Iraq hopes to sign oilfield deals with multinationals before the end of the year even if a new oil law has not been passed by parliament, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Monday.
Shahristani told Reuters in an interview the new contracts will be in line with rules and guidelines contained in the landmark draft oil law, which he said had been delayed by political infighting. "As a responsible ministry, we cannot keep waiting. There is no legislative vacuum. The current laws allow the oil ministry to negotiate with firms and to sign contracts," he said. "We are going to commit ourselves to the draft (oil law) in signing contracts by having free competition and total transparency and announce contracts which achieve the best interests for Iraq."
Iraq's cabinet first agreed a draft law for dividing the world's third largest oil reserves in February, but disputes with the regional government in Kurdistan, as well as objections from Shi'ite and Sunni Arab politicians, have hobbled progress.
Shahristani said it was not clear when the law will be passed because it is facing political, not technical, hurdles. "We notice that there are manoeuvres to delay the law from different sides and for different motives," he said.
Major oil companies such as Total , Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil are positioning themselves to gain access to Iraq's prized oilfields. While the industry generally prefers long-term production sharing contracts for development, the Iraqi oil minister signalled more restrictive service contracts may be used. "We have explored fields whose reserves and production rates we know very well so ... this only needs service contracts," Shahristani said."For super giants like northern and southern Rumaila and Zubair, we may only need service contracts."
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