Iraq parliament can halt oil contracts: lawmaker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s parliament has the authority to block a contentious oil deal with BP and China’s CNPC, despite the oil ministry’s insistence lawmakers can do nothing to derail the agreement, a top lawmaker said.

“The government believes that such a subject is included in its authorities, according to existing law, but if parliament finds these contracts or this (bidding) round … are not beneficial, parliament can prevent the government,” parliament speaker Ayad al-Samarai said in an interview on Sunday.

“Parliament can stop the government and its decision would be binding,” Samarai said.

Like so much else in Iraq, where the government was rebuilt from scratch after Saddam Hussein’s ouster and lawmakers are struggling over long-delayed reforms to a 2005 constitution, there are countless murky areas of law and governance, often involving competing claims of authority.

Such is the case with Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani’s plans for forging deals with the world’s biggest energy firms in a bid to resurrect Iraq’s oil sector, rich with potential but shackled by years of neglect, sanctions and war.

Reuters