Wither INOC?

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…

Buying Time

29  September 2006 It will be 2008, at the earliest, before Iraq’s southern provinces unite to form the giant oil-rich federal region that some Iraqi groups are calling for. That’s the deal reached this week by Shiite and Sunni lawmakers which, for now at least, averts further ethnic and religious strife over a Shiite-backed law outlining the mechanisms whereby Iraq’s provinces can form autonomous regions. But the arrangement, brokered by…