Page 11 - MEOG Week 37 2022

MEOG NEWS IN BRIEF MEOG

POLICY a court ruling forcing its semi-autonomous sales escalated this summer after a Baghdad
Kurdistan region to hand over oil extracted commercial court annulled contracts between
Iran to construct refineries from its territories to federal authorities, the Kurdish government and foreign energy
companies. Officials in the KRG have
warning it risks “a widening kind of economic
in Venezuela and Uruguay crisis” in Iraq. slammed the decision and accused Baghdad
of playing politics over oil sales. The Kurdistan
“Washington is quite concerned - that
An Iranian lawmaker said on September 13 rushing forward and implementing this Democratic Party (KDP), the largest political
that Iran has plans to construct oil refineries decision risks driving US firms out of Iraq, party in Iraqi Kurdistan, is allied with Shia
in Venezuela and Uruguay, the semi-official other firms out of Iraq,” Barbara Leaf, the State leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
Tasnim News Agency reported. Department’s top Middle East diplomat, told Iraq has been locked in a political crisis
Mohammadreza Mir-Tajeddini, a member reporters on Wednesday. since Sadr emerged as the biggest winner in
of the Iranian Parliament’s planning and “[That] would be a terrible vote of no parliamentary elections last October.
budget Committee, said the refineries would confidence in the business environment Last month, the Green Zone in Baghdad
help Iran get around US sanctions that are in Iraq and, frankly, could produce wider was convulsed by violence as the cleric’s
in place in relation to Washington’s ongoing economic repercussions well beyond the supporters squared off against Iran-backed
attempts to block Iranian oil and petroleum Kurdish region of Iraq,” she added. militias.
product sales on world markets. Leaf said she shared US concerns with Besides irking Kurdish officials, the ruling
Feedstock would be shipped to the leaders in Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of has also unnerved energy majors and drawn
refineries, in which Iran would retain the Kurdish region, officially recognised as an the attention of US lawmakers.
shareholdings. Techno-engineering services autonomous region of Iraq since 2005, that In a letter sent to US Secretary of State
would be exported to the two South American following through on the court ruling would Antony Blinken in August, senators James
countries to assist in the building of the exacerbate the country’s economic woes at a Risch and Bob Menendez, the ranking
refineries, he added. time when it is already dealing with a political member and chairman of the Senate Foreign
Earlier this month, another Iranian crisis. Relations Committee, said “certain US
lawmaker, Ali-Akbar Alizadeh Bahrami, said The Kurdistan Regional Government companies” were being targeted by Baghdad’s
Iran might focus on completing unfinished (KRG) has for decades been developing its oil application of the law.
refineries in various countries abroad. There and gas resources independently of the federal “We urgently ask the administration to
is speculation that Iran would like to build at Iraqi government, passing its own oil law in engage the KRG and the Iraqi government
least one refinery in Syria. 2007 to administer control of resources in its at the highest levels to allow for continued
Analysts, meanwhile, have estimated that territory. energy work in the KRI [Kurdistan Region of
if Iran and the major powers could find an In February, Iraq’s federal court ruled that Iraq], which is integral to Iraq’s stability and
agreement to relaunch the 2015 nuclear deal, the KRG’s oil and gas law was unconstitutional prosperity, and to furthering Iraq’s energy
the reinstatement of which would lead to the and demanded that Kurdish authorities hand independence,” the lawmakers wrote.
lifting of US economic sanctions on Tehran, over their crude products. Leaf asked leaders in Erbil and Baghdad to
the Iranians could relatively quickly add While Leaf said the US took no legal enter into third-party negotiations or “some
around two million barrels of oil per day to position on the Iraqi court ruling, “pushing other such venue” to mediate the dispute,
world crude markets. forward right now in the midst of an ongoing which she said could occur simultaneously
NEWSBASE crisis over government formation simply with talks to form a government.
would risk a widening kind of economic The diplomat said the end result of talks
US diplomat warns ruling on crisis, and that is the last thing that the Iraqi should be a new hydrocarbons law which
“everyone agrees is long overdue and quite
public needs”.
oil’s risks to Iraq invalid, including agreements on exploration, necessary”.
The ruling declared all KRG oil contracts
The row over oil sales comes amid rising
The US has urged Baghdad not to implement extraction, export and sales. The row over oil energy prices that have been exacerbated by

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