Kirkuk MP demands residents hiring priority in new oil expansion
Shafaq News- Kirkuk (Updated on Aug.6, at 16:06)
A fixed share of the jobs created by BP's oil field project in Kirkuk should go to residents, an Iraqi lawmaker for the province said Wednesday, arguing that contractors had staffed the work with people brought in from elsewhere.
Halo Qadir Jabari told Shafaq News the project was a positive step for the province but was being carried out unfairly. “Most of the contracted companies are based outside Kirkuk and brought their own staff, shutting local engineers and young people out of appointments.”
He said he had written formally to the ministry and the oil minister on July 9, asking for a set quota of positions for Kirkuk's engineers and youth and for local hiring guarantees to be built into the contract.
"Kirkuk's residents should not carry the environmental damage and pollution from oil activity while the jobs go to other provinces," Jabari said.
Kirkuk holds some of Iraq's oldest and largest fields, among them the Kirkuk, Bai Hassan, Jambur, and Khabbaz sites, where years of technical and security problems cut production. The Ministry of Oil turned to international firms to rehabilitate them, and has separately announced a memorandum of intent with BP and ConocoPhillips to study further opportunities in the province.
Jabari said he would meet BP's general manager in Iraq in the coming days to press for Kirkuk residents to be given priority in hiring on the oil field projects.
