Q&A: Ali Shaddad al-Faris, member of the Parliament Oil and Gas Committee

BASRA - Iraq's federal government has long pushed to unify the country's oil sector under Baghdad's authority, while the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has argued power should be decentralized under the federal structure of the Iraqi Constitution.

Ali Shaddad al-Faris, a nominally independent MP from Basra, has been a vocal proponent of Baghdad's centralist position. He has advanced his views both as a member of the Parliament Oil and Gas Committee and as a co-plaintiff in a court case that resulted in Iraq's highest court invalidating the KRG's regional oil and gas law.