ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— International oil companies exporting from the Kurdistan region will receive the first installment of regular payments in September the Ministry of Natural Resources said Thursday as the government announced plans to boost exports next year. The ministry said in a statement that the Oil and Gas Council of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had approved the allocation of between $75-100 million to exporting companies whose payments had been postponed due to the financial crises in Iraq and the drop in global oil prices. “It is further recognized that with the steep fall in the price of oil it is difficult for the IOCs [International Oil Companies] to sustain oil exports at current levels without receiving some of their financial dues on a predictable basis,” the statement said. Oil exports from Kurdish-controlled areas has passed 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year with authorities hoping to reach 1 million bpd by the end of 2016. Baghdad and Erbil have in the past year accused each other of breaching the terms of an agreement reached in December last year that would regulate production and the sale of crude oil in the Kurdistan region. The KRG has recently been selling much of its oil independent of Iraq, through the Turkish Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean Sea. The KRG says the Iraqi government did not live up to the December agreement when reducing KRG’s share of national revenues. Baghdad officials say the reduction is due to fall in the price of oil and Erbil’s refusal to sell its crude oil via the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Company, or SOMO. More than 20 companies have contracts with the KRG to explore for oil in the region, including America’s Chevron, Russian Gazprom and British Sterling Energy. Global oil prices rose more than $1 dollar a barrel up to $44.64 on Thursday despite concerns that the drop in price would continue throughout 2015.
