BAGHDAD, Feb. 1 Iraqi oil law negotiations have begun again as a Kurdistan delegation arrived in Baghdad amid speculation over the law's status.
The Voices of Iraq news agency reports the team representing the Kurdistan Regional Government is in Baghdad this week to make progress on the few remaining sticking points on a national hydrocarbon law governing oil and natural-gas development in the country.
A Kurdish delegation led by Kurdistan Natural Resources Minister Ashti Haurami is currently on a visit to Baghdad to resume negotiations with the federal government on working out a final draft for the oil draft law, KRG spokesman Khaled Saleh said. Iraq has some of the largest oil reserves in the world, but development has been slowed by facilities in disrepair and enduring war and attacks.
The law has been touted as a way to increase investment in the country and setting the ground rules for signing contracts, though the increased security situation would prevent any real boots or dollars on the ground.
But the central government and the Kurds in the semiautonomous north have yet to agree on who would have final say over contracts and the exact percentage of and mechanism for oil revenue disbursement.
Officials of the Iraq Oil Ministry had said the deal had been reached, a claim KRG Prime Minister Nigervan Barazani immediately denied.
Iraq produces about 2 million barrels a day currently, down from the nearly 2.6 million barrels daily before the war.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
