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Oil law walkout
By STAFF of Iraq Oil Report
Published August 17, 2011
BAGHDAD - A delegation of Parliamentarians, led by those loyal to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, walked out during the first reading of the long-awaited oil and gas law Wednesday, citing the need to wait for the Cabinet to approve its version of the law, and delaying action until Sept. 6 at the earliest.
"We reached Article 26 of the (oil and gas) law, but MPs from the United Iraqi Collation started to leave the session room," said Bayazid Hassan, a Kurd and the only MP serving a second term on the energy committee. "I saw some MPs from Maliki's State of Law, the United Iraqi Alliance, MPs from the Sadrists Ahrar block, leaving the session. But most of them were from the State of Law block."
Other members said they didn't have enough time to review the draft law, and that a political deal should be reached before Parliament debates it.
"We found, as the MPs of the United Iraqi Alliance, for several reasons it is not the time for the first reading," said Ali Shalah, a member of the State of Law coalition, the largest part of the governing coalition, led by Maliki.
"The first reading of the parliamentary oil and gas law proposal was postponed until after Eid," he said, referring to the holiday that caps the month-long Ramadan holiday, on Sept. 3. Parliament is supposed to resume Sept. 6, but the law itself has not been put back on the official schedule.
An alternative law, proposed by the Oil Ministry, is with the Council of Ministers and is the preferred legislative path of the Maliki government. "But so far we do not know what has happened with this law and where it has reached in the process of the approval," Hassan said.
Shalah specifically said "it is better to wait until the cabinet draft law goes to parliament, then the two laws will be read at the Parliament and will see how to make a proper law between both."
Awad al-Awadi, a Sadrist MP and member of the committee, said the committee will "write to the Council of Ministers about the necessity to speed up the approval of (its) draft oil and gas law."
The reading, however cut short, is itself a bit of legislative progress: it was the third attempt in the past week of the Oil and Energy Committee to move the bill forward, according to members of the committee and other officials involved with the legislative process.
The committee, led by Adnan Janabi, a member of ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya political block, has taken a more active stance on oil related issues than the previous legislature.
This has led most recently to confrontation between Janabi's committee and Maliki's supporters on a political level, and tested the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches that has thus far in Iraq's post-2003 political development increasingly skewed to a sole authority of the premier.
Upon a request from the prime minister, the Federal Supreme Court late last year ruled that the Constitution authorizes only the Cabinet to formally submit legislation for Parliament's consideration, and that Parliament itself can only propose laws. That ruling itself is in dispute and being challenged by this oil law itself.
Janabi bottom-lined the draft of the oil law that was given a partial read Wednesday, submitted to the speaker of the Parliament by a cross-section of 61 members of Parliament earlier this month, despite the Oil Ministry's proposed law. In the past, laws have come from the Cabinet.
The committee has also officially requested Parliament enact a ban on all oil deals until the oil law is approved.
This was an attempt not only to pressure the political leaders into a sense of urgency on the oil law, but assert the belief of Janabi and other MPs that without a new law governing the oil sector, existing laws require Parliament approval of all deals.
In the absence of the new law, Baghdad, the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and some provinces have proceeded with their own interpretation of the rights to sign oil deals.
The committee has also pushed to reconstitute the national oil company, in a law that would be a companion to the oil and gas law, but is opposed by the Oil Ministry.
The oil and gas law is seen as the backbone of Iraq's oil development. It would in theory create strategic policy and management guidelines for the world's third largest oil sector, ending oil disputes that have reverberated throughout the country's political process, which in turn has held back development of the oil sector that has struggled through more than three decades of wars, occupation and mismanagement.
But the law itself continues to be a sore point, languishing in political limbo since late 2006 when a draft was first presented to the government and was subsequently derailed in a dispute between Iraq's de-centralized minded Kurds and the government in Baghdad.
Key members of the new government, made up of a contentious coalition of those who either pledged allegiance to Maliki, his arch rival Allawi, and the Kurdistan Coalition, has nevertheless pushed for a debate on the law.
"When we at the oil and energy committee decided to submit this proposal law of oil and gas for the first reading at the Parliament, it was welcomed by many MPs because this law is very important," said Awadi. "All MPs agreed about the importance of this law and that it should be discussed at the Parliament, but they have differences in the mechanisms of the legislation of this law."
Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi told reporters Tuesday he expects $80 billion in oil sales this year, as oil exports are to date averaging 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd). Iraq's central and regional governments have signed more than 50 oil contracts since 2004, deals that each side criticizes as illegitimate or of poor value to Iraq, but combined would increase the country's oil production capacity from 2.75 million bpd to more than 13.5 million bpd in seven years.
Iraqi staff in Baghdad are anonymous for their security.
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By STAFF of Iraq Oil Report
Published August 17, 2011
BAGHDAD - A delegation of Parliamentarians, led by those loyal to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, walked out during the first reading of the long-awaited oil and gas law Wednesday, citing the need to wait for the Cabinet to approve its version of the law, and delaying action until Sept. 6 at the earliest.
"We reached Article 26 of the (oil and gas) law, but MPs from the United Iraqi Collation started to leave the session room," said Bayazid Hassan, a Kurd and the only MP serving a second term on the energy committee. "I saw some MPs from Maliki's State of Law, the United Iraqi Alliance, MPs from the Sadrists Ahrar block, leaving the session. But most of them were from the State of Law block."
Other members said they didn't have enough time to review the draft law, and that a political deal should be reached before Parliament debates it.
"We found, as the MPs of the United Iraqi Alliance, for several reasons it is not the time for the first reading," said Ali Shalah, a member of the State of Law coalition, the largest part of the governing coalition, led by Maliki.
"The first reading of the parliamentary oil and gas law proposal was postponed until after Eid," he said, referring to the holiday that caps the month-long Ramadan holiday, on Sept. 3. Parliament is supposed to resume Sept. 6, but the law itself has not been put back on the official schedule.
An alternative law, proposed by the Oil Ministry, is with the Council of Ministers and is the preferred legislative path of the Maliki government. "But so far we do not know what has happened with this law and where it has reached in the process of the approval," Hassan said.
Shalah specifically said "it is better to wait until the cabinet draft law goes to parliament, then the two laws will be read at the Parliament and will see how to make a proper law between both."
Awad al-Awadi, a Sadrist MP and member of the committee, said the committee will "write to the Council of Ministers about the necessity to speed up the approval of (its) draft oil and gas law."
The reading, however cut short, is itself a bit of legislative progress: it was the third attempt in the past week of the Oil and Energy Committee to move the bill forward, according to members of the committee and other officials involved with the legislative process.
The committee, led by Adnan Janabi, a member of ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya political block, has taken a more active stance on oil related issues than the previous legislature.
This has led most recently to confrontation between Janabi's committee and Maliki's supporters on a political level, and tested the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches that has thus far in Iraq's post-2003 political development increasingly skewed to a sole authority of the premier.
Upon a request from the prime minister, the Federal Supreme Court late last year ruled that the Constitution authorizes only the Cabinet to formally submit legislation for Parliament's consideration, and that Parliament itself can only propose laws. That ruling itself is in dispute and being challenged by this oil law itself.
Janabi bottom-lined the draft of the oil law that was given a partial read Wednesday, submitted to the speaker of the Parliament by a cross-section of 61 members of Parliament earlier this month, despite the Oil Ministry's proposed law. In the past, laws have come from the Cabinet.
The committee has also officially requested Parliament enact a ban on all oil deals until the oil law is approved.
This was an attempt not only to pressure the political leaders into a sense of urgency on the oil law, but assert the belief of Janabi and other MPs that without a new law governing the oil sector, existing laws require Parliament approval of all deals.
In the absence of the new law, Baghdad, the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and some provinces have proceeded with their own interpretation of the rights to sign oil deals.
The committee has also pushed to reconstitute the national oil company, in a law that would be a companion to the oil and gas law, but is opposed by the Oil Ministry.
The oil and gas law is seen as the backbone of Iraq's oil development. It would in theory create strategic policy and management guidelines for the world's third largest oil sector, ending oil disputes that have reverberated throughout the country's political process, which in turn has held back development of the oil sector that has struggled through more than three decades of wars, occupation and mismanagement.
But the law itself continues to be a sore point, languishing in political limbo since late 2006 when a draft was first presented to the government and was subsequently derailed in a dispute between Iraq's de-centralized minded Kurds and the government in Baghdad.
Key members of the new government, made up of a contentious coalition of those who either pledged allegiance to Maliki, his arch rival Allawi, and the Kurdistan Coalition, has nevertheless pushed for a debate on the law.
"When we at the oil and energy committee decided to submit this proposal law of oil and gas for the first reading at the Parliament, it was welcomed by many MPs because this law is very important," said Awadi. "All MPs agreed about the importance of this law and that it should be discussed at the Parliament, but they have differences in the mechanisms of the legislation of this law."
Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi told reporters Tuesday he expects $80 billion in oil sales this year, as oil exports are to date averaging 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd). Iraq's central and regional governments have signed more than 50 oil contracts since 2004, deals that each side criticizes as illegitimate or of poor value to Iraq, but combined would increase the country's oil production capacity from 2.75 million bpd to more than 13.5 million bpd in seven years.
Iraqi staff in Baghdad are anonymous for their security.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
