MP: Budget error hinders solution to oil smuggling problem from region
MP: Budget error hinders solution to oil smuggling problem from region
2-13-2025
Information/Special..
Former MP Mohammed Al-Shabaki confirmed today, Thursday, that oil smuggling from the Kurdistan Region was not mentioned in the general budget as smuggling, which makes it continue even after the budget is passed.
Al-Shabaki said in an interview with Al-Maalouma Agency, “The smuggling of oil from the Kurdistan Region continues through figures from the Barzani family, and this is happening in front of the eyes of all political blocs, the federal government, and the international community,” expressing his surprise at “the federal government’s failure to address this problem, which will not be resolved even after passing Article 12 of the General Budget Law, which includes raising the costs of oil production in the region and handing over the revenues to SOMO, because the region will not comply, especially with the presence of American support for it in this issue, which Washington benefits from.”
He added, “We should have called things by their names and not talked about such a serious issue in general,” explaining that “any justification provided will not be convincing, as smuggling exists even from fields in Khanaqin in Diyala Governorate, which are controlled by Kurdish forces.”
He pointed out that “smuggling is an act that differs from what is included in the general budget items, which the Kurdistan Democratic Party pushed for its passage because it is a beneficiary of it and the United States supported it.”
It is noteworthy that OPEC and representatives confirm that more than 300 thousand barrels of oil are smuggled daily from the Kurdistan Region with the help and participation of the United States of America.
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