MEOG: KRG sticking to budget deal

Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has delivered approximately 50,000-60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil to Baghdad since mid-June, in a concerted effort to meet its obligations under the new budget law with the Federal government.

A KRG delegation visited Baghdad recently to continue discussions on budget implementation and the payment of salaries for public employees in the region. Another delegation is scheduled to make a return visit to the Iraqi capital for the same purpose.

According to the KRG’s President of the Diwan Council of Ministers Omed Sabah, the government has successfully fulfilled its obligations under the budget agreement with Baghdad, which includes the handover of oil to the state oil marketer SOMO. The oil export had been suspended since March 25 after Baghdad won a dispute against Turkey at an arbitration court in Paris.

Sabah said in an interview with Kurdistan 24 on July 23: “We have handed over 50,000-60,000 barrels of oil since mid-June” to the federal government, and he further mentioned that the handover had been officially agreed upon during the latest meeting with the Ministry of Oil.

As per the budget deal, the responsibility of selling the Kurdish oil now lies with SOMO, after years of the Kurdistan Region independently exporting its oil. Prior to the suspension, the Kurdistan Region was exporting more than 400,000 bpd through a pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port.