“You are entitled to repeal, retroactively cancel and renegotiate the Oil Ministry contracts (service contracts and the contract of emitted gas exploitation) in compliance with the councils’ options and priorities,” he added.
Kadhimi went on to say, “Nothing can stop you, neither legally nor morally. Form teams of lawyers, and take advantage of this loophole for the benefit of your provinces. This will be your most important task.”
Iraq signed in 2010 a series of service contracts with a number of international companies to develop its oil fields across a number of provinces.
Former Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum said that, according to the Iraqi Constitution, oil policy must be developed by both the central government and the provinces. Bahr al-Ulum told Al-Monitor that "the first and second paragraphs of Article 112 of the constitution stipulate that oil policy must be developed by the central government with the involvement of the provincial and regional councils.”
He continued, “This means that it is necessary to involve local governments in oil and energy management, and that the central (government) not monopolize this.” He asserted that “the recent amendment, which includes the provincial councils’ powers that reach the oil sector, is positive, and shows a desire to distribute powers and move toward decentralization.”
Yet, Kadhimi said that the Iraqi Constitution stipulates “the right of every province to determine whether or not the agreements taking place on its territory are to its advantage. (This issue) was not applied on the ground when the central government negotiated the service agreements."
Ahmed al-Sulaiti, a leader of the Al-Watan bloc — led by cleric Ammar al-Hakim — and who succeeded in holding the post of governor in the oil-rich province of Basra, after this post had been reserved for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, said, “The State of Law Coalition is preparing to quash the amendment of the provinces law.”
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