ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said late on Tuesday that the Iraqi federal court's ruling against the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas industry is "completely political”.
"The decision of the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court regarding the oil and gas of the Kurdistan Region is a completely political decision and contradicts the Iraqi federal constitution, which is aimed at opposing the Kurdistan Region and is against the Iraqi federal system,” Masoud Barzani said in a statement.
Barzani's comments follow the federal court's ruling earlier in the day that the oil and gas law regulating the oil sector in the Kurdistan Region is unconstitutional.
The court reviewed cases brought against the export of oil from the Kurdistan Region to foreign countries without prior approval from the federal government. The Iraqi oil ministry has previously filed cases against the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), both in 2012 and in 2019, for exporting oil without approval from the federal government.
The KRG passed its own oil and gas law in 2007, enabling it to administer and develop its own oil and gas resources.
The lack of federal oil and gas legislation has been a strong point of contention between Erbil and Baghdad since the current Iraqi constitution was approved in 2005. According to the constitution, it is the responsibility of both the federal and regional governments to develop oil and gas resources.
Such legislation exists, but is yet to pass parliament. The law has been pending since 2005 and every election, parties promise to vote on it.
The KRG exported a total of nearly 80 million barrels of crude oil in the first half of 2021, collecting a net $1.7 billion, according to audited data published by the KRG in November. The majority of these exports were made to Turkey.
