ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish prime minister was in Istanbul Friday to discuss a controversial oil export deal with his Turkish counterpart, as reports said that Erbil and Baghdad are close to resolving hurdles that have been holding up the agreement for weeks.
As Premier Nechirvan Barzani met for talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Kurdish official said that diplomatic relations and the regional situation were on the agenda.
But officials accompanying both leaders left little doubt about the focus of the meeting. Kurdish Energy Minister Ashti Hawrami and his Turkish counterpart Taner Yildiz were both in the talks.
Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region signed a comprehensive agreement to export its oil and gas to Turkey in November, without involving the central government in Baghdad.
That infuriated the Shiite-Arab central government, which insists that all oil exports from anywhere in Iraq must go through the central government.
After reluctantly giving its nod for the exports to begin in January, Ankara has since been arguing over how the revenues would be shared.
But amid the fiery exchanges between both sides Mehmet Sepil, president of Anglo-Turkish firm Genel Energy which has been knowledgeable about the talks, said that Baghdad and Erbil were nearing a deal.
"We have never been this close to a deal," the Reuters news agency quoted him as saying. "The issues that caused an impasse have been identified. There's been quite a bit of progress made," he told the agency in an interview.
Authorities in Baghdad had earlier said they had sent written questions to Erbil about the intended exports. Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Hussain al-Shahristani said recently that a response had been received from Erbil, without disclosing what Erbil had said.
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