Iraq Claims RWE Gas Contract is Illegal

Iraq's Oil Ministry claims the agreement Germany's RWE signed with the Kurdish Regional Government, which included possible future gas supply for the Nabucco pipeline project, is illegal. "The export of crude oil, gas and their derivatives are exclusively under the authority of the Oil Ministry of the central government in Baghdad and State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO)," oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said, reading a statement from the ministry.

"Any contracts signed outside of that legal framework are considered void and illegal." On Friday, Germany's RWE said it had signed a gas cooperation agreement with Iraq's Kurdish regional government.

The deal envisaged RWE helping develop and design domestic and export gas transport infrastructure and create a route to market for Iraqi Kurdistan's gas. The RWE statement quoted Iraqi Kurdistan's natural resources minister Ashti Hawrami as saying that up to 20 Bcm of gas per year could be fed into the Nabucco pipe to bring gas to Turkey and Europe.- Upstream, Gulf News