Government sends budget amendment to resolve differences with region

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[size=52]Government sends budget amendment to resolve differences with region[/size]

[size=45]The Finance Committee in Parliament seeks to “resolve the oil disputes” between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region, in conjunction with a government amendment to the budget law related to this file, in addition to achieving “a final agreement to resume oil exports via Turkey,” and unifying oil contracts in the region with the rest of the governorates.[/size]
[size=45]This came according to a statement issued today, Wednesday, by the media office of the head of the Finance Committee in Parliament, Atwan Al-Atwani, after the committee held an expanded technical meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, and the senior staff in the ministry.[/size]
[size=45]The meeting, which was held at the ministry's headquarters, according to the statement, reviewed the latest developments and understandings to end the oil dispute with the Kurdistan Region and the most prominent technical obstacles, coinciding with the arrival of the draft amendment proposed to the budget law sent by the government to parliament for voting, which relates to addressing this file.[/size]
[size=45]The meeting witnessed “discussions on the oil policy and the ministry’s negotiating steps with OPEC to ensure Iraq’s production share, as well as plans and programs to develop the local oil industry sector, in a way that secures the country’s needs for oil derivatives to achieve self-sufficiency, especially with regard to providing fuel to operate power plants and gasoline.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Atwani said, according to the statement, that “the meeting comes within the framework of the Finance Committee’s ongoing efforts to resolve the oil dispute between Baghdad and Erbil, and as a continuation of its ongoing discussions with the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to address the outstanding issues in accordance with the constitution, and to move towards a final agreement to resume the export of the region’s oil via the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Atwani added, "The proposed amendment to the budget law is an important step towards ending the oil dispute according to a comprehensive national vision," noting that "the halt in the region's oil exports causes huge financial losses for Iraq."[/size]
[size=45]The head of the committee explained that “these understandings were based on what the Finance Committee delegation agreed upon with the Kurdistan Regional Government during its recent visit to Erbil, which is based on basic principles that cannot be ignored, including adapting the region’s oil contracts to the Iraqi constitution and converting them from a production-sharing formula to a profit-sharing formula, in addition to reviewing the prices of production costs to be close to their counterparts in the center and south, and that their values ​​be determined by a neutral, competent international body.”[/size]
[size=45]For his part, the Oil Minister stressed, according to the statement, “Iraq’s keenness on the unity of OPEC in order to ensure the stability of oil prices,” noting that “his ministry is in a state of permanent negotiation with member states to ensure Iraq’s real share of production.”[/size]
[size=45]The minister revealed that “contracts were signed with international companies to invest in gas associated with oil extraction operations in many production fields.”[/size]
[size=45]He also pointed out that his ministry is moving towards “achieving self-sufficiency in gasoline, and has promising projects in this field, as one of them will be opened in the southern refineries in Basra by the middle of next year, and it is a project that is the second of its kind in the region.”[/size]
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