ABSTRACT
Apart from the legal rules emerging from the Iraqi Constitution and its predecessor, the TAL, there also exist a variety of rules contained in the provisions of the KRG’s own regional Constitution, and in those of the KRG’s 2007 Oil and Gas Law (No. 22), that can prove helpful in attempting to understand the position of the KRG in exploiting oil and gas resources situated in the territories under dispute between itself and the central government in Baghdad. In this chapter both those two documents will be examined for rules that may be of relevance, and then those rules will be sedulously scrutinized to reveal what they have to say regarding this important and highly sensitive matter. Clearly, the terms and provisions of the Iraqi Constitution establish the framework for exercising authority over oil and gas deposits found in the disputed Kurdish territories. At the same time, though, what the Kurdish regional Constitution or the provisions of the KRG’s Oil and Gas Law (No. 22) proffer on that subject cannot be disregarded. After all, while the collective effect of articles 110—112, 114—115, 140, and 143 of Iraq’s national Constitution may provide for a narrowly tailored and somewhat confined lead-role authority for the federal government, relevant provisions of the KRG’s regional Constitution, or of the KRG Oil and Gas Law (No. 22), may suggest either reluctance on the part of the Kurds to fill the void in which the sub-central units are permitted to act, or such enthusiasm toward action that it has shaded into assertions of authority unsupported by the constitutional scheme itself. The examination of the KRG Constitution, and the KRG Oil and Gas Law (No. 22), is sure to prompt those familiar with debate in international law circles regarding the rights of indigenous or native peoples to control natural resources to recall the sum and substance of the various legal positions surrounding that matter. Again, such thinking is both understandable and encouraged, for it might provide fertile ground for development of the law, but the focus in this and the next chapter will be confined to the details of the local Iraqi regional and national law and contractual instruments, offering nothing beyond observations about the linkage to the much broader topic.
