The Oil and Gas Law has been “trapped” in Parliament’s drawers for 19 years and is threatened with b

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[size=52]The Oil and Gas Law has been “trapped” in Parliament’s drawers for 19 years and is threatened with being postponed to the next session[/size]

[size=45]Political differences and the absence of consensus since the first session of the House of Representatives have made the Oil and Gas Bill a victim and a prisoner in the Parliament’s drawers.[/size]
[size=45]In each session, conflicts have prevented the law from being approved in its final form. Five parliamentary sessions have passed and the law has not been released to this day.
The parliamentary Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee expects that the law will be postponed to the next parliamentary session, despite the visit of the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, to the capital Baghdad earlier this month and his meeting with political leaders.[/size]
[size=45]Member of the Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, Ali Al-Lami, says, “One of the reasons for obstructing the approval of the oil and gas law is the continuing disputes between the governments of Baghdad and Erbil.”[/size]
[size=45]He added that his committee “sent the law to the government at the beginning of the current parliamentary session, and we met with the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic, and all the heads of the blocs and parties, and we explained the importance of this law.”[/size]
[size=45]The member of the House of Representatives points out that “the law is unlikely to be approved during the current session, as it requires study and reading,” suggesting that “the law will be postponed to the next parliamentary session.”[/size]
[size=45]The Iraqi Oil and Gas Bill regulates Iraq’s vital sector and the management of the country’s oil fields through a single national company, with revenues deposited into a single account.[/size]
[size=45]Iraq exports an average of 3.3 million barrels of crude oil per day, and black gold constitutes more than 90 percent of the Iraqi treasury's resources.[/size]
[size=45]For her part, member of the Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, Zainab Al-Moussawi, said, “The law is almost complete, and at a high rate, but there are some objections regarding some points, which are summarized in the delivery of oil imports and exploited and unexploited natural resources to Baghdad.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Moussawi added, “The Oil and Gas Law is concerned with regulating the country’s natural resources and exploiting the largest possible amount of undiscovered oil fields.”[/size]
[size=45]She pointed out that "the law will also contribute to achieving self-sufficiency in petroleum derivatives and optimal exploitation of wasted natural resources, estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars, which will contribute to diversifying the state's financial resources."[/size]
[size=45]The draft of the Iraqi Oil and Gas Law available to Parliament stipulates that the responsibility for managing the country's oil fields should be entrusted to, and supervised by, a national oil company.[/size]
[size=45]In August 2023, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani stressed that “the draft oil and gas law is one of the basic and important laws, representing a factor of strength and unity for Iraq. It has been pending for years, at a time when the country is in dire need of its legislation and to benefit from this natural wealth in all fields and sectors, in addition to the contribution of the legislation of the law in solving many of the outstanding issues.”
He explained that “there are governorates that have not invested their wealth, which is a negative thing for development efforts in all their paths.”[/size]
[size=45]In February 2022, the Federal Court in Baghdad ordered the region to hand over oil produced on its territory to Baghdad, and to cancel contracts signed by the region with foreign companies.
The matter went so far as to invalidate contracts with several foreign companies, especially American and Canadian ones.[/size]
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