Nechirvan Barzani: Erbil willing to hand over 250,000 bpd to Iraq as per agreement
Barzani said in the interview with Anadolu Agency that he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke in detail about "strengthening relations between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region as well as Iraq as a whole”.
He added "I suggest that a very new phase of relations between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey and [between] Turkey and Iraq as a whole is emerging, and God willing, Mr. President [Erdogan] will visit Iraq in the future. I think it would be an important visit for the development of relations."
Barzani’s last visit to Turkey was in July 2018 when he attended Erdogan's presidential inauguration.
Trade exports between Iraq and Turkey pass predominantly through the Kurdistan Region's Ibrahim Khalil border crossing.
A period of political détente between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region has allowed economic relations between the two to flourish.
Turkey resumed flights to and from the Kurdistan Region in March 2018. They had been suspended in September 2017 when the Kurdistan Region went ahead with its referendum for Kurdish independence.
But while flights were suspended, Turkey kept its border crossings, including Ibrahim Khalil, open.
In his latest meeting in Baghdad on Thursday, Barzani said that he discussed oil matters with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi and emphasized that an agreement should be reached that would be acceptable for both parties.
Barzani met with Iraq's president, prime minister, and parliamentary speaker in the Iraqi capital on Thursday in an effort to mend Erbil and Bagdad's fractured relationship.
One of the ongoing disputes is over the 2020 budget. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has so far failed to keep its side of the deal agreed to in the 2019 budget to deliver 250,000 barrels of oil per day to central government in exchange for its share of the federal budget.
Abdul-Mahdi is under mounting pressure from Shiite leaders to take a harder line on the KRG and the budget issue.
"In principle, we do not have any issues with handing over the 250,000 barrels of oil per day to Baghdad”, said Barzani, but added that “before it happens, agreements should be made”.
"The matter is not just that we should hand over 250,000 barrels of oil. There are also legal dimensions. There is an accumulation of loans on the KRG because of budget cuts from 2014. We have discussed these things and talked about how we can reach a deal that Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region can agree on”.
During his speech, Barzani referred in passing to the trade volume between Turkey and Iraq which he said currently is worth $13 billion.
"And we hope this volume will increase to a level which satisfies both sides... we discussed necessary measures [with Erdogan] to meet that end."
Barzani added that Erbil seeks to increase the capability of exporting more oil to Turkey and willing to assist Baghdad with its oil exports.
"We have an oil pipeline to the Ceyhan Port. We are ready and have spoken with Baghdad that [Erbil] is willing if Baghdad is interested in increasing its exports, or God forbids if any issue emerges in the south".
"The Kurdistan Region is ready to assist Baghdad in any way for them to export the oil they have in Kirkuk or any other place of Iraq, including for them to use the Kurdistan pipeline to export oil from Kirkuk and any other areas, to Turkey”.
The KRG's relations with Baghdad took a hit in late 2017 after Erbil went through with the referendum for independence.
Already frosty relations over independent oil sales and the KRG's share of the federal budget came to a head when Baghdad imposed an embargo on international flights to and from the Region's airports and launched a military operation against the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga in the disputed territories.
Relations have vastly improved since Abdul-Mahdi came to power last year, but this spirt of goodwill could soon run out if the KRG continues to flout its end of the bargain to deliver oil.