Debate delayed on oil law

BAGHDAD, July 4 (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament may take a week to start debating a landmark draft oil law, officials said on Wednesday, as complaints from Kurdish authorities and Sunni Arab politicians signalled its passage could be rocky...

Presentation of the draft to parliament after the cabinet approved it on Tuesday was a big step towards meeting a key political target set by the United States.

But Mohammed Abu Bakr, head of parliament's media office, said the law had to first go to the energy and oil committee.

"We need seven days to get the draft on the agenda of parliament to discuss it," he said...

In a sign of future trouble, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it had not seen nor approved the draft.

"We hope the cabinet is not approving a text with which the KRG disagrees because this would violate the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan region," the KRG said in a statement.

Read the rest at Reuters

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