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Parliament to debate final sticking points in oil draft Tuesday

14 August 2010

BEIRUT: Parliament is scheduled to debate the two remaining disputed clauses of a draft law to regulate the country’s oil sector on Tuesday, after joint parliamentary committees failed to conclude discussions on the issue this week.

The parliamentary joint committees, headed by Speaker Nabih Berri, concluded their meeting Thursday and submitted the draft law for discussion by Parliament next week, after seven long rounds of deliberations in the past two months.

The establishment and regulation of a sovereign oil fund, and a proposed governing body for the sector remain the center of debate between the Future Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement, with both parties arguing over the prerogatives of the fund’s governing body.

The issue of Lebanon’s oil resources became topical after Israel started oil exploration off the Lebanese coast, with several Lebanese political groups expressing concern that Tel Aviv may seize oil from Lebanese territorial waters if the authorities fail to move quickly to endorse an oil draft law.

The ratification of the oil law would allow Beirut to grant firms the right to drill for oil fields in Lebanese waters, which could help the government reduce the country’s $52 billion debt, which marks one of the world’s highest debt-to-GDP rates at 147 percent.

While Energy Minister and FPM official Jibran Bassil is demanding the formation of a higher committee headed by President Michel Sleiman to manage the oil sector’s revenues, Future Movement MPs are calling for the formation of a ministerial committee as the governing body of the sector.

During the joint committees’ session, Minyeh-Dinnieh MP Ahmad Fatfat, from the Future Movement, proposed the formation of a ministerial committee embracing the energy, finance, economy, justice and environment ministers, to be headed by Premier Saad Hariri.

But Bassil expressed his rejection of the proposal, stressing that “such a committee cannot be allowed to make decisions with prerogatives surpassing that of the energy minister or that of the Cabinet.”

Beirut MP Mohammad Qabbani, Fatfat’s colleague in the Future Movement bloc, said his party rejected the idea of the energy minister acting as a “mailbox” for a ministerial committee, but also rejected a proposal which would see the minister governing the oil sector independently, “given its major importance.”

Fellow Future Movement member Chouf MP Mohammad Hajjar said on Friday that if lawmakers failed to reach consensus over the draft law during the general assembly meeting, the draft proposal would be subject to a majority vote.

The debate between the parliamentary majority and opposition MPs only came to an end after Berri intervened following a tense debate among MPs.

Previous discussions on the definition of the fund was concluded after attendees agreed to change the designation of “independent fund” to “sovereign fund,” and that the fund’s management be granted immunity, similar to the Central Bank’s.

Qabbani said following Thursday’s meeting that the draft law would be submitted to Parliament as is, and that parliamentary committees would let Berri study the proposal and offer proposals on how to reach a settlement on the disputed clauses.

Qabbani added that the parliamentary committees hadn’t decided upon the definition of the trial phase of production, and agreed by consensus to strike the article.

© Copyright The Daily Star 2010.