Parliamentary wealth calls on the government to send the oil and gas law
The Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee of the House of Representatives called on the government to expedite sending the oil and gas law to the committee in order to study and approve it to control the pace of revenues from the sale of oil.
Committee member Nazem Al-Shibli stated that “95 percent of the Iraqi budget depends on oil revenues, and there are major failures due to the failure to legislate the oil and gas law, which, if legislated, will control the pace of oil revenues issued by the regional government.”
He added, in an interview with “Al-Sabah” followed by “Al-Iqtisad News,” that “the stage requires documenting the law and intensifying the Oil and Gas Committee’s oversight of the performance of the Ministry of Oil, which there were many comments on its performance, and it requires the intervention of the Prime Minister to control the work of agents and general managers in The Ministry of Oil, which we consider an unconvincing performance.”
Al-Shibli explained that there are “obstacles within the oil and gas law itself, including the condition of selling from SOMO, and the committee is waiting for the government to send the law to control the rhythm of oil revenues, because oil is a natural wealth for all the Iraqi people, but the difference in authorities affected the legislation of the law, especially since passing the law is the solution.” “The only way to unify wealth,” noting that “there are great indicators of the performance of the Ministry of Oil.”
For her part, a member of the Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee, Thanaa Al-Rubaie, indicated in an interview with “Al-Sabah” that “the failure to approve the oil and gas law negatively affected the pace of development of the oil sector and led to major losses to the budget,” stressing that “the committee calls on the government and the blocs “The policy is to resolve agreements on the oil and gas law and approve it in order to control the pace of the oil sector and intensify work on it because it is the basis of the budget.”
She explained, “The committee, through its supervisory position, and according to the information it received, contaminated oil was sold due to money laundering,” confirming, “a subcommittee was formed to follow up on the sale of contaminated oil, and recommendations were made, including exempting officials in the Ministry of Oil from selling contaminated oil.”
She stated, "The committee, over the course of 6 months, followed up on the issue and made major decisions. Therefore, the committee in this parliamentary session is considered effective and strong. The subcommittee received the support of the Prime Minister and came up with important and useful recommendations. The employees concerned were diagnosed with selling the contaminated shipment and they were exempted and transferred."
To the judiciary, while it was proven after research and review that the process is money laundering,” and she continued, “
The committee is working with the Ministry of Oil to move and develop the gas investment file, and there is a sixth licensing round for gas investment link