Iraq oil deal may aid constitution effort

Iraq’s leaders said Friday that they had reached a tentative deal to divide the country’s vast oil wealth between the government and the provinces, a significant break in the negotiations about a new constitution.

Under the agreement, oil revenue would be shared by the central government and Iraq’s 18 provinces, and split roughly according to their populations. It was unclear which entity would control the money.

“The agreement is that the distribution would be under the control of the federal government,” said the leader, Saleh Mutlak, a member of the constitution committee.

Houston Chronicle