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Iraq says Kurdistan oil exports to Turkey
are illegal
10.7.2012 |
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Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani. Photo: Reuters •
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Iraqi govt threatens to
take "appropriate action" after KRG begins crude
exports to Turkey. Kurdistan government says it was
forced into latest move because Iraqi government
hasn't been sending enough oil products to meet
region's needs.
July 10, 2012
BAGHDAD, — Iraq's government Monday said
crude-oil exports from the semi-autonomous northern
region of Kurdistan to neighboring Turkey are
"illegal" and threatened to take "appropriate
action," in a continuation of recent of tensions
between the two.
The Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, has begun
exporting an unspecified amount crude oil by truck
to Turkey without the permission of the central
government.
A Kurdish person familiar with Kurdistan's oil
exports said currently only four trucks a day are
carrying crude across the border to Turkey.
"This is an illegal and unconstitutional business
that we will take the right decision against,"
Faisal Abdullah, spokesman for Iraq's Deputy Prime
Minister for Energy Hussein al-Shahristani, told Dow
Jones Newswires.
"The Oil Ministry [in Baghdad] solely reserves the
right to export crude oil, gas or oil products to
other countries," Mr. Abdullah said.
Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan,
are at loggerheads over a number of issues,
including who should control oil and gas produced in
the region. The central government argues that it
should control all resources in the country, while
the Kurds say that they are eligible to run their
own resources in accordance with the country's new
constitution.
The KRG said that its crude would be refined in
Turkey and sent back for local consumption, and that
it was forced into this move because the central
government hasn't been sending enough oil products
to meet their needs.
The exported crude is a quantity-for-quantity barter
arrangement to supply Kurdistan with oil products,
mostly diesel, to fuel power stations, the Kurdish
person said. The transit will continue according to
need until the KRG receives its full entitlement of
products from Baghdad,www.ekurd.net
he added.
The KRG in April suspended crude-oil exports of
nearly 100,000 barrels a day through a
Baghdad-controlled export pipeline, protesting that
the central government was delaying payment of
around $1.5 billion that the region needs to pay to
contracting companies.
This came after Iraq's central government reached an
agreement that the Kurdish authorities would resume
oil exports starting in February after a suspension
of more than a year. The central government also
agreed to pay exploration costs and expenses to
foreign firms operating in the KRG region.
Tensions between Baghdad and the Kurdish region have
risen since October, when U.S. energy company Exxon
Mobil Corp. (XOM) announced a deal with the KRG to
explore for oil in Kurdistan. Baghdad warned the
U.S. oil giant could risk its agreements with the
central government.
By Hassan Hafidh, Dow Jones
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Dow
Jones Newswires | dowjones.com
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