KRG Eyes Oil & Budget ‘Grand Bargain’ With Baghdad

18 Nov 2022 Issue: 65 / 46 By: Yesar Al-Maleki

Optimism is building in Erbil that Iraq’s new government can fulfil its pledge to pass a new oil and gas law which would end the damaging ambiguity over the status of the KRG’s independent oil sector. Iraq’s new PM appears committed to a resolution, but pushing a new law through Iraq’s fractious parliament will still prove a major challenge.

Kurdish involvement in forming the new Iraqi government (MEES, 14 October) came with a clear demand: The status of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s independent oil sector must be resolved once and for all. Ambiguity over the sector has been an ever-present source of instability, and a ruling earlier this year by Iraq’s Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional plunged it into a crisis (MEES, 18 February).

New Iraqi PM Mohammed al-Sudani has promised to deliver a new national oil and gas law within six months which will regulate oil affairs between Baghdad and Erbil (MEES, 7 October). Kurdish officials are optimistic over the government’s commitment, but whether it can be pushed through parliament is another matter. The draft law originally drawn up in 2007 has been in limbo for 15 years. (CONTINUED - 2141 WORDS)