What were the initial plans for the distribution of post-war Iraqi oil and its revenues?

If enacted, the measure, drafted by a committee of politicians and ministers, could help resolve a highly divisive issue that has consistently blocked efforts to reconcile the country’s feuding ethnic and sectarian factions. Sunni Arabs, who lead the insurgency, have opposed the idea of regional autonomy for fear that they would be deprived of a fair share of the country’s oil wealth, which is concentrated in the Shiite south and Kurdish north.

The Iraq Study Group report stressed that an oil law guaranteeing an equitable distribution of revenues was crucial to the process of national reconciliation, and thus to ending the war.

Without such a law, it would also be impossible for Iraq to attract the foreign investment it desperately needs to bolster its oil industry."

Petroleum revenue

...B- The oil revenues include all the government revenues from oil and gas, royaltys [sic], signing rewards and production rewards of petroleum contracts with foreign or local companies.

C- The revenues mentioned in article 11/A [oil and gas resource revenues] must be deposited in an account called 'the oil revenue treasury' opened under the name of the Iraqi Central Bank specifically for this reason, and managed by the Council of Ministers and the ministry of treasury. The oil revenue treasury must be administrated by an independent entity headed by an employee whose rank is a minister. This entity must include representatives from the federal government, regions’ governments, provinces, and a number of independent consultants, and the entity must be associated with the Council of Ministers and must be formed directly after issuing this law. This entity must create its own bylaw, and must periodically publish all the financial data related to the oil revenue treasury.

D- The government’s revenue, including the oil revenue, must be distributed in through the federal budget in a fair and just way in adherence to the constitution.

E- Another treasury must be created under the name 'The Future Treasury,' and a certain ratio of oil revenue must be deposited in this treasury regulated by the law."

The paper lays the groundwork for profit-sharing partnerships between the Iraqi government and international oil companies. It also lays out the basis for co-operation between Iraq's federal government and its regional authorities to develop oil fields.

The document adds that oil companies will enjoy contracts to extract Iraqi oil for up to 30 years, and stresses that Iraq needs foreign investment for the 'quick and substantial funding of reconstruction and modernisation projects.'

It concludes that the proposed hydrocarbon law is of 'great importance to the whole nation as well as to all investors in the sector' and that the proceeds from foreign investment in Iraq's oilfields would, in the long term, decrease dependence on oil and gas revenues."