An oil worker operates a valve at an oil field in Iraq, with gas flares burning in the background.
Zaidi orders contract posts for oil institute graduates in 2027 budget
BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has ordered that graduates of Iraq’s oil institutes be given contract posts in the 2027 federal budget, from the share set aside for the Oil Ministry, Oil Minister Basim al-Abadi said Friday.
The institutes, run by the ministry, train technicians for the oil sector and award technical diplomas. Abadi announced the order in a message to their graduates. He said the ministry had raised their hiring at the cabinet’s Nov. 3 meeting.
The ministry told the cabinet that the graduates had chosen the oil institutes even though their grades would have qualified them for engineering and medical colleges, because they wanted to specialize and work in the oil sector, Abadi said.
“The Ministry of Oil urgently needs to benefit from your scientific and technical specializations and integrate you into its various departments and companies, as you are an essential pillar in implementing the ministry’s plans to increase production and develop the country’s oil industry,” he said.
Abadi did not say how many graduates the order covers or how many posts the ministry’s share will include. On Oct. 24, Zaidi ordered 120,000 new contract posts created in the 2027 budget, 70,000 of them for ministries and governorates. He also ordered all contract employees and daily wage workers moved onto the permanent payroll.
The posts depend on a budget the cabinet has yet to approve. Zaidi set aside Tuesday’s cabinet session for the draft so it could be approved and sent to parliament, but no approval has been announced. The Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad remain at odds over the Kurdistan Region’s share of the budget.
The draft has been with the cabinet since Sept. 27, when the Ministerial Council for Economy approved it. Finance Committee chair Uday Awad said on Oct. 26 that it would reach parliament on Nov. 15, a month after its legal deadline.
Graduates seeking oil sector jobs have protested repeatedly this year. In Basra, engineering, petroleum and science graduates blocked several state oil company facilities in early September, and security forces detained several demonstrators. Days later, Zaidi told the Finance Ministry to make room in the draft budget for jobs or contract posts for graduates who had waited years for government work, based on what ministries need.
Oil provides more than 90% of federal revenue. Economist Nabil al-Marsoumi, citing the draft, has said it assumes exports of 4 million barrels a day at $58 a barrel. Abadi put October exports at more than 3.4 million barrels a day.
Iraq has had no budget law this year. Since the three-year law covering 2023 to 2025 expired, spending has been governed by the one-twelfth rule, under which monthly spending is capped at one-twelfth of the previous year’s actual current spending while there is no budget law.