Iraq Minister Says Kurdistan Region Halts Oil Exports
Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region halted crude exports on Sunday, nearly a week after it rejected a new oil and gas law approved by the central government, Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi said.
"The government of the Kurdistan region today halted oil exports without giving reasons," Luaybi told Agence France Presse on the sidelines of an oil conference in the Jordanian capital.
"This is a great loss for the Iraqi economy, as well as the Kurdish and Iraqi people in general."
An oil ministry official told AFP that Kurdistan's exports of 150,000 barrels of crude per day "dropped in the past two weeks to around 55,000 bpd."
The development came after Kurdistan condemned the draft law, which was approved by the central government in August, and called on parliament to reject it.
"The presidency of the Kurdistan region condemns this maneuver and calls on the council of ministers to withdraw the draft immediately, because it contradicts the constitution," it said in a statement.
Kurdish leaders and the central government have squabbled over a number of oil-related issues, including payments, revenue sharing and Baghdad's refusal to recognize the dozens of oil contracts Arbil has signed with international energy firms.
There is also the issue of oil-rich Kirkuk province, which Kurdish authorities want incorporated into their autonomous region, while officials in Baghdad strongly oppose such a move.
The cabinet passed the draft oil law, which would govern the sector and divide responsibility between Baghdad and Iraq's provinces, and submitted it to the Iraqi parliament on August 28.
Source: Agence France Presse
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