ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Iraqi government hasn’t paid Kirkuk’s its petrodollar share for more than four years, according to a provincial council member, and it suffers from a lack of services because the province doesn’t have funds.
“It has been five years and a month that the Iraqi government hasn’t spent Kirkuk’s petrodollar funds for it, and this has created trouble for the Kirkukis,” Ahmed Askari, head of the Oil and Energy Committee of Kirkuk’s provincial council, told Rudaw.
Askari adds that the atmosphere following October 16 events prevent the people from taking it to the streets to demand their rights.
“The Kirkukis should have been on the streets demanding their rights like the people of Basra, but unfortunately Kirkuk’s situation is such that no one can demonstrate even for basic services,” Askari expressed.
The committee head, who is also a member of the Brotherhood bloc, said the Kurdistan Regional Government spent $10 million monthly for the province, and many “very good” projects were implemented.
The Peshmerga forces moved into the city of Kirkuk in 2014, after the Iraqi Army fled the oil-rich province. The Peshmerga withdrew on October 16, 2017, following an Iraqi offensive.
The province’s oil had been exported by the KRG, and it formed nearly half of all revenues for the Kurdistan Region, as the departure of the Peshmerga resulted in the Kurdistan Region losing access to the oil.
Kirkuk has produced more than 300,000 bpd, and according to Iraqi law, for each sold barrel, Kirkuk gets $5. The KRG had been exporting Kirkuk’s oil through the Ceyhan pipeline, but that stopped after the October events.
Baghdad has welcomed the idea to reopen the pipeline and has said that it will work to implement it.
Amid the growing protests in Iraq, Abadi has ordered the petrodollar shares of many provinces, like Basra and Wasit, be spent to alleviate some of the people’s grievances.
Lack of the petrodollar funds to Kirkuk has caused the city’s services, like trash removal to stop. Electricity also has deteriorated.
The changes have pushed the acting provincial governor, Rakan al-Jabouri, to seek help from the Kurdistan Region for electricity.
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