Kurdish MP: Baghdad’s position is wrong toward oil export from Kurdistan

Kurdish MP: Baghdad’s position is wrong toward oil export from Kurdistan
2014-01-13T13:06:54+00:00

, Nuri al-Maliki to deduct 17 percent allocated to Kurdistan Region from the general budget is a " wrongposition."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday threatened to deduct 17 percent allocated to Kurdistan Region from the general budget of Iraq if the Kurds went in their plans to export oil to Turkey .

Mohammed told “Shafaq News " , that "It seems that Baghdad government is annoyed by the export of oil from the region and this position is wrong and weakened the negotiating power of the regional government with foreign companies ."

He added that "there is ambiguity and confusion by the federal government to export Kurdistan oil especially now that oil revenues are back to the federal treasury ," adding that “the continuation of communication and negotiation between Erbil and Baghdad is enough to remove this ambiguity.

The federal government says that Kurdish oil exports represents a breach of the agreement reached on 25 of December between the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government that calls for the participation of experts from both sides to discuss how to export crude from the region under the auspices of Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO).

The Prime Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government, Nechirvan Barzani has discussed in the mentioned date to with the federal government in Baghdad , the oil pipeline file between Turkey and Kurdistan Region .

Baghdad said after the talks that the two sides agreed to export Kurdish oil to Turkey through " Sumo " Company owned by the federal government .

Press reports also talked about the two sides to reach an agreement to deposit money of Kurdish oil exports in Iraq’s account in the United States instead of depositing them in a Turkish governmentbank.

Kurdistan’s attempts to sell oil and gas directly has raised the anger of the officials in Baghdad, who assert that the federal government has the only right to manage Iraq's energy resources .

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