By Halo Kakaways
KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi arrived for a visit to Kirkuk just as the autonomous Kurdistan Region, which forbids oil developments in the disputed province, was finalizing its own pipeline deal with Turkey that Baghdad has vehemently opposed.
“The visit is to inspect BP’s progress in its oil discovery in the province,” said Luaybi, who was accompanied by Bob Dudley, CEO of the British energy giant.
The minister’s arrival is seen as a threat by Baghdad to go ahead with developing a major contested oil field in Kirkuk, unless Erbil desists in its growing cooperation with Turkey. In January, when Baghdad publicly announced the deal with BP, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) called it “illegal.”
In turn, Baghdad claims that direct deals by the KRG to develop its own petroleum fields and export oil are illegal. It insists that all such agreements must go through the central government. Those objections have been ignored completely, with major US, Russian and Turkish oil firms involved in dozens of energy projects in the Kurdistan Region.
Erbil is clearly ready to take the next step in exporting its oil, with a reported multi-billion dollar comprehensive oil pipeline deal with Ankara that will get Kurdish crude to markets in Turkey and beyond.
The Reuters news agency on Wednesday quoted a source close to the negotiations as saying that the deal between Erbil and Ankara “is official and it is historic.”
According to Luaybi, he was in Kirkuk to ask for support from the governor and Provincial Council for oil projects.
“We need cooperation and support from the governor and the Kirkuk Provincial Council. For this purpose, we have reached an agreement with the governor,” said Luaybi.
Kirkuk Governor Najmaldin Karim said that the oil minister is supporting Kirkuk. “A number of service projects have kicked off in our province, and the oil companies will have projects on an annual basis to better serve Kirkuk,” he told reporters. For each barrel of oil exported, $5 will be spent to serve Kirkuk, he added.
The Kirkuk oilfields produce well below their capacity due to years of neglect and lack of maintenance. Oil output levels are at some 280,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared to nearly a million bpd at the beginning of 2001.
The Provincial Council in Kirkuk complained it knew nothing about Luaybi’s visit, and that it is kept in the dark about any energy deals.
“The Provincial Council is kept uninformed about most of the visits of the delegations from Baghdad. We have no information about this visit either,” complained Ibrahim Khalil, a Provincial Council official.
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