KRG says will defend constitutional rights amid pressure from Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Wednesday that it will fend off pressure from the Iraqi government and protect its constitutional rights amid the jeopardized status of the Kurdistan Region's oil and gas sector.

"The council of ministers reaffirmed that it will not give up the constitutional rights of the people of the Kurdistan Region and defend the constitutional rights in every way and will not submit to any pressure and threats from the federal government,” read a KRG statement following a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. 

During the meeting, the need to resolve "outstanding issues" between Erbil and Baghdad, especially oil and gas disputes, were also discussed. The KRG added that such issues can be resolved "through the enactment of a federal oil and gas law based on the constitution."

Iraq's top court in February found the Kurdistan Region's oil and gas law to be "unconstitutional," therefore striking down the legal basis for the independence of the Region's oil and gas sector, a decision repeatedly slammed by Kurdish leaders. 

Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar last month backed the implementation of the federal court's decision on the Kurdistan Region's oil and gas law, stating that Iraq should have a standard method of managing the country's wealth.

Iraq's oil ministry on Monday claimed that three major US energy firms - Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, and Halliburton - have confirmed to the ministry that they will no longer tender for new projects in the Kurdistan Region. 

The meeting also discussed revenues and expenditures of the KRG, criticizing the Iraqi government for not providing the required funds for salary distribution, according to KRG’s statement.

"Although the cabinet was able to provide the full salary for the first six months of 2022 where the average monthly salary expenditure is 900 billion dinars, the federal government for the first six months should have sent 1.2 trillion dinars but it has only sent 400 billion dinars in two months this year," it stated.

Iraq’s federal budget was passed by its parliament in March last year after heated debates and more than three months after initially being approved by the cabinet. A particularly contentious point was Erbil’s share and requirements for the KRG to hand over oil. 

The Kurdistan Region receiving its share of the budget is dependent on Erbil fulfilling its commitments, which include handing over 250,000 barrels of oil per day, paying back money previously borrowed from the Iraqi Trade Bank, sending non-oil revenues, and prioritizing paying the salaries of its civil servants and Peshmerga before any other spending.