Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain Shahristani said today that oil contracts signed by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) with foreign oil companies are not legally valid.
The comments come despite an initial agreement on Thursday between the central Iraqi oil ministry and the largely autonomous Kurdish authorities to allow exports from Kurdistan to Turkey. Norwegian oil company DNO has a concession with the KRG from which it hopes to start exports of 100,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of next year. But Shahristani said the revenues from oil produced anywhere in Iraq belonged to central government for redistribution around the country. "Those contracts have not been reviewed by the ministry of oil and have not been recognised by the federal government," he told Reuters ahead of tomorrow's Opec meeting. "The decision is that any oil that is produced in any part of the country has to be handed over to the federal government and the ministry of oil will export it. The revenues will go to the central budget for distribution inside the country."
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