Enforcement of international arbitration awards of petroleum disputes in Iraq: A legal analysis

Most petroleum contracts concluded by Iraq with international oil companies include an arbitration clause. Despite this, many opined that Iraq still suffers from problems enforcing international arbitration awards in petroleum disputes, which warrant analysis and suitable action. By adopting doctrinal research method, this thesis examines the possibility of enforcing international arbitration awards that arise from oil disputes in which the Iraqi government is a party. Therefore, this thesis seeks to study the challenges facing the enforcement of arbitration awards arising from petroleum disputes in Iraq and analyse the Iraqi national laws and international agreements governing the recognition and enforcement of international arbitration awards in Iraq. Data was collected through library-based approach and semi-structured interviews with lawyers, academics, and national and foreign oil company employees. Several data analysis methods, such as critical, analytical, and content analysis, have been used in the data analysis. The study also adopted a comparative method with Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to benefit from these countries' experiences and improving the Iraqi legal system to enforce arbitration awards. The results reveal that the Iraqi Code of Civil Procedure No. 83 of 1969 needs to be improved and more robust in enforcing international arbitration awards. In addition, the New York Convention, which Iraq joined in 2021, may not be applied to the enforcement of arbitration awards in petroleum disputes as a result of the commercial reservation that Iraq placed upon joining the convention because the legal nature of oil contracts is still a matter of conflict in the jurisprudence and legal circles in Iraq. The particular significance of this study lies in the need for a recent academic study showing the extent to which the New York Convention can be applied to arbitration awards in petroleum disputes and the extent to which Iraqi laws are appropriate to enforce these awards. Therefore, the instant research material and data are very important and worthy of research. This study recommends speeding up the enactment of new provisions for recognising and enforcing arbitration awards that consider not repeating the same problems in the current Civil Procedure Code. Additionally, the instant research proposes certain amendments to Iraqi Enforcement Law No. 45 of 1980 to be compatible with enforcing international arbitration awards in Iraq and reviewing Iraq's commerce reservation under the New York Convention. As a result of the lack of experience in petroleum arbitration in Iraq, the study suggested the establishment of a centre for international petroleum arbitration in Iraq.