The Iraq Oil Law, also referred to as the Iraq Hydrocarbon Law was a piece of legislation submitted to the Iraqi Council of Representatives in May 2007 that laid out a framework for the regulation and development of Iraq's oil fields. [1]
The legislation started when the U.S.-backed Iraqi cabinet approved a new oil law that was set to give foreign companies the long-term contracts and the safe legal framework they have been waiting for. The law rattled labour unions and international campaigners, who say oil production should remain in the hands of Iraqis. [2]
On March 10, 2007, prominent Iraqi parliamentarians, politicians, ex-ministers and oil technocrats urged the Baghdad parliament to reject Iraq's controversial hydrocarbon law, fearing that the new legislation would further divide the country already witnessing civil strife. [3]
On April 28, 2007, discussions turned contentious among the more than 60 Iraqi oil officials reviewing Iraq's draft hydrocarbons bill in the United Arab Emirates. But the dispute highlighted the need for further negotiations on the proposed law that was stalled in talks for nearly eight months, then pushed through Iraq's Cabinet without most key provisions. [4]
By December 2, 2007, the Bush administration was concerned that recent security gains in Iraq may be undermined by continuing political gridlock, and started pushing the Iraqi government to complete long-delayed reform legislation within six months. [5]
On June 30, 2008, a group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to exploit some of the largest fields in Iraq American officials say. [6]
In June 2008, the Iraqi Oil Ministry announced plans to go ahead with small one- or two-year no-bid contracts to ExxonMobil, Shell, Total and BP — once partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and smaller firms to service Iraq's largest fields. [7] Several United States senators had criticized the deal, arguing it was hindering efforts to pass the hydrocarbon law. [8]
By July 1, 2008, Iraq's government invited foreign firms Monday to help boost the production of the country's major oil fields, beginning a global competition for access to the world's third-largest reserves.
By February 2009, Iraq had "sweetened" the terms it was the offering international oil companies vying to develop the country's reserves in the first concrete example of a global shift in power beginning to sweep through the oil industry.
Iraq, which pre-qualified about 45 companies to bid on oil projects, plans to award contracts for the six partly developed and four undeveloped fields offered in its second licensing round by mid-December.
The Iraqi oil industry had been completely nationalized by 1972. [9] [10] The government in the 1990s, under the presidency of Saddam Hussein, gave production share agreements (PSAs) to Russian and Chinese companies which gave a profit percentage of less than 10 percent. [9]
The Bush administration hired the consulting firm BearingPoint to help write the law in 2004. [11] [12] The bill was approved by the Iraqi cabinet in February 2007. [13] The Bush administration considers the passage of the law a benchmark for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. [14] [15] One stumbling block was the unpopularity of the law, as it is perceived by the Iraqi people. An opinion poll conducted in 2007 by Oil Change International and other groups shows 63% of Iraqis surveyed would "prefer Iraq's oil to be developed and produced by Iraqi state-owned companies [than] by foreign companies". This explains why the law had stalled in the Iraqi parliament. [16]
The new law authorizes production share agreements (PSAs) which guarantees a profit for foreign oil companies. [9]
The central government distributes remaining oil revenues throughout the nation on a per capita basis. [17] The draft law allows Iraq's provinces freedom from the central government in giving exploration and production contracts. [9] Iraq's constitution allows governorates to form a semi-independent regions, fully controlling their own natural resources. [9]
Some critics have claimed that the new Iraqi Oil law was not needed since Iraq has the cheapest oil to extract. [18] Other analysts have claimed that the no-bid contracts given to U.S. oil companies constitute exploitation since many non-U.S companies would give the same service for shorter contracts and lower percentage of revenue. [19] [ failed verification ]
The economy of Iraq is dominated by the oil sector, which has provided about 99.7% of foreign exchange earnings during its modern history. As of 2021, the oil sector provides about 92% of foreign exchange earnings. Iraq's hitherto agrarian economy underwent rapid development following the 14 July Revolution (1958) which overthrew the Hashemite Iraqi monarchy. It had become the third-largest economy in the Middle East by 1980. This occurred in part because of the Iraqi government's successful industrialization and infrastructure development initiatives in the 1970s, which included irrigation projects, railway and highway construction, and rural electrification.
Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation and the world's second largest oil service company which is responsible for most of the world's largest fracking operations. It employs approximately 55,000 people through its hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands, and divisions in more than 70 countries. The company, though incorporated in the United States, has dual headquarters located in Houston and in Dubai.
DynCorp, formally DynCorp International, was an American private military contractor. Started as an aviation company, the company also provided flight operations support, training and mentoring, international development, intelligence training and support, contingency operations, security, and operations and maintenance of land vehicles. DynCorp received more than 96% of its more than $3 billion in annual revenue from the U.S. federal government. The corporate headquarters were in an unincorporated part of Fairfax County near Falls Church, Virginia, while the company's contracts were managed from its office at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas. DynCorp provided services for the U.S. military in several theaters, including Bolivia, Bosnia, Somalia, Angola, Haiti, Colombia, Kosovo and Kuwait. It also provided much of the security for Afghan president Hamid Karzai's presidential guard and trained much of the police forces of Iraq and Afghanistan. DynCorp was also hired to assist recovery in Louisiana and neighboring areas after Hurricane Katrina. The company held one contract on every round of competition since receiving the first Contract Field Teams contract in 1951.
Investment in post-2003 Iraq refers to international efforts to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq since the Iraq War in 2003. Along with the economic reform of Iraq, international projects have been implemented to repair and upgrade Iraqi water and sewage treatment plants, electricity production, hospitals, schools, housing, and transportation systems. Much of the work has been funded by the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, and the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Robert Dean Blackwill is a retired American diplomat, author, senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, and lobbyist. Blackwill served as the United States Ambassador to India under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003 and as United States National Security Council Deputy for Iraq from 2003 to 2004, where he was a liaison between Paul Bremer and Condoleezza Rice.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is an Executive Branch, inter-agency committee of the United States government which reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. companies or operations, using classified information from the United States Intelligence Community.
Sonatrach is the national state-owned oil company of Algeria. Founded in 1963, it is known today to be the largest company in Africa with 154 subsidiaries, and often referred as the first African oil "major". In 2021, Sonatrach was the seventh largest gas company in the world.
The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is a major national oil and gas corporation of China and one of the largest integrated energy groups in the world. Its headquarters are in Dongcheng District, Beijing. CNPC was ranked fourth in 2022 Fortune Global 500, a global ranking of the largest corporations by revenue.
The Ministry of Petroleum (MOP) (Persian: وزارت نفت, romanized: Vezârat-e Naft) manages the oil industry, the producer of oil and petrochemical products. MoP is in charge of all issues pertaining to exploration, extraction, exploitation, distribution and exportation of crude oil and oil products. In addition, according to the "Imports and Exports Regulation Act", issuing import licenses for such products is also among the functions of the Ministry of Petroleum. The ministry has been placed under sanctions by the United States Department of State as of 2020.
The nationalization of oil supplies refers to the process of confiscation of oil production operations and their property, generally for the purpose of obtaining more revenue from oil for the governments of oil-producing countries. This process, which should not be confused with restrictions on crude oil exports, represents a significant turning point in the development of oil policy. Nationalization eliminates private business operations—in which private international companies control oil resources within oil-producing countries—and transfers them to the ownership of the governments of those countries. Once these countries become the sole owners of these resources, they have to decide how to maximize the net present value of their known stock of oil in the ground. Several key implications can be observed as a result of oil nationalization. "On the home front, national oil companies are often torn between national expectations that they should 'carry the flag' and their own ambitions for commercial success, which might mean a degree of emancipation from the confines of a national agenda."
Oil reserves in Iraq are considered the world's fifth-largest proven oil reserves, with 140 billion barrels.
Soyuzneftegaz – international investment group of companies headquartered in Russia involved in oil and gas exploration and production, as well as construction. It was founded and headed by Yuri Shafranik.
Missan Oil Company (MOC) is a state-owned oil and gas company located in the Maysan Governorate, Iraq. The headquarters are located in the capital of the province, Amarah.
Economic reform in Iraq describes decisions by the Coalition Provisional Authority to dramatically change the economy of Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
China–Iraq relations is the bilateral relationship between Iraq and China. Relations between both countries still remain very close and friendly. Iraq is a major destination for Chinese investment in the Middle East and China is the biggest buyer of Iraqi oil.
China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC Group, is the third-largest national oil company in China, after CNPC and China Petrochemical Corporation. The CNOOC Group focuses on the exploitation, exploration and development of crude oil and natural gas in offshore China, along with its subsidiary COOEC.
The petroleum fiscal regime of a country is a set of laws, regulations and agreements which governs the economical benefits derived from petroleum exploration and production. The regime regulates transactions between the political entity and the legal entities involved. A commercial or legal entity in this context is commonly an oil company, and two or more companies may establish partnerships to share economic risks and investment capital.
Iraq was the world's 5th largest oil producer in 2009, and has the world's fifth largest proven petroleum reserves. Just a fraction of Iraq's known fields are in development, and Iraq may be one of the few places left where vast reserves, proven and unknown, have barely been exploited. Iraq's energy sector is heavily based upon oil, with approximately 94 percent of its energy needs met with petroleum. In addition, crude oil export revenues accounted for over two-thirds of GDP in 2009. Iraq's oil sector has suffered over the past several decades from sanctions and wars, and its oil infrastructure is in need of modernization and investment. As of June 30, 2010, the United States had allocated US$2.05 billion to the Iraqi oil and gas sector to begin this modernization, but ended its direct involvement as of the first quarter of 2008. According to reports by various U.S. government agencies, multilateral institutions and other international organizations, long-term Iraq reconstruction costs could reach $100 billion (US) or higher.
India–Venezuela relations are the international relations that exist between the Republic of India and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
There is a long history of the petroleum industry in Iraq.
