Baghdad Covers 19% of Kurdistan’s Kerosene Need

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Iraq will send white oil, or kerosene, to the Kurdistan Region, but the amount it has set aside would cover only the mountainous areas and falls far short of the Region’s request, an informed source at the Ministry of Natural Resources told Kurdistan 24 on Sunday.

The Kurdistan Regional Government asked for 268 million liters so that each family could receive one 200-liter barrel, but Baghdad plans to send only 50 million liters, about 19 percent of the request.

The source said the 50 million liters are due to reach the Region this month. Iraq sells the kerosene to the Region at 250 dinars a liter. Once transport costs are added, a family could receive 100 liters for about 32,000 dinars, and the price would double if 200 liters were distributed. The official said the fuel will be passed to citizens at the same purchase price with only transport costs added.

By those figures a 200-liter barrel would cost roughly 64,000 dinars, below the 104,000 dinars the Region’s ministry has charged for a barrel in its own subsidized program, according to Kurdistan 24. Households in federal provinces paid 150 dinars a liter last winter for 100 liters per family in the northern governorates.

The KRG’s request has been sent to the Iraqi Council of Ministers and is awaiting the signature of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi before the shipment can start, the source said. Distribution in the Region will begin as soon as the oil arrives. Baghdad has not announced a date, even though the Region’s mountains are already cold and residents have begun using stoves and heaters. The source said Iraq began distributing kerosene in Baghdad, Babil, Mosul and other areas early last month.

To guard against a winter shortage, the KRG is studying whether to buy kerosene on the market and distribute it at a discount, with steps expected soon. Kurdistan 24 reported on Wednesday that the ministry plans to do so if Baghdad fails to deliver, after Iraqi lawmaker Sipan Sherwani said Baghdad had not answered the KRG’s official request as mountain areas see early snowfall.

The 50 million liters matches Baghdad’s long-standing annual obligation to the Region, which the KRG has said it has repeatedly failed to meet in full. In an earlier winter, the Region’s ministry said the same 50 million liters amounted to only 19 percent of household needs, Channel8 reported. Last winter the KRG distributed more than 107 million liters to about 537,000 families by December. Iraq’s parliament called on September 21 for an urgent review of the Region’s kerosene allocation, and Iraqi lawmaker Shirwan Dubardani said on September 28 that al-Zaidi had approved increasing it. Iraq’s Oil Ministry said last week that it has enough kerosene in reserve to meet domestic demand through the winter.

The Region’s supply is entangled in a separate dispute over the 50,000 barrels of crude per day it keeps for domestic use. Kurdish lawmakers gave conflicting accounts this year of whether Iraq’s oil minister would supply fuel if the KRG handed that crude to Baghdad.