(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Kirkuk may stop its oil exports if Baghdad does not send its share of funds from the national budget, an official from Kirkuk parliament has warned.
The threat on Monday was the latest escalation in a dispute which erupted recently between the two sides as Erbil also accused the central government in Baghdad of failing to forward funds, while Baghdad claimed the KRG, Kurdish Regional Government, had not delivered the promised amount of oil and revenues.
Ahmad al-Askari, the head of Kirkuk's Parliamentary Committee for Energy, told Anadolu Agency: "Kirkuk may halt its oil exports to the international market from Ceyhan, Turkey, if the federal government in Baghdad does not send us our share of the national budget."
He added the Iraqi government had only sent enough for the salaries of civil servants since the beginning of 2015.
He said: "The failure to pay the city's shares from the budget may create a social crisis. That's why the people of Kirkuk and the local government are reacting.
"The most appropriate reaction is to halt Kirkuk's oil exports. The people of Kirkuk cannot accept that their oil money is going elsewhere."
Kirkuk in northern Iraq is exporting its oil via a pipeline to Ceyhan port in Turkey's south, where it is then shipped to international markets.
KRG in Erbil and the central government in Baghdad reached an agreement on Dec. 2 regarding the amount of oil exports and shares of budget.
According to the agreement, the KRG was to export 250,000 barrels of oil per day with the Kirkuk province providing 300,000 barrels per day under the supervision of the Iraqi federal government's oil marketing company, SOMO.
In return, Baghdad was to provide 17 percent of the national budget.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.