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ERBIL, Kurdistan-Iraq, (Jan 14) -- The
Kurdish government has begun drilling for oil at a
new field near the northern city of Dohuk, a direct
challenge to Baghdad's control over the nation's
resources.
Many Kurdish sources are reluctant to talk about the
exploration near Dohuk and at two other sites, where
security is tight and access by visitors restricted.
But Per Thorsdalen, a member of the advance party
for a Norwegian firm involved in oil operations,
confirmed the fields' existence and locations.
Norwegian oil company DNO is the main contractor for
the Dohuk operation.
Published reports indicate Kurdistan's oil fields
are smaller than those in southern Iraq and near the
contested city of Kirkuk.
The regional government claims that its oil reserves
total 45 billion barrels, versus 200 billion for all
of Iraq, but this figure derives from outmoded
methods of estimating field size. The true size of
Kurdistan's reserves could be much lower or much
higher.
Still, Kurdish officials are optimistic that the
region's oil will prove a major source of income.
"Kurdistan is rich in oil," said Adnan Mufti,
speaker of the Kurdistan regional assembly. He
described the Dohuk field as "only a jump-start."
Regional financing has long been a challenge in
Kurdistan. In 1994, a dispute over finances between
the two dominant Kurdish political parties sparked a
four-year civil war that killed thousands.
Oil revenue could head off another such conflict and
solidify the parties' current alliance. Since the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Kurdistan
has been free of much of the violence that has beset
Sunni- and Shi'ite-dominated areas.
But there are political obstacles to the regional
government's oil ambitions, most notably Baghdad's
reluctance to surrender control over any of Iraq's
natural resources.
All major industries in Iraq are owned by the state.
The central government in Baghdad doles out revenue
to provincial governments and to Kurdistan's
regional government. But Kurdistan's autonomy, the
result of a successful uprising in the wake of the
1991 Persian Gulf War, complicates revenue sharing.
"Any contract for exploration or production of oil
and gas without the consent of the federal ministry
of oil is contractually void," Hussain al-Shahristani,
deputy speaker of the national assembly, told Dow
Jones Newswires in December.
Mr. Mufti contests that assertion. "The [new]
constitution is allowing the region to produce its
own oil," he said.
But specific legislation to facilitate independent
oil production is pending, and Mr. Mufti is
impatient for progress. "This should be regulated by
law," he said.
The oil fight is only one battle in a broad campaign
by the Kurdistan government to gradually increase
its independence. At the heart of the campaign is
the regional government's claim on the oil-rich city
of Kirkuk, which lies just south of Kurdistan's de
facto border.
Currently, Kirkuk is pumping out almost a million
barrels of oil per day.
Efforts by Kurdistan's disproportionately large
Baghdad delegation, including Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani, resulted in the inclusion of a
controversial article in Iraq's new constitution.
Article 136 requires a 2007 referendum in Kirkuk to
determine whether the city and its oil will come
under Baghdad's or Kurdistan's control. To tilt the
vote in its favor, the Kurdistan regional government
has been paying Kirkuk-born Kurds who were forcibly
removed by Saddam Hussein's government to return to
the city and file suit to reclaim their old
properties.
"Saddam said ... he would never give Kirkuk to
Kurdistan because it would be the first step to
Kurdish statehood," Mr. Mufti said.
Asked whether independence from Iraq is Kurdistan's
goal, Mr. Mufti said that Kurds support a federal
Iraq.
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