KRG drafts law for fund to invest region’s oil

DUBAI

Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) proposed a draft law to set up a fund to manage revenue from the sale of oil and natural gas produced in the region, according to the KRG’s official website.

Kurdish authorities aim to put money into a fund to benefit “future generations” and also to invest in regional projects and possibly into the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources to help develop oil and gas, according to the draft published on the website. The money will include energy-related payments received from Iraq’s central government, the statement said yesterday.

Kurdish authorities and Iraq’s central government have disagreed for years over contracts the KRG has reached with foreign energy companies. The government in Baghdad refuses to recognize production-sharing agreements signed by the KRG, as Iraq’s Oil Ministry agrees only to service contracts that pay producers a per-barrel fee instead of a share of any crude. The fund will be run by a six-member board led by a president with the rank of deputy minister, the statement said.