The Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, in northern Iraq is sending a delegation to the federal government in Baghdad to resolve issues relating to payments made to foreign contracting companies producing crude oil in the region, the KRG's prime minister said in a statement Thursday.
The Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, in northern
Iraq
is
sending a delegation to the federal government in
Baghdad
to
resolve issues relating to payments made to foreign contracting companies
producing crude oil in the region, the KRG's prime minister said in a statement
Thursday.
"A delegation from the
Kurdistan
region will travel to
Baghdad
shortly to discuss payment by the federal government to foreign contracting
companies working in the oil sector in
Kurdistan
,"
Nichervan Barzani said.
The KRG suspended crude oil exports of nearly 100,000 barrels a day in April,
protesting that Baghdad was delaying payment of $1.5 billion it gathered in
revenues from those exports. It restarted them, however, on Aug. 7, in what it
said was a "goodwill gesture," but said flows would halt if no
payments were forthcoming by Aug. 31. It later extended its deadline to
Sept.15.
"The central government needs to pay the due money to contracting
companies," Mr. Barzani said.
The KRG last year received payments totaling $514 million to cover producing
firms' past cost, but stopped supplying oil for exports in April this year
citing a $1.5 billion backlog owed by
Baghdad
.
The central government said earlier this year that it was preparing to pay
another $560 million this year to foreign oil companies in
Kurdistan
but
it was waiting for the KRG to send documents to support the costs.
A federal oil ministry-led government committee has since raised the stakes by
warning that in excess of $3 billion could be cut from the KRG's budget share
over its failure to supply 175,000 barrels a day of oil for exports as agreed
under
Iraq
's
2012 budget.
"The region rejects
Baghdad
's
threats to cut part of KRG's share of the budget and use that as a pressure
card against
Kurdistan
," Mr. Barzani said.
The central government and the KRG are at loggerheads over issues including
Kurdistan
's
refusal to seek approval from
Baghdad
for
oil contracts it has awarded to foreign firms, and over a swathe of disputed
territory in northern
Iraq
.
Tensions between Baghdad and the KRG have risen since last year when U.S.
energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) announced a deal with the KRG to explore
for oil in Kurdistan. Recently companies such as Total SA (TOT), Chevron Corp.
(CCX) and Gazprom Neft (GZPFY) have followed Exxon in defying
Baghdad
, and
signed deals with the Kurds.
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