The Legal Dimensions of Oil and Gas in Iraq Current Reality and Future Prospects

This book is the first and only comprehensive examination of current and future legal principles designed to govern oil and gas activity in Iraq. This study provides a thorough-going review of every conceivable angle on Iraqi oil and gas law, from relevant provisions of the Iraqi Constitution of 2005; to legislative measures comprising the oil and gas framework law, the revenue sharing law, and the laws to reconstitute the Iraq National Oil Company and reorganize the Ministry of Oil; to the Kurdistan Regional Government's 2007 Oil and Gas Law No. (22) and its accompanying Model Production Sharing Contract; and to the apposite rules of international law distilled from both controlling UN resolutions addressing Iraq and more generally applicable principles of international law. This text is essential to the reading collection of every practitioner, business executive, government official, academic, public policy maven, and individual citizen with an interest in the details and controversial aspects of Iraqi energy law.

Part I. The Contextual Background: 1. The facts regarding Iraqi oil and gas reserves and their legal status prior to self-governance; 2. The provisions of the Iraqi constitution addressing oil and gas activities: of the role of sub-central governing entities, handling of revenues, and 'present' v. 'future' fields; Part II. The Complications Associated with Iraqi Legislative Measures: 3. The federal oil and gas framework law and sub-central government responses; 4. A primer on the federal model production sharing agreement and the Kurdistan regional government's model production sharing contract; 5. The federal oil and gas revenue sharing law - its many problems; 6. Measures to reorganize the Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) and the ministry of oil; 7. The matter of creditor claims: an examination of United Nations' Security Council Resolution 1790 (18 Dec. 2007) and its predecessors; 8. Central government authority to strike oil and gas development agreements in the absence of a federal framework law; 9. Distributing profits in the absence of a federal revenue sharing law; 10. Changing the mix: transition fails and the face of Iraq is altered.

Rex J. Zedalis is a member of the faculty at the University of Tulsa, College of Law, where he has received numerous awards for his outstanding teaching, including an award in 2004 for the university's most outstanding professor. He has also been recognized for his extensive publication record in both US and European international law journals. He has served as Director of the Comparative and International Law Center (CILC) at the University of Tulsa and as a Fellow with, and a former Assistant Director of, the College of Law's National Energy Law and Policy Institute. Professor Zedalis has also acted as a consultant to international organizations, foreign governments, and domestic as well as international law firms during his nearly thirty-five-year career.