ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) stated Sunday it had learned of a lawsuit filed by the Iraqi oil ministry to stop Kurdish oil exports to Turkey, and said the move threatened both Baghdad’s overall export capacity and its diplomatic standing.
A KRG statement said that the Kurdish government had learned from a media announcement that the Iraqi Ministry of Oil (MOO) “has filed a ‘Request for Arbitration’ against the Republic of Turkey and a Turkish state-owned entity.”
It said that, “The motive of the MOO is, according to the announcement, to prevent the export of crude oil from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.”
The statement added: “The MOO’s behavior is inconsistent with previously established and accepted practice. It threatens Iraq’s oil export capacity and Iraq’s global diplomatic standing. The MOO also threatens Iraq’s relations with global oil traders and buyers.”
The KRG claimed that the lawsuit violated both Iraqi and international law, and that, “Its threats will fail.”
Iraq’s reported lawsuit follows confirmation by the KRG on Friday that the first oil sales through a new pipeline from Kurdistan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan had begun.
A tanker loaded with over one million barrels of crude oil departed Thursday night from Ceyhan towards Europe, according to the KRG. “This is the first of many such sales of oil exported through the newly constructed pipeline in the Kurdistan Region,” the KRG said in its statement announcing the oil sales.
The oil issue has been at the center of one of the worst rows between the autonomous Kurds and the Shiite Arab central government in Baghdad.
Erbil opened its new pipeline to Ceyhan in December. But after strong opposition from Baghdad, Ankara said it would hold off on allowing the sales until consent from the central government.
But after months of bickering and acrimony, including Baghdad freezing Erbil out of the national budget for months, no agreement was reached.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, who had warned that storage tanks at Ceyhan for Kurdish oil were filled to capacity with 2.5 million barrels of piped Kurdish gas, confirmed Thursday that the first oil sales had begun.
The bone of contention between Erbil and Baghdad has been over who controls revenues. The Kurds rejected demands by Baghdad that the sales should be conducted by the State Oil Marketing Organization, inviting SOMO only as an observer.
Sunday’s statement noted that: “The KRG has, with Federal Government knowledge, been exporting oil by trucking through Turkey and Iran for many years. This new pipeline export by the KRG is wholly consistent with the Constitution.”
“There is no clear reason why the MOO should now depart from established practice in circumstances where the KRG is increasing Iraq’s exports by pipeline at reduced transportation costs,” it said.
“The MOO’s behavior is a new and flagrant defiance of the KRG’s established rights under the Iraqi Federal Constitution,” the statement added.
“MOO is misleading the Iraqi Federal Government,” it warned.
It said that: “The KRG warns against any internationalizing of this Iraqi domestic constitutional issue by attempting arbitration processes obstructing the KRG’s constitutional right to sell its oil to the international market.
“The KRG remains, as always, ready to engage with its responsible partners in Baghdad to resolve any internal Iraqi oil and gas matters,” the KRG statement said.
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