SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region —The head of Kirkuk Provincial Council’s energy committee, claims that none of its members nor the acting governor are aware of the fate of Kirkuk’s oil, adding that they have conveyed the complaint to Baghdad in a letter.
“We have not been aware of oil and relations, and also contracts made over Kirkuk oil,” said Ahmed Askari of the PUK.
They object to the Iraqi government making energy deals in the disputed or Kurdistani areas, which are claimed by Erbil and Baghdad.
“We have stated that a contract with a British company is illegal and the council should not be unaware of such an issue and be disregarded,” warning that if Baghdad does not consider their letter they “will direct it to Federal Court.”
Article 112 of Iraqi constitution obliges the federal government to cooperate with the regional government and distribute its revenues “in a fair manner in proportion to the population distribution in all parts of the country, specifying an allotment for a specified period for the damaged regions which were unjustly deprived of them by the former regime, and the regions that were damaged afterwards in a way that ensures balanced development in different areas of the country.”
Askari criticizes the government Iraqi Ministry of Oil and believes that it has violated a very important article in the constitution.
He claimed that Iraqi government sends 90,000 bpd to refineries and not a single barrel is exported from Kirkuk.
“Now, Kirkuk’s oil is not exported. What is being sent to refineries is through tanker trucks — 40,000 bpd are sent to Kalak’s refinery, whose product is for Mosul province, 20,000 bpd to Qaiwan and 20,000 barrels to Baghdad, with 50,000 bpd refined in Kirkuk.
The KRG used to export 300,000 barrels of oil through its pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port before the October 16 events and in return Kirkuk province received $10 million as a petrodollar payment. But now, the Iraqi government has benefited from the province’s oil through tanker trucks without paying the province.
In the middle of 2017, Iraq and Iran pondered on finding an alternative path for Kirkuk oil to be exported to Kermanshah, and in the end of the year delegations from both countries sat together regarding the issue. Some members of Kirkuk province criticized the move.
The head of the province’s energy committee said that “this has remained as an idea.”
A KDP official claimed that a portion of Kirkuk oil is being sent to Iran via tanker trucks and that the PUK is closely aware of this, but the case remains ambiguous.
The Kurdish member of Kirkuk council also claimed that even the province’s acting governor is not content with the Iraqi government regarding oil.
“The governor is not aware of anything. He said: ‘Once they invited me and said come to sign a contract but I did not, and said that I will not unless I see the details of the contract.’ Therefore, he is not aware of any oil contract as well,” said Askari.
Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, announced on Tuesday that they are in talks with KRG to export Kirkuk oil through the Region.
Safin Dizayee KRG spokesperson told Rudaw that “Kurdistan Region has submitted this suggestion to Baghdad and it was asserted in the last meeting. Baghdad is likely to accept the suggestion … but there has not been any concrete agreement … we hope it will result in a good agreement.”
Askari believes that if Baghdad does not accept KRG’s suggestion then it has to find an alternative which will take time.
“It has to await a company for four months to oversee the process, but KAR Group is ready and capable of exporting the oil rapidly,” said Askari.
