ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s government spokesperson told Rudaw on Monday that it is only a matter of technicalities that still pose an obstacle to the resumption of the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports a month after they were halted over an arbitration ruling.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration court ruled last month that Turkey had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement with Iraq by allowing independent oil exports from the Kurdistan Region. Oil exports from the Region have been halted since as a result, placing pressure on its oil revenue dependent economy.
“We are talking about days [for reaching a solution], all the available information from the Iraqi oil ministry shows that these are technical procedures and the meetings will continue with the KRG’s [Kurdistan Regional Government[ oil ministry to reach solutions in a really quick fashion,” Basem al-Awadi, the spokesperson of the Iraqi government told Rudaw’s Mustafa Goran.
Awadi emphasized that the pending matters are mainly technical, adding that had the issues been between two states, it would have taken six to seven months to solve, but since it is between a regional and federal government, it will be a matter of days.
“There will be good news after Eid holidays, regarding the resumption of oil exports,” he said of the Islamic holiday which has come to an end.
In order to ameliorate the situation, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani signed a deal stipulating that the KRG would sell its oil through the Iraqi State Organization for Marketing Oil (SOMO). Exports from the Region were expected to swiftly follow.
Under the agreement, the KRG oil revenues will be deposited to an account at the Iraqi Central Bank and the Iraqi government will have the right to access audits.
Rebaz Hamlan, assistant to Prime Minister Barzani and former KRG finance minister, told Rudaw last month that the halt of independent oil exports by the KRG through Turkey is “temporary” and will only persist until a probable mutual agreement is reached between Erbil and Baghdad, emphasizing that the halt will not affect the salary distributions.
The KRG has struggled for years to pay civil servants’ salaries on time. The Region pocketed about $2.8 billion from oil sales in the second half of 2022, according to a Deloitte-audited report.
The agreement between the federal government and the KRG was welcomed by the parliamentarians who were previously against the KRG’s independent oil sales, and they stress that the financial benefits of the KRG are guaranteed in the upcoming federal budget, Mohammed Baldawi, a Shiite member of the Iraqi parliament told Rudaw.
In an interview with Al Jazeera aired earlier this month, Sudani said that the Kurdistan Region had no choice but to accept unbalanced deals back in 2014, adding that IOCs had exploited Erbil at the time, stating that Erbil and Baghdad had agreed to draft an oil and gas law under six months, admitting that the process will take longer that the originally-set deadline.
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