United Press International spoke to committee members who, despite differing opinions of what the final oil law should look like, all say they want the Council of Ministers to sign off on the legislation and give it to Parliament once and for all.

The law has been -- and remains -- stuck in a dispute between segments of Iraqi society over two key issues: to what extent companies other than the Iraqi state oil companies should be allowed to enter the oil and gas sector, and to what extent control over the oil strategy will be decentralized to the local governments (oil-producing provinces and regions).

Since negotiators struck a deal in February 2007, the committee has received four different versions, none of which has the full Council of Ministers' approval, including the latest version.

Ali Belo, the chairman of the committee and member of the Kurdistan Alliance party, said he wants the Council of Ministers to approve the February draft or an updated version so the Parliament can begin debate.

"When we have that draft, we won't care about anything else except the national interest," said committee member Jabir Khalifa Jabir, a member of the Shiite Fadhila Party, adding the council didn't give approval of any versions of the law that were passed to the committee.

Abdul-Hadi al-Hasani, the deputy chairman of the committee and a member of Maliki's Dawa Party, part of the Shiite-led coalition in government, said they told Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, Parliament speaker and member of the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front, they didn't want a legal point-of-order argument to stall the bill before the legislators -- and oil experts, campaigners, non-governmental organizations, media and citizens -- got the chance to debate the law.

Hasani said the committee wanted the first reading this week but will now press Maliki and his Council of Ministers to "clarify the matter as quickly as possible."

"It could take some time; it's not really a quick law to be passed. It is the most important law in Iraq's economy," he said.

The Kurdistan Regional Government -- covering Iraq's three northern, semiautonomous provinces -- is the biggest proponent of decentralized control after Saddam Hussein's heavy hand from Baghdad. But most Iraqis favor a nationalized oil sector that rebuilds the once prominent domestic industry and state oil companies.

A new oil law would clarify what direction the oil strategy will take, instead of the current hodgepodge of unilateral oil deals and the remnants of Saddam's oil policy.

In February 2007 the KRG-Baghdad negotiators announced a deal, and the law was predicted to be approved by the Council of Ministers and then Parliament. But the law was incomplete, and attempts at clarifying issues like control over the oil fields and areas of land for oil exploration exacerbated the dispute.

The Shoura Council, a body that reviews and amends proposed laws to keep them legally sound, was criticized by some for taking too many liberties. The federal Oil Ministry, meanwhile, developed four lists -- of the producing oil fields, fields that are discovered but not producing, and the lands to be explored for oil and gas -- and assigned them to central or local control, which was another point of contention.

Since 2007 the KRG passed its own regional oil law and signed dozens of production-sharing contracts, which are accused of both giving away too much to international oil companies and being illegal. Baghdad says only the central government can sign such deals.

The Oil Ministry in Baghdad, utilizing the Saddam-era oil regulations still in place until a new oil law is passed, has proceeded with a bidding round allowing international oil companies a shot at up to a 49 percent stake in development deals for the largest oil and gas fields. It has also renegotiated a Saddam-era deal with the China National Petroleum Corp. -- from a production-sharing contract to a service contract -- and is negotiating a joint venture for capturing wasted gas in Basra with Shell. The KRG attacks this for being unconstitutional, while the ministry is being accused of selling out to Big Oil.

Both the central government and the KRG claim the 2005 constitution is on their side.

It's not clear how the draft law can make it through Parliament at this time. The body is busy on key issues with upcoming provincial elections and the federal budget amid an oil price free fall. At the same time, the Status of Forces Agreement to keep U.S. forces in the country not only will dominate any legislative session but also has invigorated the nationalism that comes into play with a law as controversial as the oil law. By offering up a nationalized oil sector to the international oil companies -- especially without a plan to rebuild the capacity of the once-leading Iraqi oil workers and the domestic industry capability -- the law is viewed suspiciously.

Hasani said three related laws -- revenue sharing, restructuring the Oil Ministry and reconstituting the Iraqi National Oil Co. -- are no longer being considered as a package with the oil law.

"Everything is subject to discussion; there is no doubt about that," Hasani said when asked if the version the Council of Ministers gives to Parliament could be altered in the democratic process.

(Ben Lando is UPI's Energy Editor. Alaa Majeed is UPI's Iraqi Affairs Correspondent.)

(e-mail: [email protected])

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