WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Political disputes over Iraq's Constitution need to be resolved before progress on the oil law, said the deputy head of the Parliament's Energy Committee.

"This will make the way to pass the law of oil and gas," Abdul-Hadi al-Hasani told United Press International in a phone interview from London. "It will be very easy to be passed because we won't have any disagreements. Roadblocks now are not technical, they are political."

Iraq's Constitution was written vague enough to garner enough support for passage in 2005, but the lines of control over Iraq's oil sector and other issues of federalism are now unclear. Iraq's Kurds support a more decentralized version than most parties in the national government, and both claim the Constitution backs their position.

An oil law has been under negotiations for more than a year. Hasani said his committee, which is to vet a version to be voted on by the entire Parliament, was given four different versions.

At issues is not only varying interpretations over oil control, but how international oil firms will be given access to the currently nationalized Iraq oil sector -- the third largest in the world.