HCL/ERBIL: Baghdad and Kurds said to reach agreement on oil development and royalties

By Khaula al-Akili After years of sparring on how to divide the country’s oil royalties, Baghdad and the Kurds in northern Iraq are reported to have finally struck a deal on budget allocations, Deputy Prime Minister Rooz Shawees have said. Shawees said the sides have agreed to distribute the hard cash the country earns from oil sales in light of the population density of its 18 provinces.

Oil revenues make the bulk of Iraq’s foreign cash earnings and the control of oil sales and their royalties has been a thorny issue between Baghdad the Kurds, who enjoy full autonomy in three provinces in the north. Shawees said Iraq’s oil output has hit a record of 3.15 million barrels a day with at least 2 million barrels earmarked for export.

“Oil is the backbone of Iraqi economy and the foundation for the country’s reconstruction and its economic prosperity,” he said. The sides have been holding intensive negotiations to solve their oil differences with Baghdad insisting not to relinquish its control of oil development, output, sale and collection of revenues. But Shawees, who represents the Kurdish regional government in the cabinet, said Baghdad and the Kurds have reached an agreement to put their differences aside. “The joint efforts between the federal government and (Iraqi) Kurdistan have produced a draft law on oil and gas under which the royalties will be distributed among the provinces in proportion to their population,” he said.  

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