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Iraqi Parliamentary Team Satisfied with Inquiry into Kurdistan’s Oil Deals
28/07/2012 05:09:00By HEVIDAR AHMED
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Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami. Photo: italianexpo.it
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An Iraqi parliamentary team visited Erbil last week to investigate Kurdistan’s oil deals with foreign oil companies, the lack of an oil and gas law in Baghdad, and Baghdad’s stoppage of Kurdistan’s share of refined oil products.
Ali Fayaz, the deputy head of the parliamentary committee for oil and gas who met with Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami, told Rudaw, “The purpose behind this visit was to find out what the oil and gas dispute between Baghdad and Erbil is about and how to work together on this issue.”
Fayaz, who is also a member of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, said that Hawrami explained everything to the team using data and figures.
“The position of the Ministry of Natural Resources was logical and they wanted to solve the issues,” Fayaz said.
Baghdad’s failure to pass a new oil and gas law is at the core of the dispute between the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi government. Kurdish officials say Baghdad is trying to suppress the Iraqi constitution which allows provinces to develop their own oil industry as long as they share the revenue with Baghdad.
The Iraqi government has called Kurdistan’s deals and contracts with foreign oil companies “not transparent and illegal.”
But Awad al-Awadi, a member of the parliamentary team from the Sadrist Movement, told Rudaw, “Mr. Hawrami told us the contracts had been signed based on the Kurdistan Region’s oil law and he gave us a copy of the contracts for the first time.”
Awadi blamed both the Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional governments for acting based on their own interests in the absence of an oil and gas law.
The Kurdistan Region has so far signed around 50 contracts with foreign companies to search and drill the region’s untapped oil reserves. The latest company to come to the Kurdistan Region was Chevron who signed a deal with the Ministry of Natural Resources last week.
[Ali Fayaz, the deputy head of the parliamentary committee for oil and gas]
Awadi said that both Kurdistan and Iraq’s oil ministries have to provide details of their deals to the parliamentary committee.
The parliamentary team said that they will work to solve the disagreements and bring both ministries of oil closer together.
“In the coming days, we will meet with Iraq’s minister of oil followed by a meeting between Kurdistan and Iraq’s oil ministers to solve the oil and gas issue in Iraq,” Awadi said.
Ali Hassan Balo, the former head of the parliamentary oil and gas committee, was part of the team that visited Kurdistan. He said that the team acts neutrally and aims to deliver a report on its findings on Baghdad and Erbil’s oil sectors to Iraqi Parliament.
“It is normal for the parliamentary committee to know the details of oil and gas deals,” Balo said. “We know what the issues are, but it is better to hear it from the ministers themselves.”
One of the topics discussed by the team and Kurdistan’s officials was the region’s share of refined oil. After Baghdad cut Kurdistan’s supply, Kurdish authorities independently reached an agreement with Turkey in May to send crude oil there for refinement.
But according to Fayaz, this deal is illegal. “The Kurdistan Region should not send out oil without Baghdad’s consent because this is not in Iraq’s best interest and [Deputy Prime Minister for Energy] Hussain al-Shahristani can put pressure on Kurdistan and ask to see billions of dollars from the region’s oil sale.”
[Awad al-Awadi, member of the parliamentary team from the Sadrist Movement]
Fayaz said that the team’s visit to the Kurdistan Region was with Shahristani’s knowledge.
Iraq refines 700,000 barrels of oil a day for local need and the Kurdistan Region’s share of that is 17 percent, which amounts to 140,000 barrels. But Kurdish officials say Baghdad sends only 15,000 barrels to Kurdistan which does not meet the local demand.
“When Baghdad does not provide Kurdistan’s need for refined oil, the region then has to find ways to fill its electricity and fuel needs which is about 50,000 barrels,” Fayaz said.
In his meeting with the Iraqi parliamentary team, Hawrami said, “The revenue of 50 million barrels of oil is missing in Iraq and the revenue of 300,000 barrels a day of refined oil is also not accounted for. Iraq refines 700,000 barrels a day but distributes only 400,000 to the provinces.”
“On the missing oil revenue of Iraq, Mr. Hawrami did not speak without evidence,” Balo said. “He provided data and proof. His evidence showed that the Kurdistan Region had given Iraq’s National Oil Company [SOMO] 111,000 barrels of oil a day for export and had signed receipts for it, but in the end SOMO said it had received only 95,000 barrels from Kurdistan. This means that 16,000 barrels went missing every day.”
Balo said that this has been the case across Iraq.
“During the last round of parliament, when I was head of the oil and gas committee, we investigated the export of oil through Basra and found that 100,000 barrels was going missing every day,” he said.
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28/07/2012 05:09:00By HEVIDAR AHMED
Font size:
Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami. Photo: italianexpo.it
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An Iraqi parliamentary team visited Erbil last week to investigate Kurdistan’s oil deals with foreign oil companies, the lack of an oil and gas law in Baghdad, and Baghdad’s stoppage of Kurdistan’s share of refined oil products.
Ali Fayaz, the deputy head of the parliamentary committee for oil and gas who met with Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami, told Rudaw, “The purpose behind this visit was to find out what the oil and gas dispute between Baghdad and Erbil is about and how to work together on this issue.”
Fayaz, who is also a member of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, said that Hawrami explained everything to the team using data and figures.
“The position of the Ministry of Natural Resources was logical and they wanted to solve the issues,” Fayaz said.
Baghdad’s failure to pass a new oil and gas law is at the core of the dispute between the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi government. Kurdish officials say Baghdad is trying to suppress the Iraqi constitution which allows provinces to develop their own oil industry as long as they share the revenue with Baghdad.
The Iraqi government has called Kurdistan’s deals and contracts with foreign oil companies “not transparent and illegal.”
But Awad al-Awadi, a member of the parliamentary team from the Sadrist Movement, told Rudaw, “Mr. Hawrami told us the contracts had been signed based on the Kurdistan Region’s oil law and he gave us a copy of the contracts for the first time.”
Awadi blamed both the Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional governments for acting based on their own interests in the absence of an oil and gas law.
The Kurdistan Region has so far signed around 50 contracts with foreign companies to search and drill the region’s untapped oil reserves. The latest company to come to the Kurdistan Region was Chevron who signed a deal with the Ministry of Natural Resources last week.
[Ali Fayaz, the deputy head of the parliamentary committee for oil and gas]
Awadi said that both Kurdistan and Iraq’s oil ministries have to provide details of their deals to the parliamentary committee.
The parliamentary team said that they will work to solve the disagreements and bring both ministries of oil closer together.
“In the coming days, we will meet with Iraq’s minister of oil followed by a meeting between Kurdistan and Iraq’s oil ministers to solve the oil and gas issue in Iraq,” Awadi said.
Ali Hassan Balo, the former head of the parliamentary oil and gas committee, was part of the team that visited Kurdistan. He said that the team acts neutrally and aims to deliver a report on its findings on Baghdad and Erbil’s oil sectors to Iraqi Parliament.
“It is normal for the parliamentary committee to know the details of oil and gas deals,” Balo said. “We know what the issues are, but it is better to hear it from the ministers themselves.”
One of the topics discussed by the team and Kurdistan’s officials was the region’s share of refined oil. After Baghdad cut Kurdistan’s supply, Kurdish authorities independently reached an agreement with Turkey in May to send crude oil there for refinement.
But according to Fayaz, this deal is illegal. “The Kurdistan Region should not send out oil without Baghdad’s consent because this is not in Iraq’s best interest and [Deputy Prime Minister for Energy] Hussain al-Shahristani can put pressure on Kurdistan and ask to see billions of dollars from the region’s oil sale.”
[Awad al-Awadi, member of the parliamentary team from the Sadrist Movement]
Fayaz said that the team’s visit to the Kurdistan Region was with Shahristani’s knowledge.
Iraq refines 700,000 barrels of oil a day for local need and the Kurdistan Region’s share of that is 17 percent, which amounts to 140,000 barrels. But Kurdish officials say Baghdad sends only 15,000 barrels to Kurdistan which does not meet the local demand.
“When Baghdad does not provide Kurdistan’s need for refined oil, the region then has to find ways to fill its electricity and fuel needs which is about 50,000 barrels,” Fayaz said.
In his meeting with the Iraqi parliamentary team, Hawrami said, “The revenue of 50 million barrels of oil is missing in Iraq and the revenue of 300,000 barrels a day of refined oil is also not accounted for. Iraq refines 700,000 barrels a day but distributes only 400,000 to the provinces.”
“On the missing oil revenue of Iraq, Mr. Hawrami did not speak without evidence,” Balo said. “He provided data and proof. His evidence showed that the Kurdistan Region had given Iraq’s National Oil Company [SOMO] 111,000 barrels of oil a day for export and had signed receipts for it, but in the end SOMO said it had received only 95,000 barrels from Kurdistan. This means that 16,000 barrels went missing every day.”
Balo said that this has been the case across Iraq.
“During the last round of parliament, when I was head of the oil and gas committee, we investigated the export of oil through Basra and found that 100,000 barrels was going missing every day,” he said.
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