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Turkish president backs Iraqi oil law
12.1.2008
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January 12 2008
WASHINGTON, -- Turkey's president says
Turkish companies are ready to enter Iraq's oil
sector when a new oil law is passed, dodging a
question on Iraqi Kurds' oil deals.
"The Turkish petroleum company has various
facilities and possibilities that could be put to
use literally overnight" to help explore oil and
gas, Abdullah Gul said this week during a U.S.
visit.
In a question-and-answer session following a speech
at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars, Gul was asked if Turkey will allow oil
produced in Iraq's Kurdistan region to be exported
to and through his country.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has begun
developing the oil sector of its northern Iraq area
unilaterally, claiming the central government is
moving too slow and blocking a new oil law. Baghdad
says the KRG deals are illegal.
Turkey, wary of a powerful Kurdish region, has said
in the past that no oil produced from the KRG deals
will be allowed into Turkey. A northern Iraq
pipeline currently sends crude to the Turkish port
of Ceyhan, but nothing produced from the KRG deals
has made it to that market.
Gul's answer evaded the specific question, though he
reiterated his support for Baghdad.
"On the one hand the rehabilitation of the current
resources as well as the current facilities is
important while it is also a very important priority
for Iraq to have new wells for oil and gas to bring
out new sources," he said.www.ekurd.net
"We also know that at
the center of the conflict's discussions in Iraq lie
oil and gas."
"Our recommendation to the Iraqis," he added, "is
the passing of this law as soon as possible and when
that is done, work I'm sure will be carried out not
just of the existing resources but also for new oil
and gas resources, and at that stage, Turkey, with
all of the possibilities that she has,www.ekurd.net
will do whatever she can
to ensure that she's there to help not just in the
north but also in the south and all across the
country."
Iraq has 115 billion barrels of proven reserves --
the third largest in the world -- located mostly in
Iraq's south. The country is both vastly
underexplored, with experts predicting perhaps twice
as much to be found, and in need of rehabilitation
of the current infrastructure.
The debate over the oil law includes how much
control the central government should have over the
oil sector strategy. The KRG favors a more
decentralized policy.
There's also debate as to how much exploration --
searching for more oil -- should be conducted and
how much effort should be put behind enhancing the
currently producing and already discovered fields.
The KRG deals are all exploration.
UPI
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