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Kurds attack 'failures' of Baghdad oil
ministry
30.8.2010 |
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August
30, 2010
ERBIL-Hewlęr,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — Iraq's autonomous
Kurdistan region on Monday launched a scathing
counter attack on Baghdad's oil ministry, which it
said had squandered "billions of dollars" while
failing to generate electricity.
The statement from the Kurdistan region came in
reaction to criticism from the oil ministry which
described
as illegal an
agreement signed last week between the regional
government and a German energy firm.
"We will not wait on orders from a ministry that has
no production and is as unsuccessful as the oil
ministry of Iraq, which wasted billions of dollars
without providing any electricity and energy
services during all the past years," said the
statement, quoting Falah Mustafa, head of foreign
relations on the Kurdistan ministers council.
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Falah Mustafa, head of foreign relations on the
Kurdistan ministers council |
"We will continue with
the successful oil policy of the Kurdistan
(regional) government, from which we are able to
provide electricity and oil production for its
people," he added.
Talks on the allocation of Iraq's natural resources
are deadlocked, and Baghdad refuses to recognise
contracts which the Kurdish regional government,
based in the northern city of Erbil, has
signed
with foreign oil companies.
German energy firm RWE announced on Friday it had
signed a cooperation deal with the Kurds that would
develop the region's gas export infrastructure to
create "a route to market for Kurdistan's major gas
reserves."
RWE is a key shareholder in the Nabucco project,
which aims to bring up to 31 billion cubic metres
(1,100 billion cubic feet) of gas annually to Europe
through Turkey.
"The cooperation also foresees the negotiation of
gas supply agreements to enable gas from the region
to be transported to Turkey and Europe via the
Nabucco pipeline," the German company said.
The co-operation deal angered the oil ministry in
Baghdad, which said in a statement that "no one
outside the ministry has the right to sign contracts
for the exportation of oil and gas."
Kurdistan halted oil exports in October last year
due to a payment dispute with Baghdad.
The oil ministry on May 6 said it had reached a deal
with Erbil whereby all revenues would be handed over
to SOMO,www.ekurd.netthe
Baghdad-based State Oil Marketing Organisation,
which deals with sales of Iraqi oil and gas
products.
The agreement said Baghdad in return would pay the
costs of extraction in Kurdistan, but the deal was
never implemented.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, AFP
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