PM Barzani visits Baghdad to ‘finalize’ agreement on resuming Kurdish oil export
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to “finalize” an agreement with the Iraqi government on resuming the Kurdish oil, which had been halted for more than 10 days.
PM Barzani is due to meet with the Iraqi premier, Mohammad Shia’ Al-Sudani, in Baghdad.
“I’m on my way to Baghdad to finalize our agreement regarding the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” PM Barzani shared in a tweet on Tuesday morning.
The visit comes as Erbil and Baghdad are in negotiations regarding the management of oil exports, an outstanding issue that has been ongoing for nearly a decade.
Ankara halted the export of the Kurdistan Region’s oil on March 25 at the request of Baghdad, following a legal challenge at the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration.
A high-level Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation visited Baghdad following the court ruling to continue negotiations on energy issues.
Erbil and Baghdad have reached a preliminary agreement on the future administration of the oil sector.
The new deal, whose details had been shared by a Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament, Sepan Aziz, includes mutual management of the oil file, including its marketing and managing of revenues at a bank under the supervision of the federal government.
The Kurdistan Region will receive its share of the federal budget, amounting to over $12 billion a year to cover the Region's expenses, including public salary payment, operation costs, and investment fund.
Due to Baghdad cutting the KRG budget share in 2014, the Region began selling its oil independently of Baghdad. This deal, therefore, comes after nine years of an oil dispute between Erbil and Baghdad.
The visit comes as Erbil and Baghdad are in negotiations regarding the management of oil exports, an outstanding issue that has been ongoing for nearly a decade.
— Kurdistan 24 English (@K24English) April 4, 2023
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