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Iraq Kurdistan Region ready to export 100,000
barrels of oil per day
2.5.2008
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Text of report by Aland
Mahwi headlined: "Kurds will export oil but the
money will be collected by Baghdad" published by
Iraqi privately-owned Kurdish daily newspaper
Rozhnama on 24 April.
May 2, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq, -- Kurdistan
Region PM Nechirvan Barzani has announced that the
Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) will soon export
100,000 barrels of oil and [Iraq] oil experts warn
that the Kurds should not produce more than the rate
of production allocated to Iraq as a whole.
For the first time KRG will be able to formally
produce oil in the fields of Taqtaq and Duhok and it
is expected that the produced oil will be exported
to world markets through the Ceyhan Port in Turkey. |
Iraq Kurdistan Region ready to export 100,000
barrels of oil per day |
Talking about oil contracts and projects of oil
production in Kurdistan, KRG PM Nechirvan Barzani
said at a news conference that they have informed
the Iraqi government that two of the foreign
companies working in oil production in Kurdistan,
one Turkish and one Norwegian, have reached the
stage of production for export. He added that the
oilfields in Kurdistan have now the capacity of
exporting 100,000 barrels per day and this would be
done through Iraqi oil pipelines.
The revelation of the capacity of oil production in
Kurdistan Region comes after the political and
economic disputes that occurred between the Iraqi
central government and Kurdistan Region in the last
few months over the 15 oil contracts that KRG has
signed with a number of Turkish, Norwegian and
American companies.
Minister of Natural Resources Dr Ashti Hawrami told
Rizhnama that in the first phase of oil production
the two oil fields of Taqtaq and Diyana would have
the capacity of producing 100,000 barrels a day for
export. About the way this oil will be exported he
said: The oil will be sold through the Somo Company
(an Iraqi company specializing in the sale of oil)
and will be exported via the Turkish Ceyhan Port.
The money will be collected by Iraqi Finance
Ministry and after deducting the share of the
contractor,www.ekurd.net
most of the income would
go to the Iraqi government and we [Kurdistan Region]
will have a share in this income in the sense that
all Iraq will benefit from it.
Kurdish politician Jawhar Namiq said the following
about the significance of the production of oil for
the first time in Kurdistan: The importance of this
step depends on how we produce the oil and what the
role of Kurds in this process is. If the role of the
Kurds is restricted to being a broker between the
Kurdistan Region and the [Iraqi] government, then
the production in itself is not important. But our
role as broker must be at the level of our
production [capacity] and in a way that we can
ensure the protection of this resource for the next
generations.
According to Namiq's calculation the Kurds should
produce and export oil in proportion to their
population and share in the oil income. As only 17
per cent of oil income will be allocated to
Kurdistan region, then the ratio of production must
correspond to this instead of producing huge
quantities and receiving a little percentage of the
income, while the centre and south of Iraq have
richer and more oil reserves.
The minister of natural resources believes that the
production of oil is very important for Kurdistan
Region in economical and technological terms. "We
are part of Iraq and use this income to support the
peoples of Iraq and Kurdistan. Also it is our
constitutional right to produce oil. We work with
transparency and any income made [from oil
production in the region] will be shared by all
Iraq."
According to Oil Ministry statistics, Iraq exports
2.4m b/d of oil. From this, 1.8m barrels are
exported through Basra Port and 600,000 barrels are
exported through the Turkish Ceyhan Port to world
markets. The current price of oil is 118 dollars per
a barrel.
Originally published by Rozhnama, Sulaimaniyah, in
Sorani Kurdish 24 Apr 08.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, BBC |
Rozhnama
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