Iraqi Kurdistan sells its oil on the black market via Iran, according to a local independent media, with supporting evidence.
1 min
With our correspondent in Erbil, Théo Renaudon
The autonomous Iraqi region lost control of its oil production to Baghdad in spring 2023. Officially, exports are stopped lack of agreement between the power of Baghdad and Turkey. However, in a video from the independent Kurdish media Draw, we see hundreds of tanker trucks in single file to pass an Iranian border post. These images are difficult to authenticate, but they do not surprise observers.
In Kurdistan, oil represents the entire economy and the blocking of exports is causing a very serious financial crisis. Since the spring, civil servants have been paid late or worked completely for free. The authorities therefore seem to have chosen to go through the black market in order to replenish the coffers.
Doing this is Kurdish know-how, according to the director of the French research center onIraqAdel Bakawan: “ From 1991 until 2003, when Iraq was under embargo, the Kurdish region developed a tradition of finding an alternative to the legal economy to meet the needs of the population. “.
Since Sunday, discussions have been underway between Baghdad and Erbil to soon resume oil production in Kurdistan.