The leader of Iraq’s oil workers, attending an anti-war conference here, says Iraq could be producing more oil by investing its own money, without an oil law or large scale foreign oil company involvement.
“National expertise and resources are capable of enhancing production in the oil industry,” Hassan Jumaa Awad, president of the umbrella Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, told United Press International Friday.
“If they are prepared to allocate more funding and spend the resources that already exist,” he said, sporting the Asia Cup winning Iraqi National Soccer Team jersey, “there would be improvement and we could recruit more workers.” …
“Iraq, ever since the occupation started, and now, is producing oil without an oil law,” Awad said. “Therefore we think the insistence of passing a law under the current circumstances is a trick to bring in international oil companies.”
And he fears the lack of investment from Baghdad is a “deliberate” move to make the Iraqi oil workers look incapable.
Awad and the tens of thousands of workers he represents have already been a thorn in the side of Baghdad. The oil law is now stuck in disputes, partly because of the oil unions’ actions and campaigns, including a strike over the summer that the government responded to by surrounding the workers with security forces.
Read the entire story for UPI here.
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Editor’s Note: apologies for abbreviated edition, but en route back from London. More Monday.
