HOUSTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The Iraqi Parliament's ability Wednesday to approve a package of three key laws does not necessarily translate into a reconciliatory atmosphere necessary for progress on a controversial oil law, despite the wants of Big Oil companies to have a more solid legal grounding before signing deals for which they are lining up.

Parliament was finally able to make quorum, and the $48 billion budget for this year, the release of detainees accused but not charged of lower-level crimes, and a law outlining some powers of Iraq's provinces, wrapped into one, was barely approved.

Though the Bush administration immediate praised it, the package instead merely postponed crucial discussions to shape the future of the country and highlighted the fractured state of Iraq's government: Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government will get the disputed 17 percent of the revenue not used by the federal government, but opponents said it was too much and the 2009 budget would be different.

Provinces will be clearer on their administrative powers but, against the wishes of the Kurds and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a timeline for provincial elections was forced into the law. Both will be grounds for heated arguments later this year.

"These laws had to be passed to keep the machinery going and allocate the appropriate funds to various constituencies," said Rochdi Younsi, Middle East analyst for the business risk firm Eurasia Group. Only 164 of 275 members showed and an 82-82 tie was broken by the speaker.