Iraq's President called for an "urgent" dialogue between Kurdish and Iraqi authorities regarding the oil and gas law
Shafaq News/ The Iraqi President, Barham Salih, called the Iraqi and Kurdish parties to launch a "serious and urgent" dialogue to discuss the ruling issued by the Federal Supreme Court on the oil and gas law.
In a statement, Saleh stressed the need to launch a dialogue between the Iraqi and the Kurdish governments to "secure the constitutional entitlements of Kurdistan and all Iraqis."
He added, "The political forces' long-time reluctance in developing the oil and gas law contributed to creating problems and crises and brought us to this critical moment." The Iraqi President added.
Iraq's federal court on Tuesday deemed an oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Iraqi Kurdistan unconstitutional, according to a document seen by Shafaq News Agency.
Tuesday's court decision stated that the KRG must hand over all crude from the Kurdistan Region and neighboring areas to the Federal Government, represented by the oil ministry in Baghdad.
The ruling declared KRG oil contracts with oil companies, foreign parties, and states invalid. According to the document, this includes exploration, extraction, export, and sale agreements.
The ruling also stated that the oil ministry must audit all agreements concluded by the KRG with oil and gas companies.
The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has been developing oil and gas resources independently of the Federal Government, and in 2007 enacted its own law that established the directives by which the Region would administer these resources.
KRG crude is exported through a pipeline that runs from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
For his part, the Kurdish President, Nechirvan Barzani, considered this ruling "will further exacerbate the disputes between the Iraqi Federal Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government on the issues of oil and gas, for the resolution of which efforts have been made during the past years, and in several areas, progress has been achieved."
"We believe that the Federal Supreme Court should instead rule that Iraq's Federal Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government solve the disputes and the issues of oil and gas according to the constitution and the best interests of all the people of Iraq." He stressed.
"We urge and look forward to the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq to review this ruling and consider the principles of the constitution and the federal system so that the constitutional and lawful rights of the Kurdistan Region are not violated, avoiding further escalation of the political tensions which would harm Iraq's interests in general," Barzani concluded.
