The
Kurdistan Regional Government brushed off a statement by Iraqi Oil
Minister Hussein al-Shahristani in which he declared all oil contracts
signed by the Kurdish regional authorities with foreign companies null
and void.
"By stating that, al-Shahristani has gone beyond his powers and size,"
KRG spokesman Jamal Abdullah said in statement published on the KRG Web
site.
The KRG has signed 15 oil and gas exploration and exportation contracts
with 20 international companies since it passed its own oil law in
August, angering the Baghdad government.
Al-Shahristani has in recent weeks angrily denounced the Kurdish
authorities for signing the contracts before the national parliament
approves a new oil and gas law, declaring them "illegal" and saying the
foreign companies who signed these deals would be blacklisted by the
Baghdad government.
"Shahristani should file his case to the federal court specialized on
solving disputes among Iraqi regions, rather than issuing press
statement," the KRG spokesman said.
The deals signed are legal and within the framework of the federal
constitution and that of the Kurdistan oil and gas law signed by leader
of the KRG Massoud Barzani, Abdullah said.
Under the federal draft oil and gas law, which is still under debate, a
federal oil and gas council which is yet to be established is the only
body which approves any oil and gas contract signed by regions or
provinces all over Iraq. Also under the new draft law, the only body
authorized to export Iraqi crude oil and gas, whether produced in the
north or the south, is the State Oil Marketing Organization, or SOMO.