The Council of Ministers apparently approved the oil law last week, sending it to Parliament, but that has caused an uproar from Baghdad to Irbil, capital of the Kurdistan Regional government.
Opponents of an earlier draft's decentralization, as well as potential foreign oil company access, threatened to block the law's passage.
The Kurds, the draft's biggest promoter, also oppose it now, for what they call "unauthorized changes made to it."
That's because the new draft relied on changes made to it by the Shoura Council, a body designated to ensure the law used proper format and language and was consistent with the constitution.
"It's taken this back to square one, frankly," KRG Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami told UPI from his mobile phone in Irbil. He was referring to additional changes that centralized authority given to regions and governorates in the draft agreed upon in February, including the control over oil.
The dispute over Iraq's oil includes political officials, oil experts and the unions, with varied demands on federalism, as well as limitations on foreign oil company access.
Much of it relates to the vaguely written 2005 constitution. The Kurds want the oil law to clarify the vagueness, while others want the constitution amended.
The Shoura Council weighed in, saying the law should be postponed. "They assume the constitution will be changed and they took the view the (disputed) articles in the law should be brought in line with the future constitution, not the current constitution," Hawrami said. "You can't be more political than that, with no authority."
And, he said, according to a memo from the Shoura Council, it carried out "their legal review with the assistance and guidance of the Oil Ministry officials." He blamed them for injecting politics into the debate.
"We want this law to go through, but we want this to go through as agreed," Hawrami said. "We don't want any delays."
Ben Lando is UPI energy correspondent. This article was re-printed by permission. © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
