Over the past few years another two further versions of a draft oil and gas law have appeared. And at a recent conference on the subject held in Erbil, comments made by the Minister of Natural Resources in Iraqi Kurdistan, Ashti Hawrami, indicated that there might even be a fourth version (based on 2007’s version) sometime soon.
Which is why it is hardly surprising that many ordinary Iraqis are baffled by this issue. There have been many analyses of the various versions and the legal jargon, lack of transparency and different variations of law have confused both legal experts and ordinary people. But it seems clear that it is increasingly important that ordinary Iraqis understand the basic points of the oil and gas debate that there is such fierce political disagreement on.
Simplifying the complexities of this law does not fully explain it but the major items of contention can be narrowed down to the following points.
The Federal Oil and Gas Council
In the 2007 draft of the oil and gas law, legislation specified the creation of a new body: the Federal Oil and Gas Council. One of the issues that Erbil and Baghdad disagree upon is what kinds of powers this council should have.
Before we go any further here, it is also worth discussing the two main players debating this issue in Iraqi politics. The Parliamentary Committee on the Oil and Gas Law (PCOGL) is chaired by Adnan al-Janabi, a member of the Iraqiya bloc, led by former Prime Minister Ayed Allawi that claims to be secular and which is the main opposition to current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s ruling State of Law political bloc. This committee is supported by Kurdish politicians.
The second bloc in the Iraqi Parliament concerned with the oil and gas law is the committee on this issue within the Iraqi cabinet – somewhat confusingly it is also known as the committee on oil and gas law (COGL), except in this case, the committee members are made up from out of council of ministers, or Cabinet, who run the country.
Iraqi Kurdistan should nationalize there oil like Qatar. Qatar's the richest country on earth.