KRG and Iraqi government reach agreement over Oil exportation and revenue

 

Prime Minister of the Kurdistan-Region, Nechirvan Barzani, met with his Iraqi counter-part Nouri al-Maliki and a number of officials in Baghdad to discuss Kurdish oil exportation and revenues.

Oil exportation has been a point of conflict between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad, with the Iraqi government previously warning the Kurds not to develop and distribute their oil and gas sources without Baghdad’s approval.

 

However, Iraqi Kurds have said developing their natural resources is within their rights and within the Iraqi constitution. The KRG has now signed more than 50 oil and gas development contracts with international companies, including Exxon Mobil, Total among others.

 

One of the committees arranged to be setup will look into the oil disputes. The members of the committee will be energy experts and will identify the amount of oil the KRG plans to export to neighbouring Turkey and include the revenues in the Iraqi budget.

 

The United States has welcomed the recent meetings between Kurdish premier Nechirvan Barzani and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a statement was released by the U.S State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki.

  

“Washington supports the efforts from all sides to reach an agreement on Iraqi oil export and distribute the revenue with equal share.” Psaki told reporters in Washington.

 

Both sides agreed to form a number of special committees to follow up on the issues they resolved during their meeting. According to sources, the two sides came to an agreement regarding Kurdish oil exportation to Turkey when Mr Barzani was visiting the Iraqi capital

In another aspect of his trip to Baghdad, Mr Barzani met with the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Hussein al-Shahrstani, and Mr Sayyed Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, to discuss the current situation in Iraq overall, oil exportation and unification between the KRG and central government.