Hunt, State Dept. get Iraq oil deal query

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Congress’s watchdog committee wants details from the U.S. State Department and Ray Hunt regarding the recent controversial Hunt Oil deal with Iraqi Kurds.

In letters sent Monday to U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the chief executive officer of Dallas-based Hunt Oil Corp., two leaders in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform are requesting documents they say will help determine whether the committee will launch an investigation into the oil deal.

Hunt and the Kurdistan Regional Government announced the deal Sept. 9, which drew immediate criticism from Baghdad. The KRG has moved forward on its own regional oil law and signed nearly a dozen oil deals with foreign oil firms.

The KRG blames the central government for not moving forward fast enough on a national oil law. It’s stuck in Parliament among factions who can’t decide the extent of federal control over the oil sector and how much access foreign firms should have to it.

“By signing a contract directly with a regional government, you may have undermined U.S. national policy of working toward the passage of an oil revenue sharing plan, which the Bush Administration has called a critical step towards national political reconciliation in Iraq and the return home of U.S. troops,” Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, wrote in a letter to Hunt.

They questioned if the decision to sign the deal was based on secret information gained by Ray Hunt sitting on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. The selective board is appointed by the president and evaluates the intelligence he receives.

Waxman and Kucinich have asked Hunt to hand over “any information you received in your capacity as a member … relating to Iraq, Kurdistan, the Iraqi national hydrocarbon law, U.S. diplomatic efforts at national Iraqi reconciliation, as well as any information regarding negotiations, contracts, or other interactions with the Kurdistan Regional Government,” as well as any “communications, including e-mails,” between Hunt and U.S. officials regarding these topics.

Hunt has until Nov. 2 to provide the info, as does Crocker, who is being asked for similar documents.

"We have received the letter from the committee requesting certain limited information,” Jeanne Phillips, senior vice president of Hunt, said in a statement. “As we have stated before, our policy as a company is to act independently when determining where to explore for oil and gas around the world."

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Ben Lando, UPI Energy Editor

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(e-mail: blando@upi.com)