BAGHDAD —
Iraq’s top court on Tuesday
ordered the autonomous Kurdistan region to deliver all oil produced there to
the federal government in Baghdad — a move that could reignite long-standing
tensions.
اضافة اعلان
A ruling by the federal Supreme Court stipulates
that the Kurdistan Regional Government deliver “the entire production of oil
fields in Kurdistan” to the federal government.
But Kurdish authorities are unlikely to comply with
the ruling, given years of disputes over Baghdad’s share of Kurdish petrol.
Iraq is the second-largest producer in the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The nearly 3.5
million barrels per day exported by the country account for more than 90
percent of Iraq’s income.
The court’s ruling, published on its website, also
called on the
Kurdish authorities to “review all oil contracts entered into by
Kurdistan for the export and sale of oil and gas”.
Iraq’s federal government has long called for all
oil exports in the country to go through it, having previously lashed out at
Turkey in 2012 and 2014 for its role in refining and re-exporting oil produced
in the Kurdistan region.
According to a deal struck between Baghdad and the
Kurdish capital
Erbil, the Kurdish region delivers 250,000 of its more than
400,000 barrels of oil per day to Baghdad, in return for its share of the
federal budget.
The share is used to pay the salaries of Kurdish
civil servants and peshmerga fighters.
The
Kurdistan region, which has been autonomous since 1991,
held a referendum on independence in 2017 that inflamed tensions with the
federal government.
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