IDC’s Grand Plans

Iraq Drilling Co (IDC) is forging ahead with building its own drilling capacity while waiting for the oil ministry to pick one of its many suitors to establish a new joint venture after the first attempt with Mesopotamia Petroleum faltered last month. “Two years ago no company would come and work in Iraq so we had to go with Mesopotamia even though it had no track record. Today, many reputable…

Wither INOC?

There is no chance that INOC draft law would be voted by parliament before the draft oil and gas law is legislated, according to Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani. Why? Because there is close linkage between the two laws as well as two other laws pending legislation; the oil ministry restructuring law and the revenue sharing law, “without which the state company would be paralyzed.” And that’s not all. There is…

INOC Draft Law

A Clarification about INOC draft law: The Council of Ministers (CoM) passed on July 28th by a majority vote a draft law for the re-establishment of Iraq National Oil Company “INOC”. A number of points were raised by the Shoura Council, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of oil and the Legal Directorate in the Council of Ministers Secretariat and a number of recommendations were made by the Advisory commission. All were…

Power Machine

The law establishing (or re-establishing) Iraq National Oil Co (INOC) has finally passed the first hurdle, by getting the approval of the council of ministers, not without some opposition as one would expect. After all, the new company to be established as a holding company with considerable powers is set to become the most important institution in the operation of Iraq’s oil sector due first to its structure and second…