Draw Media:

The PUK is reviving a secret agreement with the Baghdad government, which wants to hand over the gas within its territory to the Iraqi government and export it through Baghdad. For that, the PUK wants to deal directly with Baghdad, not through Erbil. More details in this report.

Sulaymaniyah gas to Baghdad

According to information obtained from informed sources, the PUK wants to hand over its gas to Baghdad and show the Sulaymaniyah administration's compliance with the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court's decision.

This comes at a time when the PUK participated in the last KRG delegation negotiations with the Iraqi ministry of oil, and the delegation rejected the Iraqi government's requests for handing over oil and gas and does not want to abide by the Decision of the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court without the approval of the oil and gas law in Iraq.

Draw Media has learned that PUK wants to sign an agreement with the Iraqi government to hand over gas in exchange for that, Petrodollars will be provided for Chamchamal as an energy production zone, and Sulaymaniyah would be dealt with directly by Iraq, not through the regional government, which the PDK has controlled.

Masrour Barzani's government insists to export Kurdistan Region's gas through Turkey, which is operated by the Kar Company. The company is owned by Sheikh Baz and has recently been targeted by Iranian missile attacks in Erbil.

"let Iraq export gas to Turkey"

Earlier this February, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Nechirvan Barzani arrived in Ankara in a sudden visit, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked him to export KRG gas to Turkey. Following Nechirvan Barzani's visit to Turkey, the Kurdistan Region came under pressure. 

Turkey’s demand for the KRG gas comes after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. Turkey and Europe import most of their natural gas from Russia, fearing a halt to Russian gas exports, so they are looking for new sources of energy.

At a time when Western countries are gradually imposing sanctions on Russia and blocking the property of Russian officials, Bafel Talabani, the co-president of the PUK, has recently strengthened his relations with Russia and has met twice with the Russian ambassador to Baghdad.

Iran, which itself is a major exporter of natural gas to Turkey, is concerned about the export of the Kurdistan Region's gas to Turkey. The PUK, which has set its policy within the framework of Iran's strategy, does not want to be under pressure from Tehran because of gas exports to Turkey.

According to Draw's information, two senior officials of the PUK recently visited Turkey and notified the country's top officials, that “the PUK does not have a problem with the fact that gas is given to Turkey, but they want Iraq to give gas to the country, not directly by the regional government."

An old agreement in a new cover

According to draw's investigations, in mid-2020, the PUK secretly negotiated with the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on the oil and gas dossier, and Iraqi President Barham Salih was aware of the details of the talks.

In 2020, the PUK complained that they did not have financial authority and the government was not conducting the affairs of the Sulaymaniyah administration as necessary.

According to Draw Media information, in 2020, the PUK signed an agreement with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, and according to the agreement, both sides decided to build a company called the Sulaymaniyah Energy Company, which has decided to hand over all oil and gas fields to the company.

The company's shares are divided as follows:

40% of the company's shares will be for Sulaymaniyah governorate

40% of the company's shares will be for the Iraqi government

%20 of the shares will be for the Kurdistan Regional Government

The main goal of this agreement was to deal with the Iraqi government directly, not through the regional government in Erbil, particularly on the issue of salaries.

In addition to salaries and financial transactions, the PUK wanted to raise oil production from 45,000 barrels per day to at least 72,000 barrels of oil through the joint company with the Iraqi government.

Those who were aware of the agreement said that PUK had received US approval, but a project like this is a matter of concern for Iran, especially if Iraq's needs for gas will be filled and the Baghdad government no longer needs to buy Iranian gas.

Gas in the Kurdistan Region

According to the official website of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Kurdistan Region has 200 trillion cubic feet (5.7 trillion cubic meters) of natural gas reserves, 3 percent of the world's gas reserves.

But this is an unproven reserve, as the region's proven natural gas reserves are only 25 trillion cubic feet, according to U.S. energy reports.

The natural gas of Kor Mor field in Chamchamal, which operates by UAE's Dangas company, now produces 430 million cubic feet per day, which is filled the local needs, which are 750 tons per day and 300 tones are exported abroad, and according to the information, part of it goes to Afghanistan.

The natural gas reserves of the Kurdistan Region are mostly in the areas which are under the control of the PUK.

The division of natural gas reserves between the areas under the control of PUK and PDK is as follow:

Reserves of the area under the authority of the PUK

• KorMoR: 8 trillion and 200 billion cubic feet

Chamchamal: 4 trillion and 400 billion cubic feet

• Miran: 3 trillion and 46 billion cubic feet

• Palkana: A trillion and 600 billion cubic feet

The reserve of the area under the control of KDP

• Bna Bawe: 7 trillion and 100 billion cubic feet

• Khormala: 2 trillion and 260 billion cubic meters

• Shekhan: 900 billion cubic feet

• Pirmam: 880 billion cubic feet