Some oil contracts violate the law- lawmaker

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: An Iraqi lawmaker on Saturday said that some oil contracts with foreign companies violate the Iraqi law, arguing they were signed in the absence of a parliamentary approval. “The multi-dollar gas contract signed last year between the Ministry of Oil and Royal Dutch Shell, and another between Iraq and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) violate the law because they did not obtain a parliamentary approval,” the rapporteur of the Iraqi oil and gas committee in the Parliament, Jabir Khalifa Jabir, said in a statement published on the official web site of his bloc. “The agreement with Shell is unconstitutional and harms Iraqi economic interests. We will do our best to cancel this agreement and expel Shell…,” Jabir noted. In September 2008, Shell signed a contract with the oil ministry, which was rejected by Iraqi parliamentarians, who said it allowed the company to have a monopoly on natural gas in southern Iraq. SS (P) 1