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WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- The top Kurdish energy official says no deal has been reached on an Iraq oil law, despite news reports the Parliament is to take up the bill.
"We are not aware of anything being passed by the Cabinet," said Kurdistan Regional Government Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami, speaking to United Press International via mobile phone.
Numerous media have reported Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his top adviser, Ali al-Dabbagh, said the oil law governing the world's third largest oil reserves would be sent to Parliament as early as Wednesday.
The Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government in Baghdad have been negotiating the law since last summer. At issue is whether which oil fields the federal and regional governments control, as well as the distribution of oil revenue.
A draft of the law approved by negotiators and the council of ministers in February and finalized in March, "is the only approved text," said Hawrami, the KRG's lead negotiator.
"Even the text of the March draft is not complete," he said. A revenue sharing law was approved and sent to the council of ministers earlier this month, though there may still be some complaints from Sunni politicians. It must still be passed on to Parliament.
Hawrami said the issue of oil control still looms large, though progress is being made. After the draft law was approved earlier this month, the Iraq Oil Ministry unveiled four annexes -- a list of which oil fields would be under the federal government control, via the Iraq National Oil Co, and which would be under regional control (Kurdistan is the only official region currently).
"We've not been consulted about anything being agreed upon apart from March," he said.
Reports of progress and disputes over the law have been convoluted in the past. The Kurds, a strong player in the oil talks, would need to agree on a deal to move forward. What is not known is the fate of other crucial sticking points, including the new roles of INOC and the Ministry of Oil, concerns over the oil law's language and extent of transparency, as well as revenue sharing and the annexes.
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Ben Lando, UPI Energy Correspondent
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