Exports of Kurdish crude, stopped for ten days, will resume. The arbitral tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce had affirmed Baghdad’s sovereignty over the resources of Iraqi Kurdistan, thus prohibiting its trade in the absence of an agreement. It is now done, after more than ten years of dispute between the federal power and the autonomous region, where black gold is all economic life.
With our correspondent in Erbil, Theo Renaudon
Kurdish oil money must land in the pocket of the Kurdish government, yes, but under the watchful eye of Baghdad. This is what the Kurdish and Iraqi Prime Ministers agreed on on Tuesday 4 April.
The Kurdish oil receipts will therefore be deposited in a bank account belonging to Erbil, but under the observation of the Iraqi National Petroleum Marketing Organization.
If these oil revenues are higher than the share of the budget allocated by Iraq to the autonomous region of Kurdistan, then the Kurds will send the surplus money to Baghdad.
If it’s the other way around, if the Kurds haven’t gotten enough money from their oil to reach their share of the budget, well then, Baghdad will send the money to Erbil.
Another change: Kurdish oil will now be sold at a normal price on the international market. It was previously 20% cheaper because of its unstable legal status.
This is all a tentative deal. A law voted in the Iraqi Parliament must come to seal these measures in a short time. A first in the history of Iraq.
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