Draw Media
"We have received the Kurdistan region's response through the media, and the federal court has given us the power to cancel the region's oil contracts, and we will not accept the sale of the KRG’s oil at less than the price of Iraq's oil," Iraqi Oil Minister said.
In an interview with the (Al Iraqiya) channel, Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar said Turkey illegally uses the Iraqi oil pipeline and the dossier is in the international courts.
Regarding the federal court's decision, the Iraqi oil minister said "The decision has given the ministry of oil the authority to cancel the contracts that the Kurdistan Region has made, Also, it gave us the authority to look for the financial consequences of the process of selling oil and gas of the region in the past years”.
He mentioned that the ministry of oil has recently sent some proposals on the system of managing oil resources in the Kurdistan Region, and the proposals are clear, based on parallel contracts legally and commercially. Creating a new entity called the Kurdistan Oil Company, which the federal government owns, as well as creating a guaranteed bank account for the Kurdistan Region, which will belong to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, to guarantee the payment of the salaries of the people of Kurdistan.
Regarding the Kurdistan Region's response to the Iraqi oil ministry's proposals, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar said, "The Kurdistan regional government has two different answers which we have received from the media, but we have not received an official response yet. Once they say we will not accept the proposals, later they say: "We will deal positively with the proposals, but in a way that guarantees the constitution."
"We've officially told them that we do not accept the sale of Kurdistan Region's oil at a different price than the price of SOMO and we will not accept that the cost of producing a barrel of oil in the region reaches 59 percent of its price," the Iraqi oil minister said. He pointed out that the difference between the region's oil sales price and SOMO is 9%, and there is now an attempt by the Kurdish leaders to narrow this difference and negotiate with the oil traders about it. Part of the damage caused to the region is due to the legality or illegality of oil contracts and the central government's protests over the contracts.