Kurdistan refuses to hand over oil and gas to Baghdad

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[size=52]Kurdistan refuses to hand over oil and gas to Baghdad[/size]

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 Baghdad: Omar Abdul Latif

Since the issuance of the Federal Supreme Court’s decision in mid-February, which imposed on the Kurdistan region to hand over oil and gas production to the federal government, the regional government has refused to implement the decision and accused unnamed parties of “politicizing” the file and removing it from its legal and constitutional content. On the other hand, members of the House of Representatives were accused The Iraqi government of the region disregards the decisions of the Federal Court and the export of oil at the expense of the Iraqi state’s share in the “OPEC” organization, as well as the control of oil fields and wells in Kirkuk.
A member of the Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee in the House of Representatives, Alaa Sabah Al-Haidari, said in an interview: "The committee and the House of Representatives will discuss what happened from the Kurdish forces' control of important oil fields in Kirkuk."
He added, "The region always seeks to annex Kirkuk to its administrative territories due to the presence of oil," noting that "the region was not satisfied with smuggling operations, which amounted to (one million barrels per day) deducted from Iraq's share in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
He added that "the region is evasive in order to disregard the decision of the Federal Court, despite the assurances of the Minister of Oil more than once on the necessity of its implementation," noting that "the committee completely rejects what is happening from the seizure of oil wells in Kirkuk, considering that Iraq's oil belongs to all The people, not for a particular component or province.”
Al-Haidari stressed, "The insistence of the majority of members of the House of Representatives to pass the oil and gas law during the current session after it was suspended for more than 12 years to curb abuses of oil policy."
The North Oil Company announced yesterday evening that Kurdish forces had taken control of a number of oil fields and wells in Kirkuk Governorate, while the regional government denied this.
On the other hand, the deputy head of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the Kurdistan Regional Parliament, Kalizar Rashid Sindi, described the statements regarding the Kurdish forces’ control of a number of fields in the Kirkuk governorate as “political par excellence,” indicating that negotiations are still ongoing between the regional and federal governments regarding the oil file. .
Sindi told "Al-Sabah": "The Federal Court's decision to prevent the region from exporting oil through its territory and limiting it to the Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) is political and relied on constitutional articles issued after the nationalization of oil in 1973 under the totalitarian regime at the time," noting that "the Oil Law And gas has not been legalized so far, despite the dependence of 93% of Iraq’s budget on oil.”
She pointed out that there is a conflict in the statements of the Minister of Oil, who spoke about the legality of 80% of the oil contracts for the region, "but then he talked about the application of the court's decision by the federal government regarding the region in the event of non-compliance," stressing that "the court has the right to cancel a paragraph or Two paragraphs of the aforementioned law and not all articles related to that.”
For his part, the oil expert, Mustafa Bazarkan, stated that “the dispute between the Kurdistan region and the center is due to the first approval of its own oil and gas law, and the disruption of the project that has been in the House of Representatives since 2004.”
He added in an interview, that "Iraq has become between the hammer of Erbil and the anvil of Baghdad regarding oil issues," explaining that "the dispute between the region and the center will continue until the adoption of the oil and gas law, which will oblige the two parties to apply it and prosecute those who violate its articles."
The oil expert warned that “no governorate, including the Kurdistan region, has the right to control resources and natural wealth, but sometimes it is the one that gives itself the right to do so,” noting that “there is a confusion with the interpretation and understanding of the oil and gas law in granting the region 18% of the budget.” “.

Editing: Muhammad Al-Ansari
Disclaimer: All published articles represent the opinion of its authors only[/size]
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