A high-level delegation from the Kurdistan Region visits Baghdad to resolve the issue of local revenues and oil deliveries.

A high-level delegation from the Kurdistan Region visits Baghdad to resolve the issue of local revenues and oil deliveries.

2025-08-23 02:39

A high-level delegation from the Kurdistan Region visits Baghdad to resolve the issue of local revenues and oil deliveriesShafaq News – Sulaymaniyah / Erbil
A source in the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Council of Ministers stated on Saturday that a high-level delegation from the regional government, including Finance Minister Awat Sheikh Janab and Acting Minister of Natural Resources Kamal Mohammed Salih, will visit Baghdad this week to decide on non-oil revenues and the handover of oil exports to SOMO.

The source said, “The Kurdistan Regional Government has prepared 120 billion dinars in non-oil revenues for last June, which will be deposited into the federal Ministry of Finance’s account at the Erbil branch of the Central Bank of Iraq.”

A delegation from the regional government is expected to meet with a delegation from the federal government to reach a solution regarding non-oil revenues and resolve the obstacles facing the funding of monthly salaries for public sector employees and workers in Kurdistan.

The Iraqi Council of Ministers decided, during its regular session held on August 19, to fund the salaries of employees in Kurdistan, provided that Erbil delivers oil and non-oil revenues on time.

Kurdistan Regional Government spokesperson Peshwa Hawrami confirmed last Wednesday that the agreed-upon amount for non-oil revenues was ready for delivery to the federal government in Baghdad.

“A crucial meeting is currently underway between a delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government in Baghdad, and there is a serious discussion regarding non-oil revenues,” Hawrami said at a press conference during his visit to Halabja province following the fire. He added that “120 billion dinars are ready for delivery.”

On Wednesday, August 13, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources announced that it had reached an agreement with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil regarding a mechanism for resuming oil exports.

The ministry said in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, “According to the text approved by a joint delegation of 23 figures, including 17 members of the Iraqi Oil Ministry delegation, the meetings began on July 17, and included comprehensive field visits to all oil fields in the region. After evaluating technical problems and conducting extensive dialogues, an agreement was reached on August 11 on the mechanism for exporting oil from the region’s fields, whereby 50,000 barrels of daily production would be allocated to meet the region’s local needs, while the remainder would be handed over to the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) for export purposes.”

She explained that “resuming the export of Kurdistan Region’s oil requires the federal government to hold talks with the Turkish government to ensure the implementation of the agreement.”

The ministry’s statement confirms information obtained by Shafaq News Agency earlier today, Wednesday, which confirmed that the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had agreed with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil to resume exports of the region’s crude oil under a special mechanism.

According to information, the agreement stipulates that the export process will be conducted in accordance with the daily production of the fields, with 50,000 barrels allocated to meet the region’s internal needs, while the remaining quantities will be delivered to the state-owned oil company SOMO, affiliated with the federal government.

The information also indicated that the draft agreement was signed by a delegation from the federal Ministry of Oil and a delegation from the region’s Ministry of Natural Resources, confirming that the federal delegation has returned to Baghdad.

According to the same information, the start of exports requires negotiations between the federal and Turkish governments before the process can be implemented.

An informed source revealed to Shafaq News Agency last month the details of the agreement between Baghdad and Erbil regarding the resumption of Kurdistan’s oil exports. He confirmed that the agreement stipulated that the Kurdistan Regional Government would receive 240 billion dinars in revenues for May and June, at a rate of 120 billion dinars per month, in addition to delivering 230,000 barrels of oil per day to Baghdad, in exchange for the latter sending the salaries of the region’s employees for those two months.

The roots of this crisis between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) lie in ongoing disagreements over oil export mechanisms and the unification of public revenues. This is a long-standing crisis that resurfaces from time to time, but it has worsened significantly since May 2025, when the federal government refused to send salaries to the region’s employees.

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