150,000 barrels of oil dispatched to Baiji oil refinery: Iraqi Oil Ministry
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan 24 has discovered that the Iraqi Oil Ministry, as an initial measure to utilize the oil from the Kurdistan Region, has dispatched 150,000 barrels of oil per day to the Baiji oil refinery, while an additional 250,000 barrels of oil will be sent to the factories of the “disputed territories.”
The term “disputed territories” is often used to refer to territories that were victim to Arabization policies implemented by Baathist governments. The term usually refers to areas in northern Iraq near Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Makhmur.
Earlier, Sabah Subhi, a member of the Iraqi Parliament's Oil and Gas Committee, told Kurdistan 24 that instead of sending oil from Basra to the Baiji refinery, oil will be sent from the Kurdistan Region to the Baiji refinery.
Meanwhile, Salah Bushi, the Iraqi prime minister's advisor to the Kurdistan Region, told Kurdistan 24 that the Iraqi government is committed to dispatching the Kurdistan Region's financial entitlements after receiving the refined oil from the Kurds.
"The federal government is committed to implementing the Erbil-Baghdad deal. After the Kurdistan Region committed to sending oil to Iraq, there is no justification to not send the Region’s financial entitlements," Bushi added.
Moreover, the Chief of Staff to the Council of Ministers’ Presidency Omed Sabah on Tuesday told Kurdistan 24 that “Erbil-Baghdad ties are at an excellent level.”
Read More: Deal to resume Kurdish oil exports reached
Sabah also stated that a high-level team has been formed to implement the budget law by both Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in the KRG and Iraqi Premier Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani in the Iraqi government.
Furthermore, he revealed that the top KRG delegation is scheduled to visit Baghdad by next week regarding the implementation of the budget law.
In April, KRG PM Masrour Barzani and Iraqi PM al-Sudani, in the Iraqi capital, announced a new economic agreement between Erbil and Baghdad.
Per the new deal, the Iraqi state-owned marketing company, SOMO, will market and export 400,000 bpd of Kurdish crude oil at market prices. Kurdish oil sales revenue will be deposited in a Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) account owned by the KRG and monitored by Baghdad.
Moreover, the Iraqi government spokesperson, Basim al-Awadi, announced that the budget proposal estimates oil revenues at 117.3 trillion Iraqi dinars ($8.9 billion USD), while non-oil revenues will be 17.3 trillion Iraqi dinars ($1.3 billion USD) in the three-year budget proposal.
The total proposed expenditure amounts to nearly 198 trillion Iraqi dinars ($151 billion USD), while investment projects are estimated to be 47.5 trillion Iraqi dinars ($36.2 billion USD).