Baghdad-Erbil deal silent on KRG's surplus oil
Questions remain over what the Kurdistan Regional Government is to do with the quantity of oil it is not exporting under Baghdad’s supervision.
ERBIL, Iraq — The new oil agreement between Iraq’s federal government and the autonomous Kurdish government in the north appears to have left some room for confusion as to what the Kurds should do with the significant amount of oil that they do not export under Baghdad’s supervision.
According to the deal signed on Dec. 2, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) pledges to export under Baghdad’s supervision 300,000 barrels of oil per day from oil fields it controls in Kirkuk province in addition to 250,000 barrels per day produced from the three provinces officially under the KRG’s jurisdiction. In return, the Iraqi government will hand 17% of the national budget to the KRG. The deal will take effect from the beginning of the coming year.
However, the KRG produces more oil than the 250,000 barrels mentioned in the agreement. Dilshad Shaban, deputy chairmen of the energy committee in Kurdistan parliament, told Al-Monitor that the region currently produces 500,000 barrels per day, of which 150,000 is for domestic consumption and the rest used for export. Hence, the key question is what the KRG will do with the remaining 100,000 barrels.
In a statement to the news media Dec. 3, KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said that under the new deal with Baghdad, KRG oil exports would be legal, in an apparent reference to the remainder of produced oil not covered in the agreement.
