Oil official gunned down in Mosul

MOSUL, Iraq, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Unknown gunmen assassinated a senior oil official in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the restive provincial capital of Ninawa.

Gunmen shot and killed Riad Zannoun, who the Voices of Iraq news agency identified as a director of the Oil Products Department in the northern city.

He was killed in front of his home in the al-Siddiq district of Mosul. Parts of the oil-rich north of Iraq remain volatile in the wake of a U.S. troop drawdown in June.

The assassination comes as lawmakers consider reinstating the Iraq National Oil Co. following approval of the effort by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The Iraqi government had sacked the embattled head of South Oil Co. Fayad al-Nema as lawmakers considered the national oil company.

Baghdad hopes to breathe new life into the energy sector with the national oil company. The measure could face confrontation, however, as lawmaker squabble over access to oil revenue.

Previous efforts for a national oil company had stalled over ethnic disputes over the share of Iraqi oil wealth, though the latest effort is drafted to avoid regional disputes between the Kurdish and central governments in Iraq.

Iraq established its national oil company in 1964. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein dismantled the company in 1987.