ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdish oil minister has reiterated the Kurdistan Regional Government’s commitment to an export agreement with Baghdad, but said the central government is making excuses not to uphold its end. Dr. Ashti Hawrami, speaking to the press on Monday alongside Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and other ministers, provided a detailed presentation on the Erbil-Baghdad oil agreement and recent talks with his Iraqi counterpart Adil Abdul-Mahdi. Hawrami, minister of oil and natural resources since 2006, said a schedule was agreed upon that the KRG would in January begin sending an average of 550,000 barrels of oil per day to Ceyhan port in Turkey. The export amount, according to Hawrami, would represent 250,000 bpd from oilfields in the Kurdistan region and 300,000 bpd from Kirkuk oilfields. Disputes with Baghdad over oil exports are nothing new, Hawrami said. He explained that from the start of 2014 an agreement was in place to send 150,000 bpd from Kurdish and Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey’s Ceyhan in return for $500 million each month from the central government. He claimed Baghdad only followed through on two payments the entire year. Despite this alleged shortfall, Hawrami said the KRG agreed to this year increase the rate from 150,000 bpd to 550,000 bpd. The new agreement, which was ratified on December 2 by the Iraqi Council of Ministries for the 2015 national budget, excluded funding for the KRG’s Peshmerga, with Baghdad agreeing a separate budget would be needed for the Kurdish forces. Hawrami dismissed allegations the KRG was unwilling to follow through on its end of the bargain. He said he and Dr. Amanj Rahim, secretary of the KRG council of ministries, met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi “for four hours, explaining our commitment to the agreement.” Hawrami also explained fluctuations in the flow of oil exports that Baghdad has cited as a problem. He said an export schedule was given to Abdul-Mahdi on January 23 that showed the current rate of 350,000 bpd would be increased to 650,000 later in the year in order to reach the agreed upon daily average of 550,000 per day. He said Iraq’s oil minister was satisfied with the export rate and rejected any claims that the KRG was not sending enough oil as an “excuse” to not honor the agreement. Hawrami claimed Iraq was currently supposed to export and sell a total of 3,500,000 bpd, but so far was only exporting 2,800,000 bpd. In conclusion, Hawrami said that should problems persist with Baghdad, the KRG might do better selling the region’s oil itself and bypass the central government. He added that any move to do so would require a “political decision.”
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