ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - No court in Baghdad has the authority to outlaw the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) natural resources ministry stated on Monday, adding that the law operates within the confines of the Iraqi constitution and hence “remains in full force,” condemning Iraq’s Minister of Oil for recent “illegal actions.”
The statement from the ministry claimed that the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law has been issued in accordance with the 2005 Iraqi constitution, and therefore “no court in Baghdad has the authority” to invalidate the law. It also reiterated a statement from the Region’s judicial council earlier this month, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the court by stating that the parliament has never enacted a law to establish a federal supreme court.
The Iraqi top court in February found the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law to be “unconstitutional,” therefore striking down the legal basis for the independence of the Region’s oil and gas sector. The KRG responded to the decision, saying that the court’s ruling is not only “unconstitutional” but also “unjust.”
“The court that issued the 15 February 2022 opinion purporting to invalidate the 2007 Oil and Gas Law has no constitutional authority to do so,” the statement read. “On the contrary, the issuance of the 2007 Oil and Gas Law was entirely authorised under the Constitution of Iraq. As such, legally, the Oil and Gas Law remains in full force,” it continued, adding that Iraq does not have “a constitutionally established Federal Supreme Court,” referring to it as the “so-called” supreme court.
Earlier this month, the Kurdistan Region’s judicial council released a statement claiming that the top Iraqi court was “unconstitutional,” and hence rejected the court’s ruling against the Region’s oil and gas industry.
The latest statement from the natural resources ministry comes in response to a call from Baghdad’s al-Karkh commercial court in May, based on the request of Iraq’s oil minister, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar, to summon a number of international oil companies operating in accordance with the Region’s oil and gas law. It referred to the summoning as the continuation of “a series of illegal actions taken by the Minister of Oil,” casting doubt on the court’s authority to issue such orders.
The KRG ministry announced that they filed a civil suit against Abdul Jabbar on June 5, accusing the oil minister of sending emails and letters, intimidating the international oil companies and interfering in their contracts with the KRG.
"In the view of the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Minister is liable under applicable civil law provisions for sending emails and letters with the intention of intimidating the IOCs [international oil companies] and interfering with the contractual rights of the IOCs and the Kurdistan Regional Government," the statement concluded.
