In response to the controversy over whether the Iraqi oil ministry has the right to award oil field development contracts under its first bid round, former Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban argues that the ministry relies on a 1987 law that placed the powers to sign contracts into the hands of the oil minister and on the fact that the 2005 Iraqi constitution does not require the legislature's vote on the signed contracts (See The Iraq Oil Debate). The question is whether this legal and constitutional foundation provides international oil companies with sufficient guarantees that a contract signed by the oil ministry in the absence of a hydrocarbon law, even with the endorsement of the Iraqi cabinet, will have the long term validity and durability to sustain the long term investments needed over the contracts' 20 years. Royal Dutch Shell's head of upstream Malcolm Brinded argues that it's the structure of the contract that will determine its long term robustness especially... read more
The Iraq Oil Debate
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International Oil Daily (Friday, December 26, 2008)
