Addressing a range of topics related to internal affairs, Abadi told reporters in Baghdad that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) “has to be more transparent in exporting oil.”
A Kurdish official, however, quickly dismissed Abadi’s claims that the KRG is not transparent in its oil affairs.
"It is not surprising that Abadi says such things. He even does not deserve to be answered. But, I repeat for the public opinion, that the Kurdistan Region exports 520 to 550,000 bpd to the Ceyhan port. Together with Kirkuk oilfields, the portion reaches 580 to 600,000 bpd," Dilshad Shaaban, deputy head of natural resources and energy committee in the Kurdistan parliament, told Rudaw.
Shaaban recalled that in 2014 Abadi had claimed that the region was exporting 400,000 barrels of oil per day, but in fact “it was just 120 to 150,000 bpd.”
“It is not the first time he [speaks] on the Kurdistan Region’s oil while he has been the reason for cutting the Kurdistan Region’s budget,” he claimed.
Erbil and Baghdad reached an agreement in the summer on oil exports.
Abadi also made comments on the presence of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region’s mountainous areas. The prime minister said that Iraq does not “allow the use of Iraqi land to attack our neighbors and we do not help any party to attack Turkey.”
Abadi’s Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim is scheduled to visit Baghdad next week in a bid to mend fences between the two countries that have been strained over the presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq.
