Iraqi oil minister promises fuel for Kurdistan Region
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – As temperatures drop in the mountainous Kurdistan Region, Iraq's oil ministry has guaranteed fuel deliveries to the four provinces.
The decision by the Iraqi oil minister came after the Kurdistan Regional Government said that the central government was not sending as much medicine and fuel supplies as before.
Iraq's health minister told his Kurdish counterpart on Wednesday that medical deliveries would resume and the reduction was not due to political relations between the two capitals.
Officials in the Kurdistan Region have said that its health infrastructure has been strained because of hundreds of thousands of displaced Iraqis who came for shelter during the ISIS war, and recently up to 150,000 displaced, mostly-Kurdish, people from Kirkuk.
“The ministry continues to provide heating oil to refugees camps and liberated areas in northern provinces,” added Luaibi.
Erbil's economy has been heavily reliant upon oil revenues. Several oil fields previously under KRG control are now under Baghdad's.
On Friday, Luaibi announced some of Kirkuk's oil would be trucked to Iran, and in exchange, Iraq's southern provinces would receive Iranian oil.
Kurdish leaders have objected to Baghdad's recent use of “northern provinces,” and see it as an affront against their people. The Kurdistan Region was guaranteed in the Iraqi constitution of 2005.
“We will start providing 30 million liters of oil next week to the cities of Sulaimani, Erbil, Duhok and other cities in north Iraq,” said Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi in a statement on Saturday.
The decision by the Iraqi oil minister came after the Kurdistan Regional Government said that the central government was not sending as much medicine and fuel supplies as before.
Iraq's health minister told his Kurdish counterpart on Wednesday that medical deliveries would resume and the reduction was not due to political relations between the two capitals.
Officials in the Kurdistan Region have said that its health infrastructure has been strained because of hundreds of thousands of displaced Iraqis who came for shelter during the ISIS war, and recently up to 150,000 displaced, mostly-Kurdish, people from Kirkuk.
“The ministry continues to provide heating oil to refugees camps and liberated areas in northern provinces,” added Luaibi.
Erbil's economy has been heavily reliant upon oil revenues. Several oil fields previously under KRG control are now under Baghdad's.
On Friday, Luaibi announced some of Kirkuk's oil would be trucked to Iran, and in exchange, Iraq's southern provinces would receive Iranian oil.
Kurdish leaders have objected to Baghdad's recent use of “northern provinces,” and see it as an affront against their people. The Kurdistan Region was guaranteed in the Iraqi constitution of 2005.