Kurdish Lawmaker Accuses Iraq’s Oil Ministry of Delaying Winter Fuel Supplies
Sipan Sherwani says Baghdad has yet to respond to an official request for heating fuel, as mountain areas face early snowfall and reports emerge of a possible change in Iraq’s oil minister
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has formally asked Iraq’s Ministry of Oil to accelerate deliveries of heating oil to the Kurdistan Region as winter conditions begin in its mountainous areas, but Baghdad has yet to respond, Iraqi lawmaker Sipan Sherwani said on Wednesday.
Speaking to Kurdistan24’s noon news bulletin, Sherwani said the KRG had sent an official request urging the federal ministry to provide the fuel needed by households across the region.
He said the issue was also raised during the latest meeting between an Iraqi oil ministry delegation and the Kurdistan Region’s prime minister in Zakho, but no concrete measures had followed.
Sherwani said he had met with several Iraqi oil ministry officials during the week to discuss the shortage. According to the lawmaker, officials told him that deliveries had not begun because the ministry was considering changing its fuel distribution system, although no details of the proposed model had been shared with parliament.
The Kurdish lawmaker criticized the ministry’s handling of the request, saying residents of the Kurdistan Region were entitled to fuel supplies and calling on Iraq’s oil minister to fulfill the government’s constitutional obligations.
The dispute also extends to gasoline allocations. Sherwani said Kurdish lawmakers had previously sought an increase in the region’s share of petroleum products to 14 percent and had received verbal assurances, but he said no practical steps had been taken to implement the commitment.
Sherwani added that parliament’s relevant committee had planned to summon the oil minister on Thursday to address the outstanding issues. However, the minister’s office informed the committee that he would be unable to attend, postponing the appearance to another date.
The lawmaker also pointed to speculation about a possible change in Iraq’s oil ministry leadership, saying the minister faced criticism from several political parties and parliamentary blocs. The reports of a potential replacement have not been formally confirmed.
According to the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources, an official letter sent to Iraq’s Ministry of Oil on Oct. 18 requested 286 million liters of heating oil. The requested volume is intended to provide each household in the Kurdistan Region with one barrel of fuel.
The request remains unanswered, leaving the timing of any federal deliveries uncertain.
Kurdistan24 has learned that Iraq’s Ministry of Oil holds more than 200 million liters of heating oil in storage and has the capacity to refine hundreds of millions of additional liters at its refineries.
The delay comes as Iraq’s federal authorities have been distributing heating oil in cities across the country for nearly two weeks, despite rainfall not yet having begun in some areas. In the Kurdistan Region, meanwhile, temperatures have fallen in mountainous districts, where snowfall has already been reported.
In response to the uncertainty, the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources told Kurdistan24 that it was waiting for Baghdad’s reply. If the federal ministry fails to provide the requested fuel, the regional ministry intends to purchase heating oil on the open market and distribute it to residents at a subsidized price.
The dispute highlights the importance of timely fuel supplies for households in the Kurdistan Region as temperatures fall, particularly in high-altitude areas where winter conditions can arrive earlier and heating demand rises sharply.