NYT:Iraqi Leaders Reach Tentative Oil Deal,Removing One Obstacle to Const.

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Iraqi Leaders Reach Tentative Deal on Oil, Removing One Obstacle to a Constitution
By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: August 13, 2005


BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 12 - Iraq's leaders said Friday that they had reached a tentative deal to divide the country's vast oil wealth between the central government and the provinces, a potentially significant break in the negotiations over a new constitution.

Under the agreement, oil revenue would be shared by the central government and Iraq's 18 provinces, and split roughly according to their populations. It was unclear which entity would control the money, though one Iraqi leader said it would be the central government.

"The agreement is that the distribution would be under the control of the federal government," said the leader, Saleh Mutlak, a member of the committee charged with writing the constitution.

If it holds, the deal will constitute a major advance in the effort to complete a constitution. The control of oil revenue, which provides the bulk of Iraq's income, could significantly strengthen the hand of the central government over the regions, like Kurdistan and southern Iraq, that are pushing for greater self-rule.

Most of Iraq's oil is concentrated in fields well to the south and north, raising fears, especially among the Sunni Arab population, that the revenues will fall under the control of the Shiite Arabs and the Kurds. Until this week, Kurdish leaders were demanding that they keep at least 60 percent of the money earned from oil in their area, in the north. A Kurdish official said Friday that they had dropped that demand....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/13/international/middleeast/13iraq.html