Kurdish officials stressed that it had been drawn up in line with the national constitution and did not contradict federal law, which Iraq's leaders agreed on July 3 but which has not yet been sent to Parliament.The draft federal oil law is now in limbo while the national parliament is on its summer break for the month of August. No date has been set to debate it.
Iraq has the world's third-largest oil reserves, which are mainly in the north and the south of the country.
The national hydrocarbon law is seen as pivotal by Washington to reconciling warring Iraqis, rebuilding Iraq's shattered economy and attracting foreign investment. After a week-long debate, Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers passed the "Petroleum Law of the Kurdistan Region" unanimously.
"We have freedom and now we have a law that enables us to make new projects and sign new contracts for the benefit of our people," regional minister for natural resources, Ashti Hawrami told Reuters afterwards.
"There is no problem with the previous contracts that we signed already before issuing this law, but we will review them to persuade all of them that these contracts are legal."
The Kurdish region has signed several agreements with foreign companies. The Kurdish law provides for the establishment of the "Kurdistan National Oil Company" and says "the regional government shall share revenue derived from petroleum with all the people of Iraq."
Iraqi Kurds forced renegotiation of the national hydrocarbon law, fearing that it gave the federal government too much control over oil exploration, revenue-sharing and negotiating contracts with foreign companies.
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