KURDS: AMBITIOUS WITH THEIR OIL

Not waiting for conditions to be right in Iraq? Or not expecting conditions to be right?

Kurdistan to advance oil sector
March 23, 2007 (UPI)

WHO
Ashti Hawrami, energy minster of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

WHAT
The Kurdistan Regional Government has signed contracts to develop the large oil reserves it has and will sign more deals with international oil companies, regardless of the status of Iraq's draft hydrocarbons law.

WHEN
5 contracts signed, 10 more to be developed by the end of the year. Best case, the Iraq law will be approved by end of May.

WHERE
The semi-autonomous northern Iraq region of Kurdistan.

WHY
Iraq's draft hydrocarbons law hasn't been taken up by the Parliament yet, and there are some tough issues still to be addressed which could stall the draft law's approval. If it is, it would detail how international companies could invest in Iraq's 115 billion barrels of proven reserves, the third most in the world. But the security conditions in Iraq would need to be improved before any people or capital is put on the ground in Iraq. Aside from the oil pipeline from Kirkuk, in Iraq's north, to ports in Turkey, which is attacked so much it is offline more than operational, Kurdistan has been relatively free of violence.

QUOTES
"We are in discussions with a number of other companies," Hawrami said. "It is more likely that the contractors will come (to Kurdistan) to start with and set up a base to hopefully then invest in the rest of Iraq."