The Iraqi Oil Minister announces the failure of negotiations with the Kurdistan region on the energy file

Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar announced that negotiations with the Kurdistan delegation, regarding the management of the energy file in the region, failed and did not achieve any positive results.

Abdul Jabbar said during a meeting of the Ministry's opinion board yesterday, Saturday, "The Ministry of Oil will proceed towards the literal application of the decision of the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq regarding the management of the energy file in Iraq," stressing the need for the state to manage the oil activity to ensure its unity.

The minister pointed out that there is no country in the world that manages the energy file and produces oil and gas with two policies, "and this had negative effects that were reflected on Iraq's policy in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)."

He stressed that "the country's energy file must be managed by one party according to a federal administration with the region, and in a commercial manner without the political mood interfering. Also, it cannot be subject to political whims as it is a commercial activity," noting that Baghdad "has no desire to By controlling the oil activity, as it deals transparently with the oil companies in the country, including the Kurdistan Oil Company.

The Federal Court had ruled in mid-February that the oil and gas law in Kurdistan was unconstitutional, and obligated the region to hand over oil to the federal government, but the regional government rejected the decision, stressing that it would continue to work with its own oil and gas law.

It is noteworthy that Kurdistan had passed in 2007 a law of its own that established the directives through which it manages oil and gas resources.

In May 2018, the Federal Court began looking into a lawsuit filed by the federal government against the regional government, demanding that the produced oil be delivered to Baghdad and that it may not be exported independently, in implementation of the provisions of the constitution and the relevant laws in force.

The Kurdistan region exports oil independently from Baghdad via a line heading to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, and from there to international markets.

During the previous years, the regional government concluded contracts with major international oil companies, including ExxonMobil and Rosneft, to develop its oil fields, which pump about 500,000 barrels per day.