Approval of the Oil and Gas Law: A Final Solution to Stop the Smuggling of the Region’s Oil and Protect Iraq’s Wealth
Approval of the Oil and Gas Law: A Final Solution to Stop the Smuggling of the Region’s Oil and Protect Iraq’s Wealth
2-17-2025
Information/Report…
The issue of smuggling oil from the Kurdistan Region remains a subject of wide controversy within political and popular circles, as it is raised from time to time, especially when discussing the annual federal budgets.
Reports indicate that the regional government is exploiting financial revenues away from federal oversight, while smuggling operations continue despite the decisions of the Federal Court that stressed the need to subject the oil sector in the region to the authority of Baghdad.
Despite these decisions, the region is accused of smuggling oil through unofficial outlets, which deprives the state of significant financial revenues, while the federal government faces international pressure, especially from the United States, to approve additional financial commitments in favor of the region, even if they conflict with Iraqi laws.
These pressures contributed to the passage of new financial allocations to the regional government within the budget, despite its failure to commit to handing over oil revenues to Baghdad.
Calls for urgent action
In this context, Al-Fatah Alliance member Ali Al-Fatlawi confirmed that “oil smuggling operations by the Kurdistan Region are still ongoing without any accountability,” calling on the federal government to “urgently intervene to end this file that is draining the national wealth.”
Al-Fatlawi said in a statement to Al-Maalouma Agency, “Smuggled oil is a national wealth that belongs to all Iraqis, and is not limited to the region.”
He pointed out that “the region continues its smuggling operations, and at the same time demands money from Baghdad without paying its due financial obligations.”
He stressed the “need to take firm measures to put an end to this breach, which represents a clear plundering of the country’s resources,” calling on the government to “intensify its efforts and pressure to stop the smuggling operations that are taking place without any oversight or legal accountability.”
Approval of the Oil and Gas Law…the decisive solution
For his part, the head of the Generations parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Al-Sayhoud, called on the political forces to give priority to approving the oil and gas law, stressing that “the problem between the federal government and the region was resolved after amending Paragraph 12 of the Federal Budget Law, which opens the way for the legislation of the awaited law.”
Al-Sayhoud said in a statement to Al-Maalouma Agency, “The smuggling of oil from the region has negative repercussions on the Iraqi economy and the state’s financial resources,” considering that “the best solution to stop these operations lies in enacting the oil and gas law.”
He added that “the recent understandings between the federal government and the regional government regarding calculating the cost of producing and exporting the region’s oil pave the way for political forces to include the oil and gas law on the agenda of the House of Representatives,” calling on political forces to “pressure to pass the law as soon as possible to ensure control over the oil sector and prevent any future violations.”
400 thousand barrels are smuggled daily
According to media reports, the volume of oil smuggled from the Kurdistan Region is estimated at about 400,000 barrels per day, in light of the lack of transparency regarding the fate of the revenues resulting from these operations. Observers confirm that the continuation of smuggling is causing great harm to the national economy, which requires serious action to resolve this issue by enacting the oil and gas law and ensuring the region’s compliance with federal laws.
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