IRAQ-OIL/ALLAWI (INTERVIEW, UPDATE 1)

April 3, 2010 · Posted in NEWS
IRAQ-OIL/ALLAWI (INTERVIEW, UPDATE 1)

* Iraq PM hopeful says would honour oil contracts

* Would make hydrocarbons law a top legislative priority

* Wants to halt squabbles with Kurdish region

(Adds details, quotes, background, byline)

By Khalid al-Ansary and Jim Loney

BAGHDAD, March 31 (Reuters) – Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Wednesday he would honour deals signed with global oil majors in recent months and would move quickly to pass a new hydrocarbons law if his bloc forms the government.

But Allawi, whose cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition won the greatest number of seats in Iraq’s March 7 parliamentary election, said the deals might need some minor adjustments and he wanted to see more competition in Iraq’s energy sector.

“We are going to honour all contracts. We are going to honour all agreements because we believe this is very important,” Allawi told Reuters in an interview.

Iraq awarded billions of dollars of contracts to oil majors to refurbish its dilapidated oil fields after years of neglect and war. Baghdad’s goal is to expand production capacity to 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in about six years from about 2.5 million bpd now.

The contracts could catapult Iraq into the top ranks of global producers. The war-shattered nation has the world’s third-largest reserves but is just the 11th largest producer.

Companies involved in the deals include U.S. major Exxon Mobil Corp; Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company; Russia’s Lukoil; and China National Petroleum Corp.

Allawi lamented Iraq’s lack of an oil and gas law to govern the sector and said he would move quickly to put one before parliament.

“It will definitely be a priority,” Allawi said. “It won’t take us long.”

“STRONG RESERVATIONS”

Allawi, who led a transitional government in 2004-05, said he had “strong reservations” about the way the government headed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki handled the contracts.

“But the agreements have been signed. We have to respect them and we have to honour them, maybe with little adjustments here and there,” Allawi said.

Asked what kind of adjustments, he said he had concerns about whether the contracts were handled “with full integrity” on the Iraqi side. He also wanted to see the sector opened up to more competition.

Allawi said he would like a hydrocarbons council of experts similar to one he instituted as prime minister to oversee the sector rather than just the oil minister.

“We want to have, ultimately, the ministry as a regulator rather than an operator and the operations should be handled by the private sector and the investors,” Allawi said.

“There is a lot of scope for other companies to come into Iraq. We need heavy investment.”

AT LOGGERHEADS

He blamed Iraq’s central government for disagreements that have hampered the development of the oil industry, including one between Baghdad and the semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region.

The Kurdish government and Baghdad have been at loggerheads for months over oil deals Iraqi Kurdistan signed independently with foreign oil firms, which the central government says was illegal.

Oil exports were halted as the Kurdish regional government and Baghdad fought over revenue and production-sharing. The region’s natural resources minister said a week ago that it was ready to start exporting oil as soon as a new central government was formed.

“There were squabbles between the central government and the regional government in Kurdistan and we lost a lot of time because of these problems and it was initiated by the central government here,” Allawi said.

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“We need to bring this to a halt. We need to get this (oil and gas law) very fast through the parliament.”