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Iraq's oil policy is wrong: ex-prime minister

Oil&Gas Materials 8 July 2009 11:52 (UTC +04:00)
Iraq's oil policy is wrong: ex-prime minister

Iraqi government's policy on oil fields is wrong and unsuccessful, ex-Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in an interview to Trend via e-mail.

"Unfortunately, Iraq has no concrete strategy in this regard," said Allawi.
In Iraq, there is still no law on oil, which creates serious doubts that the conditions of contracts signed with the foreign companies will be followed.

Iraqi MP and member of committee on oil and gas Nuriddin al-Khayali said that the current legislation does not give the oil minister the right to sign a contract without consent of Parliament.

"It is important that the operating oil fields remain in ownership of the national oil company of Iraq as a national asset," said Allawi.

And there should be a clear policy in relation to unexploited fields, which will allow attracting necessary investment and technology to start oil production on them.

When the development of legislation establishing a national oil company started, the composition of the ministry was changed, said the ex-Prime Minister.

"The ministers who came after me remained indifferent to this and did not work on the development of a national law on establishment of the Iraqi oil company," said Allawi.

In early last week, for the first time in 30 years, Iraq held an international tender on development of the largest oil and gas fields in the country to attract foreign investors and increase production of hydrocarbons. The contract on the development of Rumaila Field with reserves of 17 billion barrels was signed with a consortium led by British BP. The rest of the international oil companies did not agree with the conditions proposed by the Iraqi side on other fields.

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