Iraqi parliament: BP oil deal illegal

The Iraqi parliament has expressed concern over what it calls an 'illegal' multibillion-dollar agreement that British company BP is to sign Tuesday with the Iraqi government.

According to a member of the Iraq parliament's oil and gas committee, a number of Iraqi MPs object to the contract awarded to BP and China's CNPC to develop the Rumaila oilfield as they feel such agreements have to be approved by the parliament beforehand.

The Iraqi government rejects the idea, saying that cabinet authorization is enough.

Iraqi lawmakers argue that under this method, there would be no guarantee that upcoming Iraqi governments honor contracts signed by the current cabinet.

"We, in the oil and gas committee, are seeking to meet the British ambassador in Iraq and BP officials to discuss the illegality of the Rumaila oil deal and its detrimental effect on democracy in the country," Jabir Khalifa Jabir, secretary of the oil and gas committee, told Reuters on Sunday.

"BP's willingness to sign the Rumaila contract encourages the oil ministry to violate the constitution," Jabir said.

The Iraqi government announced earlier in October it has ratified a contract with a consortium of British BP and CNPC of China to develop a 17 billion barrel oilfield of Rumaila near Basra.

The deal is considered by some as a significant step for a country that struggles to attract foreign investments in its oil industries.

Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves, but the current daily production of 2.4m barrels a day is much less than its potential due to a lack of investment because of the violence in the country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110233§ionid=351020201.