The Kurdish Regional Government will respond to Iraq’s move to control the semi-autonomous state’s oil and gas sector by Friday.
“After a KRG delegation visited Baghdad and met with the Iraqi Oil Ministry, the Ministry put forward a proposal which the KRG is currently studying,” KRG spokesman Lawk Ghafuri tweeted on Monday.
“The KRG will officially respond to Baghdad’s proposal by Friday and co-operation will continue in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution.”
In February, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled that the KRG must hand its crude oil supplies to Baghdad after deciding that a 2007 Kurdish law on oil production, revenue and exports was unconstitutional.
The court ruling was one of the most dramatic developments in a nearly two-decade long dispute over the extent to which the Kurdish region can enter into oil contracts with foreign oil and gas companies, make its own energy regulations and independently export and market oil.
On Saturday, Haitham Al Jubbouri, technical adviser to Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi, said it was important to implement the court’s ruling.
“There is no option but for the Federal Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to implement the [court] decision,” Iraq’s state news agency quoted him as saying.
Currently, crude oil from the KRG is exported from the region through a pipeline running from Kirkuk to Ceyhan in Turkey.
Implementing the Iraqi court decision would mean that Baghdad’s Ministry of Oil would have control over Erbil’s crude, although questions remain as to how complex such an undertaking might be, especially given that one section of the export pipeline originates in Kurdish territory.
Part of Iraq’s plan, revealed by the Ministry of Oil in April, includes setting up an oil company in Erbil to manage the KRG’s oil and gas.
In recent months, international oil companies have been cutting back operations in the Kurdish region after significant financial losses during the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused an oil price crash, and disputes with the Kurdish Regional Government. US international oil company Exxon stopped its oil operations there last month.
Iraq's Minister of Oil Ihsan Ismail said Kurdish oil was being sold at an unacceptable discount compared to oil marketed by Iraq's federal State Organisation for Marketing Oil. Kurdish oil exporters have in the past sold the oil cheaply to encourage buyers after Baghdad threatened legal action against anyone purchasing shipments.
But Mr Ismail has said there is “no desire for Baghdad to control the oil activity in the Kurdistan region, but to organise that activity and turn it into a real, clear, and transparent business activity”.
Iraq's 2021 budget — the 2022 budget cannot be passed before the new government is formed — says the Kurdish region must hand over 250,000 barrels per day of production to Baghdad in return for budget transfers, but the federal government says the Kurds have not met this obligation.
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Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
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Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biogs
Name: Zinah Madi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and links
Nationality: Syrian
Family: Married, Mother of Tala, 18, Sharif, 14, Kareem, 2
Favourite Quote: “There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.”
Name: Razan Nabulsi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and Links
Nationality: Jordanian
Family: Married, Mother of Yahya, 3.5
Favourite Quote: A Chinese proverb that says: “Be not afraid of moving slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
Rajasthan Royals 153-5 (17.5 ov)
Delhi Daredevils 60-4 (6 ov)
Rajasthan won by 10 runs (D/L method)
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
ATP WORLD No 1
2004 Roger Federer
2005 Roger Federer
2006 Roger Federer
2007 Roger Federer
2008 Rafael Nadal
2009 Roger Federer
2010 Rafael Nadal
2011 Novak Djokovic
2012 Novak Djokovic
2013 Rafael Nadal
2014 Novak Djokovic
2015 Novak Djokovic
2016 Andy Murray
2017 Rafael Nadal
2018 Novak Djokovic
2019 Rafael Nadal
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Tour de France
When: July 7-29
UAE Team Emirates:
Dan Martin, Alexander Kristoff, Darwin Atapuma, Marco Marcato, Kristijan Durasek, Oliviero Troia, Roberto Ferrari and Rory Sutherland
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THE DETAILS
Solo: A Star Wars Story
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Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
