Iraq 's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan has been pumping 116,000 barrels of oil a day into the central government's export pipeline, a Baghdad government spokesman said Monday.

The oil ministry of the Kurdistan Regional Government said last week it would restart exporting 100,000 barrels of oil a day from Aug. 7 in a goodwill gesture aimed at breaking a deadlock with Baghdad over payment for previous exports.

"We are calling on the KRG to increase the flow beyond the previously agreed upon figure of 175,000 barrels a day in order to compensate for the shortage caused by suspension of their exports," said Faisal Abdullah, spokesman for Iraq's federal deputy prime minister for energy, Hussein al-Shahristani.

The KRG, however, said the resumption in oil exports is temporary and would be suspended at the end of this month if Baghdad fails to pay the money it owes.

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 in revenue generated by those exports.

Mr. Shahristani said in July that halts to oil exports for periods in 2010, 2011 and this year had resulted in lost revenue of $8.5 billion. Mr. Shahristani has called on the federal government in Baghdad to deduct that sum from national budget allocations to Kurdistan .

The central government argues that it should control all resources in the country, while the Kurds say the country's new constitution gives it the right to operate its own resources.

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. and Gazprom Neft have followed Exxon in defying Baghdad , and signed deals with Kurds.
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