Iraq Parliament to Discuss Oil Law

Iraq’s government and Kurdish officials will resume talks “soon” to finally try to iron out remaining disputes over the country’s controversial oil law.
Although officials have said drafts of the oil law have been submitted to parliament four times in the past year only to be rejected by the legislature’s oil and gas committee, according to the deputy speaker, Khaled al-Attiya, the parliament had not yet received a final draft.
“No, absolutely not. Parliament has not received any approved oil draft yet,” Attiya said in an interview with the Guardian.
He said recent talks between the government and the regional government of the largely autonomous region of Kurdistan had focused on adopting a draft first approved by the cabinet in February 2007. There have been different drafts since then.
“Unfortunately, up to now no final decision has been reached,” Attiya said, who blamed blamed oil contracts signed by the Kurdish regional government with foreign firms for holding up the draft.