ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region is expected to finalize a deal this week to export oil and gas to Turkey as Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani arrives in Ankara.
A well-placed source told Rudaw that Barzani and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will seal the final deal allowing exports of Kurdistan’s oil through a recently completed pipeline to Turkey and from there to the world market.
Upon his return from Ankara, Barzani is expected to visit Baghdad and discuss the details of the agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Industry reports say that the pipeline, taking Kurdish oil to the Turkish point of Ceyhan, will initially carry 150,000 barrels a day, starting next month.
Baghdad opposes any direct oil deals by the autonomous Kurdistan Region, but Barzani has reassured that the agreement between Erbil and Ankara is beneficial to all Iraqi people.
Last week, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that the Iraqi people will benefit from the oil deals that are signed with the Kurdistan Region.
“The Iraqi government will also get a copy of all receipts of all money kept in Turkish banks,” he said.
At a press conference last week, Barzani said that Iraq must pass the oil and gas law that has been sitting in parliament for years.
International observers believe that the export of oil and gas will give the Kurdistan Region greater political and economic autonomy. The region is currently dependent on 17 percent of Iraq’s federal budget to run the local government.
Since 2007, Erbil and the central government have been at loggerheads over the autonomous region’s natural resources.
Iraqi leaders say that Baghdad has the sole authority over the country’s oil and gas, while the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) argues that the constitution grants it the right to extract and export Kurdistan’s own oil.
Kurdistan’s Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami has stressed in the past that Kurdish oil exports should not worry Baghdad because the revenues are shared with the central government.
Rudaw has learned that Hawrami was in Ankara last week to arrange the final details for this week’s agreement between Barzani and Erdogan.
Yildiz also said earlier this month that his government was planning to mediate between Erbil and Baghdad over outstanding energy issues.
"We are trying to establish a method which we believe will counter the concerns of the central Iraqi government,” he said. “So far, the Kurdistan Regional Government and central government have not been able to establish the system they wished," Reuters quoted Yildiz as saying.
“The distribution of the revenues would be carried out by Iraq; we would only hold these deposits at a Turkish state bank," the Turkish energy minister added.
Kurdish leaders have complained that the central government has failed to pay the fees of foreign oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region, estimated at $5 billion.
Earlier this month, Erbil and Ankara finalized a comprehensive energy package that includes the building of a second pipeline connecting the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas to the world market via Turkey.
Comments
5 11 Ish | 25/11/2013
Kurdistan Region of Iraq- the 82nd province of Turkey. Who would have thought?
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9 2 Polla | 25/11/2013
@Ish, before that agreement between Hewler and Ankara, Iraq and Turkey had agreements to cooperate against Kurds. Now the KRG brought this cooperate between Iraq and Turkey and made the old friends to enemies and it have now a opportunity to export its oil to the world market. Basur is surrounded by enemies it have no border with the sea, so do you know a other way how it could export its oil, trough the space or what? The KRG do a good job.
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4 1 Bakir Lashkari | yesterday at 06:58
The key issue in whole Middle East is the confidence and trustiness. Only Israel knows how to deal with Arabs, Fars and Turkish leaders. However this is the problem of Islamic regimes and its known in the entire world, that these countries are not trusting the others and therefore they are not trusted. How could you imagine that you have your own home, your own garden, your own farms, your own family, your own language, your own culture, your own identity, your own land, your colourful religious communities, nevertheless the others will treat you as if you are their slaves and their followers! What Saddam thoughts about the Kurds, the others like the current Arabs, The Iranian Regime, The Assad’s Regime, The Erdogan Regimes, thinking exactly the same about the Kurds, Kurds do not exist! Can you imagine that you grow some vegetables and fruits in your own garden and the neighbours will ask to not sell and do not keep the money in your own pocket? !!! Who is believing and accepting these humiliations in this century, while the Arab spring, the Arab summer, the Arab winter and the Arab autumn are still in a turmoil scattering among the Arab world, without any change and any results! For the Kurds it is the most crucial and key question no how to deal with this continuous conflicts with Baghdad? As the Kurds in 2003 made it clear to the Baghdad that for the Kurds there three options: 1. Separate from Iraq 2. Accept all demand and requirements of the Kurds, like federal Region, has its own region administration and economy as well as the article 140 3. Start war The Kurds are continuously moving for back and forth with Baghdad between the first and second options! This is called diplomacy, this is called merchandizing and offending the Kurds, while the Arabs in Baghdad nothing has been changed from what Saddam Hussein used to think about the Kurds and how to deal with Kurds!
