The energy minister of the autonomous Kurdish regional administration, Ashti Hawrami, said that the region is heading towards agreement with 15 oil companies, with the goal of increasing investment in the Kurdish region’s oil sector.
Hawrami said that he hoped that the companies would headquarter their Iraqi operations in Kurdistan, according to the news agency.
International oil companies have expressed eagerness to tap Iraq's vast oil reserves, but also have voiced reservations over the poor security situation in the country. Kurdish authorites are angling to exploit their region's energy reserves and relative stability to develop the autonomous area into Iraq's oil hub.
Kurdish authorities are proceeding with negotiations with foreign oil concerns in the absence of a national oil law that would regulate such interactions.
No agreement has been reached as yet on the controversial draft oil law, presented last month to the Iraqi parliament.
Al–Jazeera notes that 61 oil experts, among them former ministers and general directors, called last week upon the Parliament to reject the new measure, warning that “gaps” in the law could be exploited by foreign companies, at the expense of the national interest.
The law would devolve control over negotiations and contracts to Iraq’s provinces, subject to the review of a new federal agency. Revenues would be distributed on a per capita basis between all of Iraq’s provinces, via a mechanism to be determined in separate legislation.
Kurdish authorities have already entered into agreements with five foreign oil concerns, even in the absence of a national oil law. The Kurdish region drilled its first oil wells since the 2003 US invasion in February 2005.
