A Kurdish delegation in Baghdad to engage in a new round of discussions on the oil and gas law

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[size=52]A Kurdish delegation in Baghdad to engage in a new round of discussions on the oil and gas law[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Hussein Hatem[/size]
[size=45]The governments of Baghdad and Erbil are engaged in a round of discussions. To resolve the draft oil and gas law, which has been stuck in Parliament since the first session of the House of Representatives in 2005, a Kurdish delegation from the Kurdistan region will discuss with a government delegation from Baghdad the details of the draft law.[/size]
[size=45]The draft oil and gas law regulates Iraq's vital sector and the management of the country's oil fields through one national company, with imports being deposited in one account. Iraq exports an average of 3.3 million barrels of crude oil per day, and black gold constitutes more than 90 percent of the Iraqi treasury’s resources.[/size]
[size=45]Kurdistan Democratic Party MP Shirwan Al-Dobardani says, “The Parliamentary Finance Committee will hold a meeting on Thursday in the presence of the Ministers of Finance, the Federal Government and the Kurdistan Region, in the capital, Baghdad.” He added, “The main goal of the two ministers’ presence is to clarify the amounts of money and loans sent from the federal government to the Kurdistan region.”[/size]
[size=45]The representative from the Democratic Party pointed out, “The meeting will also discuss the file of funds disbursed by the regional government during the previous eight months to Kurdistan employees and retirees, in addition to social protection, and other amounts that were received from Baghdad.” Al-Dobardani pointed out that “the export of Kurdistan oil via the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline has been stopped since 03/25/2023, while the SOMO company, along with the Ministry of Natural Resources in the region, is supervising the extraction and export of oil.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, “The quantities of oil extracted are currently being used locally; Until the resumption of oil exports via the Ceyhan line by the federal government and the Turkish side.”[/size]
[size=45]The draft oil and gas law in Iraq available to Parliament stipulates that responsibility for managing the country's oil fields must be entrusted to a national oil company, and supervised by a federal council specialized in this subject.[/size]
[size=45]For his part, Member of the House of Representatives, Muhammad Al-Ziyadi, says, “The dispute continues until now between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government regarding the oil and gas law.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, “The dispute took root through the French court’s decision to prevent the export of oil through Ceyhan and Turkey,” noting that “these matters are complex and will not be resolved easily, and the oil and gas law must be amended.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Ziyadi pointed out, “The financial budget is frank and clear and stipulates the calculation of all the money with which oil was exported to Turkey via Kurdistan in order to increase or decrease the region’s share.”[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the salary scale and general amnesty laws, a member of the House of Representatives explained, “The salary scale law witnesses delay by the Minister of Finance due to the lack of response by the committee formed by the Prime Minister.”[/size]
[size=45]He stated, “The general amnesty law is an urgent issue and must be enacted to support society, and this does not mean that we approve of those whose hands are stained with the blood of Iraqis.”[/size]
[size=45]The oil and gas law has caused major tension between Baghdad and Erbil for years. Last year, the matter reached the judiciary, as Erbil believed that the central government was seeking to seize control of the region’s wealth, according to an Agence France-Presse report.[/size]
[size=45]In February 2022, the Federal Court in Baghdad ordered the region to deliver oil produced on its lands to Baghdad, and to cancel contracts the region had signed with foreign companies.[/size]
[size=45]The matter reached the point where the judiciary in Baghdad invalidated contracts with many foreign companies, especially American and Canadian companies.[/size]
[size=45]After years of exporting oil unilaterally through Turkey, the autonomous Kurdistan region must adhere, as of late 2023, to the decision of an international arbitration body that gave Baghdad the right to fully manage Kurdistan’s oil.[/size]
[size=45]As a result, exports from the region stopped, and a temporary agreement signed between Baghdad and Erbil in early April stipulates that Kurdistan oil sales will be made through the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company “SOMO.” As for the revenues generated from the region’s fields, they will be deposited in a bank account with the Central Bank of Iraq or One of the banks approved by the Central Bank of Iraq.[/size]
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