MP will collect signatures to present oil law to Parliament

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A lawmaker from the parliament’s commission of power on Tuesday said he would collect signatures from MPs to accelerate presenting oil and gas law in the Council of Representatives. “Time is running out for the oil and gas law, thus I will collect the signatures of MPs to expedite presenting the law draft to the Parliament,” MP Hadi al-Hassan from the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) told IraqiNews.com. The oil and gas law has unleashed heated debates over the coming of major foreign companies to update Iraq’s dilapidating oil facilities along with rising conflict over the rights to sign contracts by regional authorities. Iraq has the world’s third-largest oil reserves. Its natural gas reserves are also huge and almost completely untapped. According to U.S.-based industry report the Oil and Gas Journal, Iraq holds 112 trillion cubic feet (3.36 trillion cubic meters) of proven gas reserves, the world’s 10th largest. Iraq’s energy industry is in dire need of modern equipment and technology. Production facilities went into decline during the decade of crippling UN sanctions that followed the 1991 Gulf War, and instability since the 2003 invasion has prevented any major improvements. AM (S)/SR 1