Oil and Gas in the Disputed Kurdish Territories: Jurisprudence, Regional Minorities and Natural Resources in a Federal System

by Rex J. Zedalis

Overview

This book examines the historical and contextual background to the oil and gas resources in the Kurdish territories, placing particular emphasis on the reserves situated in the disputed provinces. The volume is singularly unique in focusing on an examination of the rules reflected in both the national and the regional constitutional, legislative, and contractual measures and documents relevant to the question of whether the central government in Baghdad or the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil has a stronger claim to legal control over the oil and gas resources in the disputed Kurdish territories. As a subsidiary focus, the author also draws attention to how the basic thrust of the volume connects to broader jurisprudential issues regarding the nature and purpose of law, the matter of claims by native peoples to natural resources on traditional lands, and the place of regional minorities operating in a federal system. Since the law examined is domestic or municipal in origin, additional reference is made to the role that such law can play in the "bottom up" (as opposed to more conventional "top down") development of international law.

The book’s opening chapters provide a valuable contextual introduction, followed by a number of substantive chapters providing an analytical and critical assessment of the controlling legal rules. Written in a scholarly, yet accessible style, and covering matters of basic importance to academics, lawyers, political scientists, government representatives, and students of energy and natural resources, as well as those of developing legal structures, Oil and Gas in the Disputed Kurdish Territories is an essential addition to any collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415505291
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/10/2012
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rex J. Zedalis is the Phyllis Hurley Frey Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa and Director of the university's International and Comparative Law Center. Professor Zedalis has spent more than three decades as a law school Professor and is the author of numerous articles published in American and European journals and has also published several books, including The Legal Dimensions of Oil and Gas in Iraq: Current Reality and Future Prospects (Cambridge, 2009).

Table of Contents

Part 1: Contextual Background of Oil and Gas in Disputed Kurdish Territories 1. Background Regarding the Question of Iraq’s Kurdish Territory 2. Oil and Gas Deposit Location and Extant Contracts with International Oil Companies (IOCs) Part 2: Federal Constitutional Allotment of Oil and Gas Authority 3. Articles 110-112, and 114-115 of Iraq’s Constitution (2005): The Respective Powers of the Central versus the Kurdish Government When it Comes to Oil and Gas 4. Articles 25(E), 26(B), and 54(A) and (B) of the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) 5. The Matter of Disputed Territories: Articles 53 and 58 of the TAL, and Articles 140 and 143 of the Iraq Constitution (2005) Part 3: How the Kurdish Constitution, Relevant Federal and Regional Legislation, Address Oil and Gas in Disputed Territories 6. The Kurdish Constitution and Provisions of The Oil and Gas Law (No. 22) of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq 7. Article 23 of the 2008 Provincial Elections Law and Relevant Articles of the Proposed Federal Oil and Gas Law Part 4: Disputed Territories, the Terms of the KRG's Model and Negotiated PSCs, and Observations Regarding Federalism 8. Language of Both the KRG’s Model PSC and its Existing Public PSCs 9. Current Efforts of the Disputed Territories, Their Shortcomings, and Relation to Federalism 10. Epilogue