Iraq's Kurdistan concludes oil deal with BaghdadSeptember 20, 2012 - 13:59 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan said on Thursday, Sept 20, it will receive 147,000 barrels of oil products per day, as part of a deal concluded with Baghdad to end a dispute over oil payments, Reuters reported. The deal, which was first outlined last week, will solve only few points of a broader feud between Baghdad and Kurdistan over oil exports, energy policy and territory which have become increasingly contentious topics. "This deal cannot solve all the problems currently but it is considered a good step," Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said in a statement posted on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) website on Thursday. Under the terms, the federal government in Baghdad will send 17 percent of its oil products to Kurdistan, which works out at 147,000 barrels per day, the statement said. Baghdad and Kurdistan have been feuding over major oil companies like Exxon and Chevron who have signed exploration deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government, contracts the central government says are illegal. Kurdistan, autonomous with its own government and armed forces since 1991, gets central government funding and uses national pipelines to ship its oil. Baghdad says only the central government has the right to ship oil and gas. Barzani said Kurdistan had formed a committee to calculate oil contract revenues and expenses in Kurdistan. He said a report on this would be published at a later date. Kurdistan has said it will keep its oil production for export at 140,000 barrels per day this month before raising it to 200,000 bpd for the rest of the year. It also said Baghdad would pay 1 trillion Iraqi dinars or around $857 million for foreign companies working in the Kurdish region. Kurdistan halted shipments of its oil in April in protest over what it said were payments due from Baghdad to companies. It restarted shipments later, but had said it would halt them again by September 15 if there was no agreement on payment. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | European Parliament to discuss repression in Azerbaijan The European Parliament will discuss repression of civil society in Azerbaijan on April 24 PACE wants concessions from Azerbaijan to accept Baku back A PACE co-rapporteur said that Azerbaijani authorities must make certain concessions so that the country can return to PACE. Cyprus parliament honors Armenian genocide victims Acting House President Zacharias Koulias noted that April 24 marks the “black anniversary” of the Armenian genocide. Armenia PM, France envoy discuss regional matters Issues related to the consistent development of Armenia-France cooperation were discussed. |