ERBIL —
Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region has
rejected a ruling by the country’s top court ordering it to cede control over
all of its oil output to the federal government in Baghdad.
اضافة اعلان
Tuesday’s judgment by the federal supreme
court was the latest salvo in a years-old battle for control of the region’s
oil earnings.
“This decision by the federal supreme court
is unjust, unconstitutional, and violates the rights and constitutional
authorities of the
Kurdistan region,” the regional government said in a
statement late Tuesday.
“The Kurdistan regional government will not
forfeit the rights of the Kurdistan region as codified in the Iraqi
constitution, and will continue its attempts to reach a constitutional solution
with the federal government on this matter.”
Iraq’s federal government has fought to
regain control of output from oilfields in the Kurdistan region ever since its
autonomous government began marketing it independently more than a decade ago,
signing its own contracts with customers.
Ankara’s role in providing an export outlet
for the oil has triggered long-running tensions with
Baghdad.
Under the current deal between the federal
and regional governments, the Kurdish region delivers 250,000 barrels per day
(bpd) of its more than 400,000bpd output to Baghdad, in return for a share of
federal funds.
The money is used to pay the salaries of
Kurdish civil servants and peshmerga fighters.
Following
Daesh’s seizure of swathes of
northern and western Iraq in 2014, the Kurds took control of the lucrative oil
fields around Kirkuk.
But when they moved to hold a referendum on
independence in 2017, federal troops took most of them back in a major blow to
Kurdish revenues.
The Kurdish government promised clients their
contracts would be honored despite the latest legal tussle with Baghdad.
“The Kurdistan regional government will take
all constitutional, legal and judicial measures to protect and preserve all
contracts made in the oil and gas sector,” its statement said.
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