Kurdistan oil.. Barzani does not give up on exporting it himself
Kurdistan oil.. Barzani does not give up on exporting it himself
2024-12-19
The Kurdistan Democratic Party is seeking to limit the scope of the proposed amendment to Article 12 of the budget law related to the costs of producing oil in the Kurdistan Region, which is rejected by members of parliament.
The amendment is still witnessing controversy within the House of Representatives, which is in a legislative recess that ends next month, while political forces confirm that the amendment issue is intended to be more political than technical.
In this regard, former MP Mohammed Ibrahim confirms the insistence of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Massoud Barzani, on exporting the Kurdistan Region’s oil without delivering the revenues to Baghdad.
Ibrahim said in an interview with Al-Maalouma, “All the oil contracts concluded by the Kurdistan Region were made without the approval and knowledge of the federal government and the central authorities responsible for the oil file in the Iraqi state,” indicating that “therefore, it is not possible to agree to change the costs of oil production in Kurdistan only by amending Article 12 of the budget law.”
He added that “the partial amendment should not pass without Baghdad obtaining sufficient information about Kurdistan’s oil contracts,” explaining that “the issue has political dimensions as officials in the Kurdistan Region and the Democratic Party in particular want to be the source of oil.”
He points out that “the Democratic Party also does not want to give oil revenues to the central government as stated in the budget law and all the oil agreements that took place between Baghdad and Erbil.”
For his part, MP Hassan Mounes, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, considers the government’s proposal regarding its request to amend the paragraph on regional oil in the 2025 budget to be more political than technical.
In a statement to / Al-Maalouma /, Mounes said, “The issue of amending the paragraph on the region’s oil came at the request of the government and was raised during the recent hosting of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in the House of Representatives,” considering the proposed amendment in the upcoming budget to be more political than technical.”
He added, “The amendment proposal is still under discussion within the committee, as we held several discussions at the level of the responsible figures at the level of the Ministry of Oil, the Financial Supervision Bureau, and representatives of the Ministry of Finance, in addition to the presence of representatives of the region within the committee.”
He explained that “the proposal will be presented during the second reading in the House of Representatives at the beginning of the next legislative session, and the issue of whether or not to pass it is left to the members of the House of Representatives.”
The controversy over Kurdistan Region oil is not limited to the imports that the regional government refuses to deliver to Baghdad, but also includes the ambiguity about the parties to which it is exported, and former and current representatives have always confirmed that the Zionist entity benefits from it.
burathanews.com
