ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government sells Kurdistan region and Kirkuk crude oil shares independently and will receive the money without going through Baghdad, said a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi Parliament on Wednesday.
Arez Abdullah, chairman of the Iraqi Parliament's Oil and Gas Committee, told Rudaw that the KRG started exporting oil directly to world markets in July.
“This is the beginning of the Iraq disintegration,” Abdullah said.
KRG spokesperson Safin Dizayee told Rudaw that the decision was made to resolve the economic crisis that has stricken the Kurdistan region. He added that the decision was necessary to pay government employees’ salaries on time.
“The Turkish government has reassured the KRG that they would stick to the agreements with the KRG over Kurdistan’s independent oil sales,” Dizayee said.
In the last oil sales report, the Kurdistan Ministry of Natural Resources said due to the long-standing budget impasse with Baghdad it was obliged to increase its independent crude oil sales in June.
