Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris

• 4 • Information and liaison bulletin n° 272 • November 2007
In all, about fifteen blocks have
been allocated by the Kurdish
Government since the region
passed an oil and gas law in
August 20007. “Only 17% of the
income from Kurdish oil will remain
in Kurdistan, the remaining 83% will
benefit Iraqis living outside
Kurdistan”, the communiqué stated.
Dr. Hawrami insisted that the
signing of new contracts was “a
major stage in towards the objective
that the Kurdish region has set itself of
producing a million barrels a day”.
An Iraqi Parliamentary Bill,
regarding the respective prerogatives
of provinces and central State
in this strategic sector, has been
under discussion for the last few
months but has still not been put
on the agenda for debate in full
session, despite the insistence of
the United States that wants desperately
to see it passed. The Bill
would widely open the Iraqi Oil
sector, which has been nationalised
since the 70s, to foreign private
companies. It lays down a distribution
of oil revenues between the
central States and the productive
provinces Critics of this law consider
that it give too generous a
share to foreign companies, that
would receive a guaranteed percentage
of the income from oil
exports to repay their investments.
They insist that, as Iraqi oil is one
of the cheapest to extract in the
world, the investments required
could be made by the Iraqi government
itself without making any
hole in the country’s revenue. At
present, 72% of Iraq’s oil comes
from three Southern provinces, of
which 60% comes from the Basra
region alone. The bulk of Iraqi
crude is also exported from the
Basra terminal. However, new geological
research has shown the possibility
of deposits in Kurdistan
and also in the West, hitherto lacking
in operating oilfields. “We have
waited five months (…) the members
of the Iraqi Parliament have done
nothing and there is no sign that they
are going to do anything rapidly”, the
Kurdish Prime Minister, Nechirvan
Barzani, deplored in justification of
his government’s choice “in the
name of federalism” — and to
express his determination “to set an
example”.
Iraqi Kurdistan, the sole island of
peace in an Iraq extensively
plunged into chaos on the strength
of the wide autonomy that the Constitution
gives it, has been enjoying
regained economic prosperity since
the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein
regime in 2003. The Kurdish
leaders have repeatedly affirmed
their determination to exploit their
mineral resources and are thus,
with the signature of these new
contracts moving into top gear.
Thus early in September the
regional government announced
the signature of a contract with a
local subsidiary of the American
Hunt Oil company of Dallas and
with the Impulse Energy Corporation
(IEC) for exploring oilfields in
the Dohuk region. According to
Kiwan Siwaily, Adviser to the Kur-
dish Minister of Oil Resources,
Ashti Hawrami, “Iraq has over 12%
of the worlds oil resources, 5% of
which are in our region”. Since the
1920s, for political reasons, Kurdistan
has never been allowed to
develop them. Saddam Hussein
did not even allow Kurdish students
to attend courses in oil and
gas technology. In the 70s enormous
oilfields were found in Iraqi
Kurdistan but barely explored.
Since the fall of the regime in 2003,
they have attracted the covetous
appetites of the international oil
industry, whose representatives are
gathering at Irbil the regional capital.
“We have to secure the consent of
the central government to export oil
but we don’t have to ask anyone permission
to supply our own needs”,
added Mr. Siwaily, when questioned
by journalists on 16 November.
“Today we are only producing
20,000 barrels a day and we need
100,000. Its oil, its our right (…) They
can discuss the federal Bill for ever in
Baghdad (…) It could talk them two or
three years. We have lost enough time
already. We have here enough oil to
supply the whole of the Middle East.
Just you see — in two or three years
we’ll be self-sufficient”, added Mr.
Siwaily. The Kurdish authorities
have stated that they would be satisfied
with the quota of 17% of the
eventual receipts from exports that
they would be authorised to
receive (under the draft Bill). At
Federal level, this 17% is also the
proportion of the national Budget
granted to the Kurdish region.