23 March 2007 UK supermajor BP is staying away from Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, to avoid antagonizing the central government in Baghdad. However, despite the Iraqi government’s recent approval of a draft hydrocarbon law, BP will not venture into the country until there is a rule of law and it can be sure that contracts signed with the existing authorities would survive political change, a senior company executive said. “Every…
Tag: parliament
Iraqi Parties Revive Older Hydrocarbon Law
5 September 2007 The Iraqi cabinet has withdrawn a draft hydrocarbon law it sent to parliament in July after it failed to muster enough support from lawmakers to approve it. The cabinet has instead reverted to an older version endorsed by the council of ministers in February which it hopes will be backed by five parties when it’s put to a vote before the end of the year, a senior…
Iraqi Parliament Sets Ball Rolling for Autonomous South Region
12 October 2006 The Iraqi parliament on Wednesday approved a controversial law which sets out the procedures for the country’s 18 provinces to hold referendums to merge themselves into larger federal regions with a measure of self government. Although the powers of the autonomous regions would include signing their own oil deals with international oil companies, they would have to wait until 2008 when the new law goes into effect….
Federalism or Bust
15 September 2006 The debate over Iraqi devolution, which many regard as synonymous with carving the country up into autonomous mini states, has started. The principle was enshrined in the Iraqi constitution adopted last year. But as the stuttering launch of the parliamentary debate underlines, it’s not just the local drivers of the proposal — mainly Shiite groupings and, to a lesser extent, Kurds — whose interests are involved, regional…