Parliamentary Finance Committee “explodes a surprise” regarding the cost of extracting oil from the Kurdistan Region

Parliamentary Finance Committee “explodes a surprise” regarding the cost of extracting oil from the Kurdistan Region

2025-02-02 06:04

Parliamentary Finance Committee explodes a surprise regarding the cost of extracting oil from the Kurdistan RegionShafaq News/ The Finance Committee of the Iraqi Council of Representatives said on Sunday that the vote on amending the general budget law is related to the proposal sent by the federal government to the council. While it explained that the cost of extracting oil is $16 and is not fixed, but may reach $22, it confirmed that stopping the export of the region’s oil led to the federal government losing more than $14 billion.

Committee member, Ikhlas al-Dulaimi, told Shafaq News Agency, “The House of Representatives voted today to amend the general budget law, and the vote was on the proposal sent by the government to the House.”

Al-Dulaimi explained that “the cost of extracting oil in the Kurdistan Region, according to the amendment, is $16 per barrel, and the cost is not fixed, as there will be a consulting company that will determine the actual cost of extracting oil, and it may reach $22 per barrel, and according to this cost, the federal government will be obligated to pay it to the Kurdistan Region.”

She explained that, “according to the budget amendment, the region’s oil will be delivered to SOMO, which will be responsible for selling the oil abroad,” noting that “the halt in oil exports was not due to the region, but rather it was due to the federal Ministry of Oil filing a lawsuit against the Ministry of Oil in the region, which caused the halt in oil exports, and this led to the federal government losing more than 14 billion dollars.”

Today, Sunday, the Iraqi Council of Representatives voted on the draft law amending the first law of the Federal General Budget Law of the Republic of Iraq for the fiscal years 2023 – 2024 – 2025 No. 13 of 2023.

For his part, independent MP Ahmed Majeed announced in a statement to Shafaq News Agency that members of the House of Representatives from the central and southern governorates boycotted the parliament session held today, considering that voting on the budget “violates the law and the internal regulations of the council due to the lack of a legal quorum.”

Majeed explained that “the number of present representatives does not exceed 140 representatives, which means that the quorum is not achieved,” stressing that they doubt the legitimacy of the session.

He added, “We will file an appeal with the Federal Court against the House of Representatives for violating the law and proceeding with the vote on amending the budget law.”

shafaq.com