Iraq’s parties reach deal on oil-sharing

[spindrifter]

By Guy Dinmore in Washington

Published: August 29 2006 19:43 | Last updated: August 29 2006 19:43

Iraq’s main political factions have hammered out an agreement on the sharing of oil and gas revenues but other contentious issues need to be resolved before a draft hydrocarbon law is completed, a senior Iraqi official said on Tuesday.

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Oil and gas revenues would be shared out at the federal level and redistributed to the regions according to population and “needs”, he said. This would still provide an incentive to regional oil companies to maximise output, (Barham Salih, deputy prime minister in charge of the economy) added.

<snip>

Under its own regional draft oil law published this month, Kurdistan – which has already started signing contracts with foreign companies – would have received directly the revenues from “future fields”.

Hussain al-Shahristani, the oil minister from the main Shia alliance, has insisted that the federal government control all of Iraq’s resources. The formerly ruling Sunni minority fears the new constitution, which could yet be amended, would hand control of future oil development to the Shia and Kurdish dominated regions.

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c2d3d444-378c-11db-bc01-0000779e2340.html

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I have begun to question whether oil per se was the real backstory to the Iraq war.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. the backstory is desire for empire

which includes control of resources. imho

[dipsydoodle]

2. As far as I'm aware there's not too much to discuss

Under their Constitution, which was written by Bushco , Iraq gets the revenue from existing wells but only royalties, a few bucks if that / barrel, from newly discovered ones. I fully expect their Constitution be tubed and re-written at a later date, as a result, as whoever accepted the current one must have been a real donut.

"I have begun to question whether oil per se was the real back story to the Iraq war." There are diametrically opposed arguments on that subject. Theory A states that by dramatically increasing production OPECs grip on pricing would have broken and oil prices crashed as a result down well below $20 / barrel. Theory B states that by leaving it in the ground as a reserve , and thus limiting worldwide output, oil prices could be dramatically increased - as has happened.