Expert says Iraqi constitution ‘meant to be unclear’ regarding oil, gas

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Sections regarding the oil and gas sector in the Iraqi constitution “were meant to be unclear” as the Kurdistan Region had not developed its independent oil industry at the time of the drafting, CEO of Qamar Energy Robin Mills told Rudaw on Sunday.

“I think the relevant sections of the constitution are very unclear, and they were meant to be unclear,” Mills told Rudaw’s Mohammed Sheikh Fatih, adding that the reason is “because, at that point when the constitution was agreed on, there was no actual consensus on how the sector should be managed, the two sides had different views, and Kurdistan at that point did not really develop its independent oil industry. That came only in the following years.”

Baghdad and Erbil have had issues over the Kurdistan Region’s oil sales for years. However, the situation escalated when the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court found the Region’s oil and gas law “unconstitutional” in February, striking down the legal basis for the independence of the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas sector.

Kurdish leaders have slammed the decision repeatedly.

Sharing a similar viewpoint with Kurdish officials, Mills said that “now it is really a question of trying to build on that constitution and also on the laws that are in place to try and come up with a workable system.”

“In many ways, the Kurdish oil sector has enjoyed a lot of success and it probably would not have enjoyed that success if it had been under the management of Baghdad,” he added.

Mills established Qamar Energy in 2015 to provide leading-edge consulting and advisory services across the energy spectrum in the Middle East.

The Kurdistan Region passed its oil and gas law in 2007, enabling it to administer and develop its own oil and gas resources.

Iraq’s constitution tasks the federal government with running the country’s “present” oil fields but that does not prevent it from managing fields that may be found in the future, the Iraq National Oil Company said in their financial examination of the Region’s contracts, published earlier this month.

The report added that “some regions,” most likely referring to the Kurdistan Region, have used this as an excuse to participate in the earnings of previous fields, as well as taking sole control of fields found after the implementation of the constitution.