There is no chance that INOC draft law would be voted by parliament before the draft oil and gas law is legislated, according to Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani. Why? Because there is close linkage between the two laws as well as two other laws pending legislation; the oil ministry restructuring law and the revenue sharing law, “without which the state company would be paralyzed.” And that’s not all. There is…
Year: 2009
INOC Draft Law
A Clarification about INOC draft law: The Council of Ministers (CoM) passed on July 28th by a majority vote a draft law for the re-establishment of Iraq National Oil Company “INOC”. A number of points were raised by the Shoura Council, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of oil and the Legal Directorate in the Council of Ministers Secretariat and a number of recommendations were made by the Advisory commission. All were…
Power Machine
The law establishing (or re-establishing) Iraq National Oil Co (INOC) has finally passed the first hurdle, by getting the approval of the council of ministers, not without some opposition as one would expect. After all, the new company to be established as a holding company with considerable powers is set to become the most important institution in the operation of Iraq’s oil sector due first to its structure and second…
Rigging vs Drilling
I personally had never heard of Ramco Energy or the man behind it, Steve Remp, before July 2008 when oil minister Hussein Al-Shahristani said to me in an interview in his office in Baghdad that Iraq Drilling Co (IDC) is forming a joint venture with this company that would transform the Iraqi state company into a drilling giant. A quick search and I understood why I could have never heard…