The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Natural Resources said on Tuesday that efforts are underway to resume oil exports from the Kurdistan Region.
On the anniversary of the suspension of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region, the ministry issued a statement, saying that despite reaching an agreement with the federal government to resume oil exports in April 2023, the process has been stalled.
The ministry cited complications arising from unfair provisions of the budget law as hindering the resumption of oil exports.
“The Kurdistan Region’s oil industry was established through foreign investment without spending a dinar from the country’s budget, under the budget law, it is categorized similarly to the Iraqi oil industry, which is established on billions of dollars of the country’s general budget,” it said.
The ministry criticized the amount of money allocated for the production and transportation of oil in the Kurdistan Region, saying that it “in no way corresponds to the real cost of oil production and transportation in the Kurdistan Region.”
It said that the KRG has acted with genuine intentions, having delivered over 11 million barrels of oil to the federal government, but it underscored that the KRG has not received any funds to fulfill the financial commitments owed to oil-producing companies.
The ministry further said that both the Iraqi Oil Ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources have been directed to address the obstacles and challenges hindering the resumption of oil exports from the Region.
