ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region’s minister of natural resources, Ashti Hawrami, announced plans for a new pipeline to connect the region’s oil and gas to Turkey and the world market.
“The second pipeline would have a capacity of at least 1 million barrels per day (bpd) and would be completed within the next 18-24 months,” Reuters quoted Hawrami as saying.
The Kurdistan Region sits on an estimated 45 billion barrels of oil and the Iraqi constitution gives the Kurds the right to extract and export their oil to the world market, given that the revenue is shared with the central government in Baghdad.
Kurdish authorities find neighboring Turkey the ideal gateway to the world, especially through the Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean Sea, where the Kurdish oil will end up once the pipelines are finished.
“The Iraqi government strongly opposes Kurdistan’s independent plans to build oil pipelines into Turkey,” said Hussein Shahristani, Iraq’s deputy prime minister for energy affairs and former minister of oil.
Shahristani said in a statement on Thursday that, “Turkey is aware of Iraq’s concerns and absolute rejection of that plan.”
The Iraqi government has opposed the pipeline and most of Kurdistan’s oil deals with foreign companies, fearing that economic independence will drift the three northern provinces away from Iraq and towards a possible independent state.
The statement from Shahristani added that Turkey had promised to honor its agreement with Baghdad and that “they wouldn’t allow the export of Kurdish oil without the consent of the Iraqi government.”
Comments
6 2 PDK Kerkuk | 8 hours ago
Who gives the Fake state Iraq the right to be against the independence of Kurdistan? Kurds have the God given right of self-determination. No people must live under the occupation and oppression of other people. Iraq and other Arab states support a Palestinian state, but oppose a Kurdish state, what a joke. The state Iraq itself is fake and failed, it was built by Brits and since years under a civil war. So why not change the borders which bring people together who do not like each other, why remain something what is wrong. Why do 2 Million people in Kosovo get independence and not 40 million Kurds? Kurds will never accept this!!!
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4 1 Polla | 8 hours ago
Kurds can built what they want, it is there Land they lived there for thousands of years. The terrorists state of Iraq should be destroyed, it brought to much wars, deaths, dictatorship, torture, hate, racism etc.
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1 1 Sam | 6 hours ago
Kurds has right to build their independent state like other people in the world , but this will happened when people power plane for this method and it will guarantee for Kurds to keep that for rever . Other method to do that by pdk family or puk talabani family or fake opposition goran it will not help Kurds at all and there will be no guarantee for the Kurds state to stay stronger for rever, because dealing with the enemies for Kurds economy is a very wrong plan and steps will service Kurds enmeies . Turkish terrorist state are not keen to help Kurds , they are only helping their group army like pdk family and at first and also puk family which are also now sharing pdk policy with Turkish terrorist state to control Kurds economy , so by this plan the Kurds enemies will have a key in hands to blok up the door for Kurds state in any time they want.
