Iraqi Kurds Press Ahead With Pipeline Plans
Despite protests from Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq is moving ahead with plans to develop the infrastructure for an oil pipeline to Turkey, reports Abdel Hamid Zebari.
In light of escalating quarrels over oil between the Iraqi federal government in Baghdad and the Iraqi Kurdistan region — which maintains a quasi-independent authority — the Kurdish side insists on moving forward with developing its infrastructure in the oil sector. It will extend a pipeline connecting Kurdistan’s wells to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey, a move that will give the region independence in terms of energy and oil should the pipeline be completed.
Turkey has thus far not responded to the Kurdistan region's request to extend the new pipeline. Ankara has said that it is still studying the project. Meanwhile, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Nechirvan Barzani, said on Jan. 7 that "the region is serious about extending the pipeline to Turkey."
At the beginning of this year, the Kurdistan Regional Government allowed the General Energy Company to begin selling oil from the Taq Taq oil field directly to Turkey, which Baghdad considered illegal trade.
Oil disputes between Baghdad and Erbil broke out in 2009, after the latter signed a number of oil contracts with foreign companies. The Iraqi government in Baghdad objected to this project and said that it alone had the authority to sign such contracts.
