The oil and gas law will be approved during the next parliamentary session, MP suggests

Shafaq News/ Kurdistan Democratic Party MP Dana Muhammad suggested approving the oil and gas law during the next electoral parliamentary session, as it is "a solution to the oil disputes between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government."

Muhammad told Shafaq News Agency, "disrupting of the approval of the oil and gas law since 2007 until now is the result of differences between all political forces", noting, "the law was never included the parliament's agenda over the past years."

He stressed the need to, "approve the oil and gas law during the next parliamentary session, due to its importance in resolving the oil disputes between Baghdad and Erbil, and determining the powers of each one of them."

"Adopting the law will put the Iraqi parliament in permanent knowledge of the powers of the federal government and the regional government. The Kurds and the Kurdistan Democratic Party support the approval of the oil and gas law in a manner that suits the interest of the region and the federal government."

The differences between the blocs and the parties over the past years have resulted in more than three formulations of the oil and gas law. The first draft was put in 2007 and was rejected after the Kurdistan Alliance's objection, while the second version was developed in 2010. Still, the National Alliance expressed objection to the law and withdrew from the voting session. The third is a proposed law drawn up by the Parliamentary Oil and Energy Committee in 2011, but various political parties also rejected it.