#####Iraq says Turkey rejects Kurd export pipelines

Iraq, February 26, 2013
Turkey has told Iraq it will reject any extension of oil and gas pipelines from Kurdistan without the approval of the Baghdad government, Iraq's oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi was quoted as saying by the state media network on Monday.


Iraq's Arab-led central government and the Kurdistan regional government (KRG), run by ethnic Kurds, are in a long-running dispute over how to exploit the country's crude reserves and divide the revenues.


Baghdad says it alone has the authority to control export of the world's fourth largest oil reserves, while the Kurds say their right to do so is enshrined in Iraq's federal constitution, drawn up following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.


"Turkey has officially informed Iraq it rejects extending oil and gas export pipelines from the Kurdistan region to pass through Turkey without approval from federal government," the network quoted the minister as saying.


The Turkish energy ministry declined to comment on the statement.

Kurdistan's Minister for Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami said earlier this month the autonomous region was pressing ahead with plans to build its own oil export pipeline to Turkey, despite objections from the United States, which fears the project could lead to the break-up of Iraq.


Resource-hungry Turkey has heavily courted Iraqi Kurds, straining ties with the Iraqi central government.


Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki's media advisor Ali al-Moussawi said Turkey's rejection of the pipeline would help enhance bilateral relations between Ankara and Baghdad, which have deteriorated over the past year.


"The government welcomes Turkey's move, which will significantly help to stabilize the region and also strengthen relations between central government and Kurdish region,"" Ali al-Moussawi added.


Ankara has been locked in a war of words with Maliki, a Shi'ite, since December 2011, when he ordered the arrest of his Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who took refuge in Kurdistan before fleeing to Turkey.


GAS LICENSE DELAY

Iraqi Kurdistan halted oil exports through the Baghdad-controlled Iraq-Turkey pipeline in December in a dispute over payments to oil companies operating in the autonomous region.


In early January, Kurdistan began exporting crude oil directly to world markets through Turkey, further angering Baghdad, which threatened action against the region and foreign oil companies working there to stop "illegal" crude exports.


A broad energy partnership between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan ranging from exploration to export has been in the works since last year.


Amid uncertainty over the detail and timing of the deal, Turkey's energy watchdog EPDK on Friday again delayed a decision on whether to award a license for Turkish firm Siyah Kalem to import gas from Kurdistan.


Siyah Kalem had sought extra time from Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) for its application due to difficulties in reaching agreement with the northern Iraqi administration. It was given until the end of 2013.


Turkish officials initially indicated that they thought a purchase agreement signed with the KRG was legally sufficient to allow imports into Turkey. But officials later confirmed any such agreement would need to be approved by Baghdad.



http://www.iraqdailyjournal.com/story-z7163290

Turkey of Iraq's refusal to pipelines for transportation of oil and gas with Kurdistan without the approval of Baghdad



Monday, February 25, 2013 18:55

[Follow-up - where]

The Oil Ministry announced that Turkey had informed the federal Iraq that it rejects oil pipeline from Kurdistan without the approval of the central government.

Said Oil Minister Abdul Karim and coffee in a press statement on Monday that "Turkey informed Iraq that it would refuse to extend any pipelines for oil and gas from Kurdistan without the consent of the government in Baghdad."

The Kurdistan Regional Government announced on 2 February current reaches stages "advanced" in the launch of a project to extend the pipeline to transport crude oil to Turkey.

The minister said natural resources and wealth in the provincial government drastically in a press statement that "The Government of the Territory was determined to press ahead with the D pipeline to transport oil to Turkey without waiting for any settlement with the central government in Baghdad," adding that "preparations at an advanced stage for the launch of the project" adding that "the region does not require any license from Baghdad to allow him to set up infrastructure, including what the oil sector because the Constitution empowers him these powers."

He pointed out that "the Government of Kurdistan they prefer to work and coordination with the central government in the oil industry, but the lack of desire of the other party in the decision-making make it a difficult task."

Hawrami continued "that if we waited all this time what we could have signed up to a decade of contracts signed by fifty KRG with foreign companies operating in the region so far."

The Kurdistan Regional Government has allowed the company Genel Energy of Turkey in the beginning of the month of January last start selling oil directly from the field Taq Taq oil to Turkey, Baghdad considers illegal trade.

The company's chief executive has said that the Turkish "exports could rise to 20 thousand barrels a day during the week."

The crude oil trucking directly to Turkey after he was suspended exports from the Kurdistan region through the pipeline, which is run by the federal government between Iraq and Turkey as a result of the dispute between the center and the region because of central government payments to the oil companies operating in Kurdistan.

The Iraqi government insists it alone has the right to export crude oil and signing deals, while Kurdistan says that the constitution allows them to sign contracts and export oil away from Baghdad.

The odds between Baghdad and Erbil on 41 oil contracts signed by the provincial government since 2007 until now, and you see the central government in Baghdad that any oil contract must be with their consent, and refused Kurdistan recent draft of the oil and gas law approved by the Iraqi government and sent to the House of Representatives for approval, which strongly opposed by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The House of Representatives failed several times in the vote on the draft law of oil and gas wealth management, which regulates oil because of a dispute between the central government and the Kurdistan region. Ended.


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