq's largest petroleum company, North Oil Co., Missan Oil Co. and Midland Oil Co., Ghadhban told reporters late Tuesday on the sideline of an Iraqi petroleum conference here.
According to the draft law, INOC would spearhead national and local strategy, would carry out operations from exploration to developing fields and would partner with or even compete against foreign companies to develop Iraqi fields, Ghadhban said. Oil and gas marketing could remain a responsibility of the Oil Ministry's State Oil Marketing Organization, he said.
INOC will be a cabinet-level organization led by a president with ministerial rank. The company's board will include officials from the ministries of oil, finance and planning and the Central Bank of Iraq.
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