The Iraqi parliament is questioning Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani over the slow progress in bringing oil to market from the country's southern fields.

According to the Iraq Oil Report, politicians have taken issue with Shahristani over three perceived problems, these being the failure to pass a new oil law, the slow progress in tendering new exploration contracts and declining output.

Although government officials have this week confirmed to Dow Jones Newswires that the current bidding process will be resolved by the end of this month, Ali Belo, chairman of the parliament oil & gas committee said that Shahristani will be facing some tough questions before then.

The declining output from fields in the south has been broadly attributed to underinvestment in infrastructure and training during years of mismanagement and sanctions during the Saddam era.

In a bid to boost output, the Iraqi government last month approved production from fields in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north, after years of wrangling over rights to the reserves.

Global Education and Training event: Getenergy for Iraq