Iraq criticizes Kurdistan region oil exports

Iraq Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani has criticized the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region’s push towards exporting oil without the approval of Baghdad.

“The most prominent challenge is that we have not reached a national agreement to extract and market oil from all of Iraq’s territory,” Shahristani said in a speech on Saturday.

His remarks came following a long-running dispute between Iraq’s central government and Kurdistan over the control of oil exports in the semi-autonomous region.

“The situation with the Kurdistan region is still stuck. This file is not resolved, in spite of some progress having been made. We hope it will end soon,” he also said.

The minister, who is also responsible for the country’s energy affairs, added, “We have a grey area — we do not know how much oil the region is extracting, what price they are selling at, and where the revenue goes.”

Baghdad says oil sales should be overseen by the central government and considers any independent oil exports as tantamount to smuggling.

The Iraqi government has threatened to boycott Turkish companies and cancel contracts with Turkish firms over their deals with the country’s Kurdistan regional government.

In early January, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Iraq’s Kurdistan had started flowing crude oil to neighboring Turkey, despite Baghdad’s criticism of the energy exports.

The Turkish minister said the crude was being pumped via a new pipeline to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, adding that oil flows through the pipeline would start at 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) and rise to 400,000 bpd.