The cooperative oil export and revenue-sharing deal reached by leaders in Baghdad and Erbil on Dec. 2 has been promoted as the last chance to end a decade of acrimony over oil policy.
The Cabinet has now embedded its terms into the 2015 draft budget law, which is now being considered by Parliament.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is slated to contribute 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) to federal exports, and pump an additional 300,000 bpd of federal production through Kurdistan’s pipeline, which feeds into to the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline. In exchange, the KRG is supposed to receive 17 percent of the federal revenue that is shared among regions and provinces.
As the political momentum continues, however, there is a steadfast group of Iraqi oil experts — who were schooled in the era of foreign IOC domination, came of age at the heights of nationalism, and either stepped away or were forced out during Saddam Hussein’s leadership and the subsequent aftermath — who see long-term problems with the deal.
Many of them have also voiced public and private concerns with Iraqi oil policy over the years, including the contracting processes used to bring international companies into southern Iraq.
They have drafted a letter to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and the MPs who are now considering the 2015 draft budget. The letter was delivered by MP and former Planning Minister Mehdi Hafedh on Tuesday.
Source: Iraq Oil Report
Published Wednesday, December 24th, 2014
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