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Kurdistan prime minister says new South Korean
energy deal constitutional
14.2.2008
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February 14, 2008
SEOUL, South Korea - The visiting head of
Iraq's Kurdistan regional government said that a new
energy project signed Thursday with South Korean
companies does not violate Iraq's basic law.
"It was within the constitutional rights," Kurdistan
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told reporters.
Iraq's parliament has been locked in a dispute over
who has the final say in managing the Middle Eastern
country's oil and gas fields. The disagreement has
delayed passage of a national oil and gas law
designed to regulate foreign investment.
Frustrated with the delay, the Kurds have signed
more than a dozen contracts with international oil
companies that Iraq's Oil Ministry considers
illegal.
The Iraqi federal government suspended crude oil
exports to SK Energy Co. from the beginning of
January on grounds that South Korean companies had
not abandoned a deal they signed with the Kurdistan
administration to develop a disputed oil field. |
South Korean President-elect Lee Myung-bak, (L),
shakes hands with Nechirvan Barzani, Iraq's
Kurdistan regional government prime minister, during
their meeting in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb.
14, 2008 |
Earlier Thursday, a group of South Korean companies
led by Korea National Oil Corp. signed an initial
agreement with the Kurdistan authority to develop
energy projects.
Under the deal, a consortium led by KNOC will have
the right to explore and develop four oil fields in
the Kurdistan region,www.ekurd.net
said a KNOC official who
spoke to Dow Jones Newswires on condition of
anonymity. The fields are expected to have reserves
of 1 billion to 2 billion barrels.
The agreement signed Thursday also calls for a
separate consortium to participate in projects to
develop social infrastructure in the Kurdish region,
the state-run oil developer said in a statement.
Barzani said that he wants Iraq's central government
to reconsider its decision to halt oil supplies to
South Korea.
"We will work with Baghdad to solve this problem,"
Barzani said. He said he will visit Baghdad after
returning to Iraq from Seoul.
In early November, KNOC said that it and other South
Korean companies signed a production-sharing
contract with the Kurdistan government to explore
the onshore Bazian oil field over the next three
years. The field has estimated reserves of 500
million barrels.
Iraq's oil ministry earlier this month said the
country had halted oil exports to Austria's OMV AG,
the leading oil and gas group in central Europe,www.ekurd.net
to protest an oil deal
with the Kurdish regional administration.
During a meeting early Thursday, South Korean
President-elect Lee Myung-bak asked Barzani for more
cooperation in expansion of oil development by South
Korean companies in the Kurdish region.
Barzani said he would try to give priority to South
Korean companies because the regional government
needs their expertise and experience.
AP
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