Baghdad Blamed for Oil Dispute

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00:00Okay, so, I mean, from a Baghdad point of view, and do correct me if I've misunderstood the situation,

00:06but it seems as though, and what we're being told in the report,

00:10is that Erbil has been striking these independent oil deals, notably with the United States,

00:17and that's a challenge to Iraqi sovereignty.

00:20Help me understand, where's the money from those deals being remitted?

00:24Is it being received in Erbil or is it being received by the central government?

00:30Well, let's set the records correct.

00:35Before, actually, the Kurdistan region was relying for its budget on Baghdad payment.

00:43It has a share in the annual budget.

00:46I mean, it changed from 17 percent to now, it's about 12 percent, so there wasn't much problem.

00:52Only when Baghdad tried to suspend this payment, the Kurdish region started to export oil.

00:59Okay, I mean, through Turkey to the international market.

01:04And then, recently, two years ago, there was a ruling by the Paris Arbitration Commercial Court

01:12to suspend this oil shipment through Turkey for some legal claims.

01:18And the KRG, of course, suspended this oil shipments through the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline.

01:27It was a contention between Iraq and Turkey, but we were caught in the middle.

01:32But the Kurdish region accepted that all oil export, I mean, the revenue should go to the national budget

01:40and then be redistributed.

01:43So these oil deals, actually, are in lines with the Iraqi laws, with the Constitution.

01:51And these companies who have signed these contracts have entered into law court suits in Baghdad,

01:59and they won their cases, you see, in front of the Iraqi court.

02:02So nothing is hidden, nothing is untransparent, but Iraq is making this an issue for ulterior motives,

02:12to be honest with you, that these companies will produce gas and electricity,

02:19which will be for the benefit of the whole region.

02:22And I believe this would be to replace the Iranian gas supplies to Iraq and electricity and so on.

02:33So it's a bit muddled, the issue.

02:36In fact, it has other ulterior motives.