On Thursday, October 19, 2023, the College of Law at Fallujah University discussed its doctoral thesis in private law entitled “Legal Problems in Oil Service Contracts between Iraq and Foreign Companies.”
The study presented by the student Inaam Muhammad Reda sought to identify the legal problems associated with oil service contracts, whether related to the pre-contracting stage, the contracting stage, or the implementation stage. These problems are reflected either by the circumstances surrounding the contract and its conditions,
or the terms of the contracts themselves, and before that the legitimacy of the legal system to which they are subject. The study included four main chapters: The first chapter focused on introducing oil service contracts in oil licensing rounds, and the second chapter dealt with the problems associated with concluding oil service contracts in oil licensing rounds. The third chapter shed light on the problems associated with the enforcement of oil service contracts, and finally the fourth chapter dealt with the problems associated with resolving disputes in oil service contracts. The study concluded that the oil service contract was resorted to according to the method of oil licensing rounds from 2008 until now, taking place in exploratory areas. In this case, the element of risk for the company investing in an actually productive field is eliminated, and the contracting foreign companies were selected according to the method of oil licensing, which relies on granting permission to use the trademark.
They are closer to tenders and far removed from the meaning of licenses. Oil service contracts are also considered to have a special legal nature and are considered a type of complex contract. The study concluded that oil service contracts carry many additional obligations for the national party and are an additional burden on it, while these contracts diminish the rights of the national party, the most important of which are the right to control and inspect, as well as the right to amend and terminate these contracts, in addition to making the employment and training of national workers secondary obligations of the foreign company.
These contracts also clearly exaggerate the rights assigned to the foreign company in the oil service contract. The study recommended forming a special committee that includes legal experts, technicians and others to reconsider these contracts and work to make the necessary amendments in the interest of the national party, to create the proper legal framework for these contracts by issuing the oil and gas law, working to develop a new contractual model that achieves contractual balance for both parties to the contract, and unifying the relevant authorities that undertake the management of the oil contracts file and regulating the right of control, inspection, amendment and termination. Department of Media and Government Communications
