History of petroleum industry in Iraq

Turkish-born Armenian Calouste Gulbenkian played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development and is accredited with being the first person to exploit Iraqi oil.

The modern history of oil in Iraq is the history of the Iraq Petroleum Company, which was formed in 1912.

Iraq War and Post-War developments

In February 2007, the Iraqi cabinet approved a draft law that would distribute oil revenues to the various regions and provinces of Iraq based on population, and would also give regional oil companies the authority to enter into contractual arrangements directly with foreign companies concerning the exploration and development of oil fields. Iraqis remained divided over provisions allowing regional governments to enter into contracts directly with foreign companies; while strongly supported by Kurds, Sunni Arabs wanted the Oil Ministry to retain signing power. As a compromise the draft law proposed that a new body called the Federal Oil and Gas Council would be created that could, in some circumstances, prevent execution of contracts signed by regional governments. ^[2] This arrangement would undo the nationalization of the Iraqi oil industry that dates back to 1972.^{[ citation needed ]}

Under Article I of the 2010 Law of Income Taxation on Foreign Oil Companies Working in Iraq, there is a 35% tax on "income earned in Iraq from the contracts signed with the Foreign Oil Companies, their subsidiaries, branches, or offices and their subcontractors working in Iraq in the field of oil and gas extraction and production and the relevant industries". The production contracts, which foreign oil companies enter into with the Iraqi federal or regional governments, often include revenue-sharing terms as well. ^{[3] [4]}

Additionally, in the last few years oil production in Iraq has increased rapidly and seems to be headed in even more of a direction where it will be even more heavily relied on. ^[5]

The increase of oil in Iraq up until 2013

References

1. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2006. p. 817. ISBN   1593394926.
2. Wong, Edward (2007-02-27). "Iraqi cabinet approves national oil law". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-06-12.
3. ILEI-Oil-and-Gas-Law.pdf (PDF), retrieved 2018-06-12
4. Al-Hashimi, Tariq; Abdul-Mahdi, Adel; Talabani, Jalal. "The Law of Income Taxation on Foreign Oil Companies. Working in Iraq. No. (19) Of 2010": 5.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
5. Michael, Mobilia (11 January 2019). "Iraq's oil production has nearly doubled over the past decade".