2013 Iraq Budget Iraq budget stalemate deepens over Kurd oil payments

[boomer113189]

2 - 27 - 2013

 

Feb 27 (Reuters) - An impasse over Iraq's budget
deepened on Wednesday after meetings between the country's oil
minister and his Kurdish counterpart failed to resolve a dispute
about payment for oil companies operating in the autonomous
north.

Iraq's cabinet approved the $118.6 billion budget in
October, but infighting between Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish
factions has scuttled attempts by lawmakers to pass the draft
legislation in parliament.

A Kurdish delegation headed by the region's minister for
natural resources, Ashti Hawrami, left Baghdad empty-handed on
Wednesday following "tense" meetings with Iraqi oil minister
Abdul Kareem Luabi that dragged on for around five hours.

The budget standoff is the latest sign of a long-running row
between the central government and the Kurdistan region over how
to exploit the world's fourth largest oil reserves and divide
the revenues.

Kurdistan says it is owed more than 4 trillion Iraqi dinars,
or $3.5 billion to cover the costs accumulated by oil companies
operating there over the past three years, but Baghdad rejects
those contracts as illegal and has allocated just 750 billion
Iraqi dinars ($644.33 million).

"Talks over oil company payments have reached a dead-end,"
said spokesman for the Kurdish parliamentary bloc Muayad
al-Tayeb, describing Baghdad's posture as a tactic to scare off
oil companies that have been tempted north by better security
and better contract terms.

"Oil companies need to be paid and we are not prepared to
bargain on payments," he added.

The deadlock could postpone major infrastructure projects
and payments to regional authorities in the OPEC producer, whose
state coffers are filled almost entirely by the proceeds of
crude exports.

A Shi'ite lawmaker from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's
State of Law coalition said the Kurds were not entitled to
compensation because they had not contributed their fair share
to national exports.

"They have been halting oil exports for months and now they
want payment: that's not acceptable," Abbas al-Bayati said.

Kurdish crude used to be shipped to world markets through a Baghdad-controlled pipeline to Turkey, but exports via that channel dried up last year as result of the payment row.

A year after the last U.S. troops withdrew, Iraq's economy
is improving and should grow 9 percent this year as oil
production expands, according to central bank projections.

However, it still needs investment in everything from
infrastructure to transport to rebuild the economy, and key oil
and investment laws languish in parliament because of political
turmoil.

"It's difficult to reach an agreement because Baghdad is
dealing with this as a political issue rather than a technical
one," said Kurdish lawmaker Farhad Atroshi.

http://goo.gl/RfXfp

Edited February 28, 2013 by Markinsa
Added Tag as a Prefix

[powerpager]

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[SgtFuryUSCZ]

***///

"REUTERS" --- illuminati spin machine.

trouble-maker rag sheet.....

They can't wait until their masters have them announce the next big war in the region.....

[gymrat76541]

"infighting between Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions"

What a shock. LOL

If they can just come together for 1 minute & agree I think they might get past the religion problem and become Iraq citizens.

[PA10]

 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God