Iraqi Federal Court relies on ‘expert’ to finalize Kurdistan oil dispute

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Federal Supreme Court of Iraq has postponed hearings for a lawsuit by the Iraqi government’s Ministry of Oil against the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports to international markets.

Ayas al-Samuk, a spokesperson for the federal court, said in a statement on Tuesday that the hearings for a lawsuit against the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports to international markets were postponed for Aug. 29, adding the court will rely on an expert to finalize the case.

“Due to the complexity of the case, and for a comprehensive explanation of it, the Court, with the consent of both sides, has decided to rely on an expert in the field,” the spokesperson said.

The lawsuit, which dates back to 2012, requests the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hand over its oil dossier, including production and exports, to the Iraqi government according to the Constitution, Samuk explained.

“The representatives of Iraq’s ministries of Oil and Finance and Council of Ministers, and the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources and the KRG Council of Ministers participated in the hearing,” he added.

According to Article 111 of the Constitution, “oil and gas are owned by all the people of Iraq in all the regions and governorates,” but this has to be organized by the law as explained in Article 112, Samuk stated.

The Federal Court explained that the Iraqi Parliament has not yet issued the oil and gas law to implement the two articles, adding that the Federal Government will rely on Article 111 which demands a full handover of the KRG’s oil dossier.

The KRG began to export its oil to international markets independently through Turkey’s Ceyhan port in 2014 after Baghdad cut Erbil’s national budget share at the start of the same year.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany