Kurdistan to export oil before 2013 without Baghdad agreement

“The Minister of Natural Resources in Kurdistan Region , Ashti Hawrami said at a conference in the Turkish city of Istanbul that KRG will go ahead in both the export of oil whether Baghdad agreed on the payments plan or did not agree ,” According to a government statement reported for " Shafaq News “.

Hawrami added that Erbil doesn’t ignore Baghdad, “but if no one wants to talk with it there is nothing wrong, we have waited for ten years.”

Hawrami said that when the pipeline starts to operate, Kurdistan will stop gradually for oil exported by truck to Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean coast .

The statement quoted by the President of the British Turkish Genel Energy , which operates oil fields in Kurdistan , Muhammad Sabeel , as saying in a press statement that a large part of Kurdistan oil production will be directed to this line, stressing that oil will begin to flow in the Kurdish pipeline in weeks.

The statement added that Genl has the capacity to produce about 230 thousand barrels per day from two fields in Kurdistan ; Taq Taq and Tawke .

The company is working in the exploration phase in other fields region .

Sabeel said that energy production in Genl fields may rise by the end of 2014 to 350 thousand barrels per day through new wells.

Turkey has proposed to KRG to open a special account in Turkish government Bank to deposit funds obtained from the sale of this oil while solving problems with Baghdad.

Baghdad opposes any agreement for the export of oil from Kurdistan Region abroad without its consent , while Erbil insists that the production and export of oil in the region are in a constitutional manner .