The compromise among the Iraqi factions on the bill for the management of the immense Iraqi oil reserves has failed. The most important disagreement was between Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani and some members of the government of the Kurd provinces in the north of Iraq, where there is a lot of oil.
Kurds want to change the bill to give more power to the regional authorities but according to al-Shahristani these modifications are against the constitution. The managing of the oil reserves is one of the indicators on which US are making pressure on the Maliki government to present to the world a united country and a central authority that controls Iraq.
The parts in the negotiation met in Baghdad yesterday and according to the deputy prime minister, Kurd Barham Salih, the negotiations for an agreement made some steps forward even if nobody can say if the dialogue will be successful. The Iraqi Parliament is trying to pass a negotiated proposal, which was agreed on February, on this issue. But Sunni people have withdrawn their support to the bill after the Kurd government signed an agreement with a company of the Arab Emirates for the exploitation of some gas reserves.
