Iraq Gives Conditional Nod to Oil, Gas Deals Between Turkey, Iraqi Kudristan

Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy said the authorities in Baghdad accept the recent oil and gas deals between Turkey and the regional government of Kurdistan on certain conditions, Turkish media reported.

The central government must be informed about the volume of Iraqi oil exports to Turkey, oil must be sold at international market prices and the revenues must be transferred to the account of the Iraq Development Fund in New York in compliance with previous UN Security Council resolutions, Hussain al-Shahristani said, as quoted by news agency Anadolu Agency on Sunday.

Al-Shahristani also said that the decisions about oil and gas exports lie with the Iraqi central government as the natural resources are owned by the Iraqi people and not by a specific region.

Turkey and the Kurdistan regional government recently agreed to build an oil and gas pipeline aiming to boost traffic of oil from the semi-autonomous region. They also agreed that a Turkish company will conduct exploration activities in 13 oil and gas blocks in the region.

Source: SeeNews