Blogger translates leaked copy of secret Iraq oil law draft
This should be a major story. Iraq-born blogger Raed Jarrar has obtained a leaked copy of Iraq's new oil law. You also can get a look at this document here. Today on Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman interviewed Raed Jarrar along with the important Iraq oil policy researcher, Antonia Juhasz.
New Iraq Oil Law To Open Iraq's Oil Reserves to Western Companies</font>
RAED JARRAR: The document was leaked by Professor Fouad Al-Ameer and published on a website called al-ghad.org. And then it was leaked to other important websites like niqash.org and other places. There are different ways of -- different copies of it. Some of it are scanned, and others of the original document, but it just hit the internet last week.
AMY GOODMAN: And explain what it says, now that you’ve finished translating it.
RAED JARRAR: It said so many things. I don’t think we can summarize it this short, because it’s a very long document, around thirty pages. But majorly, there are three major points that I think we should talk about. Financially, it legalizes very unfair types of contracts that will put Iraq in very long-term contracts that can go up to thirty-five years and cause the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars from Iraqis for no cause.
And the second point is concerning Iraq's sovereignty. Iraq will not be capable of controlling the levels -- the limits of production, which means that Iraq cannot be a part of OPEC anymore. And Iraq will have this very complicated institution called the Federal Oil and Gas Council, that will have representatives from the foreign oil companies on the board of it, so representatives from, let’s say, ExxonMobil and Shell and British Petroleum will be on the federal board of Iraq approving their own contracts.
And the third point is the point about keeping Iraq’s unity. The law is seen by many Iraqi analysts as a separation for Iraq fund. The law will authorize all of the regional and small provinces’ authorities. It will give them the final say to deal with the oil, instead of giving this final say to central federal government, so it will open the doors for splitting Iraq into three regions or even maybe three states in the very near future.
To me, it is very clear that what the Iraq oil law seeks to preserve is the ability of hyrocarbon-connected elites in Washington to make fundamental decisions about development and distribution of profits from Iraq's oil. It will keep the Iraqi public in the dark and at bay while very, very costly decisions about oil are made below the table. The basic effect of the law will be to ensure that, according to Antonia Juhasz,
ultimate decision making on contracts rests with a new council to be set up in Iraq, and sitting on that council will be representatives -- executives, in fact -- of oil companies, both foreign and domestic. In addition, it does maintain the Iraq National Oil Company, but gives the Iraq National Oil Company almost no preference.
Whatever oversight the Iraqi people may have, foreign oil executives will be responsible for all decisions and all accounting concerning Iraq's oil.
Blogger scooped the New York Times
It is difficult to recognize and interpret the complex, clandestine methods Bush administration officials and their collaborators in the Iraqi government are using to insure Iraq will pay a heavy price for development of its key resource with the boot of Washington on its neck. To misdirect public scrutiny officials give lip service to the claim that the new law will be a great thing for Iraq. According to yesterday's story by regular New York Times Iraq oil correspondent James Glanz, "the law is considered an essential element of creating a stable and functioning government."
The way Glanz sources his knowledge of the draft law seems to me to be pathetic, "Earlier drafts of the law" were "described to The New York Times". With all the resources of the Times no actual text of the law could be published. But a mere blogger has been able to issue the whole thing.
There is some disconnect between the Times interpretation and Raed's. Raed notes that the law empowers regions the "final say to deal with the oil", while Glanz reports that under the law, "Iraq’s central government in Baghdad would retain substantial control over oil revenues and the right to review the contracts that regional governments sign with Iraqi and international companies to develop the fields and to pump oil."
And that,
Negotiations had snagged because of the insistence by the Kurds that they maintain a degree of autonomy in managing their northern fields. But two members of the negotiating committee confirmed that a draft had been sent to the cabinet, indicating that a compromise might be in sight.Neither of those negotiators — Hussain al-Shahristani, the current oil minister, and Thamir Ghadban, a former oil minister — provided details of the compromise. But a senior official in the Kurdish regional government also said that a deal was near and hinted that the Kurds had received concessions on how the law would affect existing contracts with oil companies that agreed to work in the north.
My question to Raed would be, at what stage of this "compromise" does the available version of the document reflect? I guess it will be important to follow Raed's blog.
Iraqi opposition to the oil law
In a speech two weeks ago, Hasan Jum`ah `Awwad al-Asadi, head of the Federation of Oil Unions gave called on the international community to, "Open the way to Iraqis to manage their own oil affairs."
He disputes the notion that there should be a rush to invite foreign companies into the country while giving them such dominant, long-term control.
They [Iraqis] are able to do that [manage their own oil affairs]; they have the experience in the field and the technical training, have overcome hardships and proven to the world that they can provide the best service to Iraqis in the oil industry. The best proof of that is how after the entry of the occupying forces and the destruction of the infrastructure of the oil sector the engineers, technical staff and workers were able to raise production from zero to 2,100,000 barrels per day without any foreign expertise or foreign capital. Iraqis are capable of further increasing production with their present skills. The Iraqi state needs to consult with those who have overcome the difficulties and to ask their opinion before sinking Iraq into an ocean of dark injustice. Those who spread the word that the oil sector will not improve except with foreign capital and production-sharing are dreaming. They must think again since we know for certain that these plans do not serve the sons and daughters of Iraq.
The crux of the matter behind the US occupation of Iraq is denial by the US of what al-Asadi clearly states Iraqis want—control of their own affairs. A permanent military occupation is the only way the US will be able to hold this new oil law in force. Otherwise, Iraqis would be able to develop their oil in their own best interests.