The oil dispute puts Baghdad in front of “big” legal problems.. Billions of compensation for Erbil (details)

[yota691]

A shocking figure for Iraq's loss as a result of the region's oil.. an expert separates by numbers

• Time: 02/19/2022 22:31:44
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• Reading: 3,276 times

  

{Economic: Al-Furat News} The oil expert, Salah Al-Moussawi, revealed a shocking figure for Iraq's loss due to the export of oil from the Kurdistan region.

 

Moussawi said; For the {Unannounced} program, broadcast by Al-Furat satellite channel tonight, that: “After the Federal Court’s decision on the unconstitutionality of the oil and gas law of the Kurdistan Regional Government, it has proven that the work of the Ministry of Oil in the regional government is illegal, and Baghdad is supposed to refer it to the competent court after Iraq lost 100 billion dollars. due to the export of oil.
And he called for "to seize all the oil fields in the Kurdistan region."
Al-Moussawi added that "the region exports an annual value of 13 billion dollars of smuggled oil to neighboring countries, either through pipelines or tanks, and these are clear signs of corruption for the Ministry of Oil of the Region."
He continued, "The court's decision is not strange. We have been calling for this for 15 years, and the region has been practicing all kinds of financial and administrative corruption, just as Turkey practices political blackmail through worse than corporate contracts and considers itself the protector of the region."
Al-Moussawi said, "We have objections to the so-called service contracts (licensing rounds) that are full of errors, as for the Turkish company, it gets 80% of the imports of one of the region's fields."
Today, Tuesday, the Federal Supreme Court issued its decision on the unconstitutionality of the Oil and Gas Law of the Kurdistan Regional Government No. 22 of 2007 and its cancellation for violating the provisions of Articles {110, 111, 112, 115, 121 and 130} of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005. 
The court obligated the regional government to hand over all oil production from the fields oil in the Kurdistan region and other areas from which the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan government has extracted oil and handed it over to the federal government represented by the Federal Ministry of Oil, enabling it to use its constitutional powers regarding oil exploration, extraction and export. 
All political forces and parties, including the Kurdish parties, welcomed the decision of the Federal Court and described it as "bold and courageous", with the exception of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which he described as "politicised" by the head of the party, Massoud Barzani, who attacked the Federal Supreme Court's decision that the oil and gas law of the Kurdistan Regional Government was unconstitutional and cancel it.
Barzani said in a statement, that the decision of the Federal Supreme Court on the oil and gas of the Kurdistan region is a purely political decision, contrary to the Iraqi federal constitution, and its aim is to antagonize the Kurdistan region and the federal system in Iraq.
For his part, legal expert Ali Al-Tamimi revealed, last Thursday, the details of the Federal Court's decision to cancel the oil and gas law in the Kurdistan region and the fate of previous imports.
Al-Tamimi told Al-Furat News that this decision makes the oil and gas law in the region null and void for violating the constitutional provisions in accordance with Articles 110, 111, 112, 115, 122 and 130 of the constitution.
He pointed out that the law required the regional government to hand over oil imports retroactively from the date of concluding the contracts and to allow the Ministry of Oil and the Office of Financial Supervision to view these contracts. In the case of volumes, these funds will be deducted from the 17% allocated to the region.
And that the Federal Court was based on Article 111 of the Constitution that oil and gas belong to the Iraqi people, and therefore the management of oil and gas is from foreign trade and is within the jurisdiction of the central Iraqi government in accordance with Article 110 of the Constitution. It means that they are the productive, explored and developed fields according to the most acceptable interpretation, and not only the productive ones, as seen by the Kurdistan region.

[keylime]

Iraq finally paid them off, and now they are bringing down the hammer and taking back everything retroactively since 2007 and then charging them out of the 17 percent on future payments. In other words, they now owe Iraq. LOL!!!

We paid you, now you Pay us Oil Muckers!!

[yota691]

Statements from history

Al-Maliki discussed his idea.. The Iraqi-Jordanian oil pipeline project in the eyes of MPs 2012 (video)

2022.02.19 - 22:16

 

  

Baghdad - people  

Activists and electronic platforms republished statements by officials and parliamentarians, during the government of former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, regarding a project to extend an oil pipeline through Jordan with a capacity of one million barrels per day, in conjunction with the visit that al-Maliki paid to Jordan in 2012.   

  

 

In the video clip, the former representative of the State of Law coalition, Abbas Al-Bayati, appeared, saying: "There is a mutual need in laying oil pipelines, increasing oil exports and commercial exchanges...Jordan suffers from the inability to export its agricultural exports, so Iraq will be (transit). ) to export Jordanian goods to European countries, Turkey and Syria.  

  

  

In the same clip, former MP Haitham al-Jubouri spoke about the pipeline project, and stressed that "it has economic and political benefits, because the volume of trade exchange with Turkey amounted to $15 billion, and this did not bear fruit on the political level and in Iraqi-Turkish relations, so I see that we direct this exchange towards Jordan".  

  

[6ly410]

ERBIL — The Kurdistan Region will not give up on its rights granted by the Iraqi Constitution, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said while referring to a recent ruling by Iraqi Supreme Federal Court on Kurdistan oil industry. 

Speaking to reporters at the Munich Security Conference, PM Barzani reaffirmed Kurdistan Region’s commitment to defending the rights of its people in line with the Constitution. 

“We will not give up on our constitutional rights; we will take every necessary measure to prevent this injustice against the constitutional rights of the people of Kurdistan Region,” PM Barzani said, noting that he discussed the “politicized” decision of the Iraqi top court with world leaders in Munich. 

The Kurdish premier is in Germany for the third day where he attended the 58th Munich Security Conference, on the sideline of which he also met with several foreign leaders to discuss politics, economy, and security. 

“Despite the fact that the number of participants was limited this year due to the pandemic, we could hold several meetings and explain our opinion on the regional developments, especially those which are of greater importance for the Kurdistan Region,” he said. “I believe that the meetings will be fruitful, and we had great understanding with all the sides.” 

The prime minister is expected to leave Munich today as the conference will conclude. Prior to his trip to Germany, PM Barzani visited Qatar to meet with the Gulf state’s Emir and other top officials for discussions on closer economic and trade partnership. 

[yota691]

Al-Maliki's office reveals the truth of an agreement concluded between the latter and Kurdistan allowing it to export oil

19 February 2022 | 12:20

Fourth - Baghdad
The office of the head of the State of Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki, revealed today, Saturday, the truth of an agreement concluded between the latter and Kurdistan allowing it to export oil.

Al-Maliki's media office stated in a statement received by the fourth that " some social networking sites circulated a video clip of a fragmented speech of the late President Jalal Talabani, in which he refers to the existence of an agreement between the government of Nuri al-Maliki and the Kurdistan Regional Government, and under this agreement, the regional government allows the regional government to contract with companies to extract and export oil." Independent of the federal government in the event that the oil and gas law is not passed in Parliament until May of 2007."

He added: "In this context, we confirm that there is no agreement between the then federal government and the regional government, and what the late president made is a proposal submitted by the then-US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to get out of the crisis at that time. The proposal was rejected because the region is part of a country that has a law subject to it. Everyone has no right to disagree with him.”

[yota691]

POSTED ON2022-02-20 BY SOTALIRAQ

Legal expert: The Federal Court is “unconstitutional” to decide constitutional issues

Dr. Hauri Kamal, a legal expert and legal advisor to the Ministry of Finance and Economy in the Kurdistan Regional Government, confirmed the unconstitutionality of the Iraqi Federal Court, considering it a “disaster” for an unconstitutional court to rule on constitutional issues.

Dr. said. Hauri Kamal in an interview: “This court was established according to the order of (American Governor) Paul Bremer, then there was no constitution for the country and there was nothing to depend on it, and the Americans described themselves as (occupiers) in the United Nations, so their laws were called orders. According to Order No. 30 of 2005, the Federal Supreme Court Law was issued, specifically on March 17, 2005, and then on October 15, 2005, that is, seven months later, the constitution was put to a vote.

He added, "The constitution talks about a different composition of the Federal Court, and the current structure depends on the order of Paul Bremer, and consists of only 9 judges, but according to paragraph 2 of Article 92 of the Constitution, the court must consist of judges and jurists in the Islamic religion and jurists who are not judges, and with these components The three constitute the Federal Court. The constitution shows that the number of each component and the selection of members is in accordance with a law passed by a two-thirds majority in the Iraqi parliament.

He continued, "After the adoption of the constitution, and because of the differences between the political parties, it was unable to agree on the details of the Federal Court, so before 2021 a number of Federal Court judges retired, and according to the Federal Court Law, all members of the Court must be present and sign any decision even if They did not agree with the opinion, so the Iraqi parliament wanted in 2021 to establish the Federal Court Law under Article 92 of the Constitution, and was unable to do so,” and he added, “In this case, it would have created huge problems in Iraq, because the judicial power vacuum is a great challenge, because the ratification of The results of the elections, the interpretation of the constitution, and many other things are related to the Federal Court, so in 2021 they amended the old decision from the Bremer era, which created two constitutional breaches.”

He explained that “the first breach is that they amended the same law, appointed the nine judges, and did not add Islamic jurists and legal scholars. The second breach is that while the constitution states that they should vote on the law by two-thirds of the members of Parliament, the amendment of the law passes by a simple majority (50+1), which is a constitutional disaster, and now the Federal Court itself is unconstitutional, deciding on constitutional matters !».

He went on to say: “This matter automatically means canceling the old law, and here we will have 3 legal problems in front of the decisions taken by the current Federal Court:

Are all decisions of the Federal Court considered null after the Iraqi people approved the constitution in 2005?

Or are the decisions of the Federal Court considered null and void after the Iraqi parliament passed the court law in 2021?

- Or will the decisions of the Federal Court be canceled from the date of issuance of a new law?

He explained that «the three options are possible, but the first and the second are very difficult, because everything that took place in the political and administrative process in Iraq was based on the decisions of this court, and in the event that these decisions are canceled there will be a very large financial, administrative and economic destruction, so the best solution is After the formation of the new Federal Court, any unconstitutional decision issued by the old Federal Court shall be amended and corrected.

And about ways to solve the problem arising from the Federal Court’s decision regarding the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas, the legal expert pointed out that “the issue is very complex and there is a great overlap in it between a set of law and issues.”

He pointed out that «part of the responsibility for the problem lies with the Federal Court, because it occurred in what is known as (judicial procrastination), that is, the Federal Court had to decide on the issue and issue the decision on its required date, without delay so that the origin of the issue is complicated, as the delay of the decision He had many administrative and financial consequences, and without urgency, so that you could study the subject adequately.”

He pointed out that «there is part of the responsibility on the shoulders of the federal government, because it did not inform the Kurdistan Region of its objection to the matter».

[6ly410]

Al-Jubouri: The budget includes a binding paragraph on the federal decision on Kurdistan oil

https://almaalomah-me.translate.goog/2022/02/20/583309/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

2022/02/20 | 2:12 pm

 

Information/Baghdad..
The former head of the Parliamentary Finance Committee Haitham al-Jubouri revealed, on Sunday, the existence of a binding paragraph within the 2022 budget regarding the implementation of the federal decision on Kurdistan oil, indicating that not adding the paragraph means the absence of the budget.
Al-Jubouri said in a televised interview, which was followed by / the information /, that "the 2022 budget contains a paragraph binding on the government and parliament, which is a signal to implement the Federal Court's decision regarding the oil of the Kurdistan region."
He added, "The prime minister is the one who must implement the court's decision regarding the region's wealth, and if the budget is sent to vote without a clear indication of the court's decision, Parliament cannot approve it."
Al-Jubouri pointed out that "not to add such a paragraph, it is the right of any citizen to challenge the legality of the budget before the federal government to add the paragraph without discussion and oblige the next federal government to implement it." Done/ 25 d

[6ly410]

 

Barzani and Al-Shabandar discuss the challenges facing the constitutional steps

https://iraqakhbar-com.translate.goog/3491882?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

 

news source /change channel

 

News source / change channel

Today, Sunday, President Masoud Barzani received Iraqi politician Izzat Shabandar, where the two sides exchanged views on the Iraqi political process.

According to a statement issued by Barzani's headquarters, President Barzani and Shabandar exchanged "views on the Iraqi political process and the challenges facing the constitutional steps taken after the first session of the Iraqi Parliament."

This meeting comes as the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court, in a decision issued last week, described the oil and gas law in the Kurdistan Region as “unconstitutional” and obligated the Kurdistan Regional Government to hand over the oil file to the federal government and the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.

In this context, President Masoud Barzani described the Federal Supreme Court's decision as "a purely political decision, in opposition to the Iraqi federal constitution and aimed at antagonizing the Kurdistan Region and the federal system in Iraq

[6ly410]

 

The political, legal and financial consequences of the post-historic Federal Supreme Court decision ⁄ the third part

Posted 42 seconds ago

https://iraqakhbar-com.translate.goog/3491991?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

news source /news

 

news source / news

In the first and second parts, we had explained the importance of the decision of the Federal Supreme Court ruling in Case (59/Federal/2012) related to the Kurdistan region’s oil file, and we said that the importance of this decision from the political and economic point of view is at the level of the oil nationalization decision in 1972, and we explained with evidence and logic the validity of this decision Which is the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Court, and we have also clarified the constitutional and legal foundations on which the Federal Supreme Court relied in issuing its historic decision.. It is natural that this historic decision will have political, legal and financial consequences that will draw a new map for the relationship between the center and the region. He set a new legal path for this relationship, so what is before the decision is not after the decision.. If the previous relationship between the center and the region was based on the principle that Kurdistan’s oil and wealth are for Kurdistan only and that Iraq’s oil and wealth are for Kurdistan and the Iraqis as a partnership,The historic decision of the Federal Court has made Iraq’s oil in all the regions and governorates the property of the common people of Iraq with its Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and other components based on the Iraqi constitution, which made oil and gas in all regions and governorates the property of the Iraqi people..  

 

And it returns in the second year and hands over the Iraqi people’s money to the region again, and so every year. These governments are complicit governments with those who steal the Iraqi people’s money, and the deficit has reached these governments even from asking the region’s government about the fate of the exported oil money, how much is it and in what account is it deposited? ? .. Perhaps the most prime ministers who colluded with the regional government and squandered the money of the Iraqi people are the current and former prime ministers.. This does not mean that the prime ministers who preceded them did not waste the wealth and money of the Iraqi people too..

 

At the conclusion of this article, I advise the regional government, for the mercy of our Iraqi Kurdish people, to respect the decision of the Federal Supreme Court, which is a fair and just decision for the Kurds before other Iraqis. They are equal in rights and duties. The regional government must only submit to the decision of the Federal Supreme Court, like Basra, which produces nearly five million barrels of oil and delivers all its produced oil to the Federal Ministry of Oil. It is neither fair nor unfair for the Kurdistan Regional Government to take its full share of the federal budget and refrain from handing over its oil and other financial resources to the federal government.   

 

Heavenly hands

On February 20 2022

[6ly410]

SULAIMANI — The Nalia Center for Public Policy held a forum on Monday (February 21) attended by officials, members of parliament and economic experts to discuss the outcome of the recent decision from the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court on the Kurdistan Region’s independent oil sales. 

Mala Bakhtiyar, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) High Political Council, said during the forum that Iraq and the Kurdistan Region were in the early stages of democracy. 

"There is a risk that the federal government is trying to shrink the entity of the Kurdistan Region and the fate of the Region is in danger,” Bakhtiyar said. 

Omar Gulpi, an MP from the Kurdistan Justice Group (Komal) faction in Kurdistan’s Parliament, said the government was only strong when supported by the people but warned there was a growing gap between the authorities and the people, with a small group living a "royal life in the Region.”

"No matter if the oil is sold for $30 or $80 [a barrel], the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources gives the same income to the Ministry of Finance,” Gulpi said. 

Dr. Muthanna Amin, an MP from the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) faction, said the Iraqi federal court’s decision was a matter of concern, stating the KRG has an opportunity to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government and resolve the problems with oil sales. 

"The federal court’s decision should be respected because it cannot be tainted and the constitution states that Iraq’s oil belongs to all Iraqis, wherever it is,” Amin said. 

Dana Jaza, a former MP from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said the KDP believes the sale of oil and natural gas should be transparent, adding the party should not avoid the responsibility, and the same was true for the Region’s other parties. 

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruled on February 15 that the KRG’s law on the independent sale of the Region’s oil and natural gas was against the constitution. The state-owned Iraqi News Agency (INA) said the court has asked the KRG to transfer the management of oil and gas sales to the federal government. 

Masoud Barzani, the leader of the KDP, stated the ruling was completely political and Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said the decision stemmed from a law from Iraq’s former regime. 

(NRT Digital Media)

 

 

 

 

 

[6ly410]

 

A statement of the relationship of the "Alawite" with the constitution and the decision to prevent Kurdistan from extracting and exporting oil

Posted 13 seconds ago

https://iraqakhbar-com.translate.goog/3493549?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

news sourceBaghdad today

 

News source / Baghdad today

Baghdad today - Report: Mahmoud Al-Mufraji Al-Husseini

The Federal Court dealt a strong blow to the Kurdistan region, by declaring the oil and gas law unconstitutional in the region, which provoked the region, whose parliament responded after the decision selectively and as a means to demolish the federal foundations. According to him .

The Federal Supreme Court of Iraq, earlier, issued a ruling ruling that the oil and gas law of the Kurdistan Regional Government, issued in 2007, was unconstitutional, and rescinded it for violating the provisions of constitutional articles, as well as obligating the region to hand over oil production to the federal government .

The court statement, published on its website, said that the decision included obligating the regional government to hand over “the entire oil production from the oil fields in the region and other areas, from which the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government used to extract oil, and hand it over to the federal government represented by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, And enabling it to use its constitutional powers regarding oil exploration, extraction and export.”

The region’s parliament responded in a statement received by (Baghdad Today) a copy of it, and said, “The federal Iraqi state as stated in Article 3 of the permanent Iraqi constitution for the year 2005, the state of Iraq belongs to all Iraqis of all nationalities, religions and sects, and federalism in its basic and real meaning is the division of powers, Including the authority to manage the financial and natural resources between the federal authorities and the regions, and the federation of multiple components based on basic principles such as autonomy, partnership, constitutional budget, cooperation, and broad political decentralization.

He added that "at a time when the Iraqi constitution was built on the basis of defining the federal authorities, and this requires interpreting the texts towards observing justice and preserving the principles of federalism and equality, without curtailing the legitimate institutions of the regions, and placing many of the unconstitutionality of our authorities."

The parliament clarified in its statement that “any unbalanced interaction in the application of authorities and selective treatment with the provisions of the constitution is a means to destroy the federal foundations, and the consequences and results of that in the end do not serve the country and the rights and interests of citizens,” noting that “the Kurdistan region took the initiative and defended the consolidation of the federal system.” In Iraq, and work to continue to install it, because the experience of individuals with authority and centralization created tragedies for the peoples of Iraq previously.”

He continued: “The decision of the Iraqi Federal Court dated 2/15/2022 regarding the authorities of managing oil and natural resources in Iraq is inconsistent and does not comply with the foundations of the federal system and the provisions of the Iraqi constitution. and citizenship rights.

The statement indicated that “the Kurdistan Parliament is the authority to legislate in the region, according to Article (117/first paragraph) of the permanent Iraqi constitution, and this is a recognized matter, as it has the right to legislate laws according to Article (121) of the Constitution, and accordingly, the legislation of Law No. (22) ) for the year 2007 by the Kurdistan Parliament in parallel with the Iraqi constitution, and within the framework of the constitutional characteristics of the Kurdistan region, and therefore the cancellation of this law and calling it unconstitutional by the Federal Court is inconsistent with the permanent constitution of Iraq.”

And he added that with a previous decision of the court itself, for the following reasons :

1 - The Iraqi constitution in Article 110 did not limit in any way the authority to manage natural resources - including oil and gas - to the authorities of the federal government. Rather, Article (112 / first paragraph) of the Constitution confirms that the management of oil and gas is one of the common authorities between the federal government. And the regions, which belong to the fields managed by the regional government before writing the permanent Iraqi constitution in 2005 .

2 - The Federal Court’s decision contradicts a previous decision, which is Resolution No. (8) of 2012, which confirms the participation of the region and the oil-producing governorates in formulating the strategic policy for oil and natural resources .

3 - The legislation of Law No. 22 of 2007 for the Kurdistan region came as a result of the feeling of despair that the Iraqi Council of Representatives did not legislate the federal oil and gas law, and due to the absence of such an important federal law, some laws were enacted during the era of the former regime, and they are laws that were drafted The idea of centralization, and it does not comply with the constitutional foundations in the management of oil and natural resources, including Law No. 101 of 1976 and Law No. 84 of 1985, which the Federal Court relied on in its decision .

4 - Article (111) of the Constitution affirms that the ownership of oil and gas belongs to all the peoples of Iraq, and that the Kurdistan Region, in light of the commitment to this basis of Article (3) of Law (22) of 2007, confirmed full compliance with that, and for this reason it restored the rate of proceeds from the oil sold And, specified in the Federal Budget Law, to the federal government, and then give the Kurdistan region’s share of the clearing .

5 - When the Kurdistan Parliament in 2007 issued Law No. 22 of Oil and Gas, the federal government dealt with the consequences of its legislation, and this was reflected in the last law on the federal budget, as Article (11) of it emphasized the necessity of such coordination .

For his part, MP Mahma Khalil Ali Agha, from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, considered that the Federal Court’s decision, that the oil and gas law in the region is unconstitutional, is an unconstitutional decision of a political nature, and does not conform to the spirit and provisions of the federal system, and that it is an attempt to empty the constitution. From its content and targeting of administrative decentralization.

In a statement, he said, "This (unarmed aggressive) decision targets the government and people of the region and its federal system in the Iraqi state, calling for it to be reversed, after studying all its political, economic and security aspects and distributing the sources of power and wealth in the future."

He added, "The decision has a more political aspect and legal aspects, and it contradicts the agreement signed and concluded in previous years, between the governments of the region and the center, which stipulates that the two governments continue to develop oil and gas fields until the legislation of the federal oil and gas law."

He explained, "The draft law was prepared in February 2007 by agreement between the two parties, but the law was not passed in the Iraqi parliament due to the fundamental changes that occurred to it by the federal government, which are not consistent with the constitution and the agreed texts."

He stressed, "The Kurdistan Regional Government's application of the federal constitution and that it is committed to it, but the Federal Court tried to empty the constitution of its content, referring to Article 117, which states that the Kurdistan Region is a federal region with its existing powers, and Article 112/Second, which states that the regional government draws up Strategies necessary to develop oil and gas wealth based on the latest technologies for the principle of the market and encourage investment.

He added, "The region practices its behavior in accordance with the federal constitutional custom, while the Federal Court deals according to the abhorrent central systems that ate and drank out of time."

He continued, "The constitutional legislators legislated the constitution in two ways to address the problems of the past, and not to repeat them in the present, and this represents the region's approach to preventing past mistakes and not recurring them, and not allowing the bad monopoly of power and resources for the center, which is the basis of Iraq's problems in the past."

He pointed out, “The supreme provisions of the Constitution are laws and decisions, and this is what Article 141 of the Constitution indicated, which recognizes by text and law, that the regional government continues to work with the laws that it has enacted, since 1992, and they remain in effect unless they are amended or canceled according to the laws of The region was approved by the competent authorities in it, so the region legislated the oil and gas law under its constitutional powers, and encouraged investment, using techniques and market principles in accordance with a strategy necessary for the spirit of the Iraqi constitution and achieving the supreme benefit of the country.

And he stated, “Article 115 indicates that if there are no exclusive powers, then the joint powers, whether joint or non-exclusive, all give the region’s authorities the right to exercise their powers and tasks to advance the economic, service and security reality of citizens in the region and Iraq in general, and this is what the region has proven in previous years.”

However, legal experts, today, Wednesday, about the possibility that the government, after the Federal Court declared the oil and gas law unconstitutional in the region, to demand compensation as a result of the damage caused by the sale and export of oil for long periods .

And the legal expert, Counselor Salem Hawass, asked in a press statement received by (Baghdad Today): Does the central federal government have the resolve and determination, after this decision, to demand compensation for the damage it sustained as a result of selling and exporting oil during this long period ?

He stated, "The court decided to oblige the Kurdistan Regional Government to enable the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau to review all oil contracts concluded with the Kurdistan Regional Government regarding the export and sale of oil and gas for the purpose of auditing and determining the financial rights owed by the Kurdistan Regional Government as a result of it. "

He explained, "The region's share of the general budget is determined in a manner that guarantees the delivery of the rights of the citizens of the governorates of the Kurdistan region from the federal general budget and not to delay it and notify the federal government and the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau of that."

He pointed out, "The Federal Supreme Court issued its decision in Case 59 / Federal / 2012 and its unified 110 / Federal / 2019 on 15/2/2022 containing the ruling that the Oil and Gas Law of the Kurdistan Regional Government No. 22 of 2007 is unconstitutional and its cancellation for violating the provisions of Articles (110). and 111, 112, 115, 121 and 130) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005.

He added, "The court decided to obligate the regional government to hand over the entire oil production from the oil fields in the Kurdistan region and other areas from which the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government extracted oil and handed it over to the federal government represented by the Federal Ministry of Oil and enabling it to use its constitutional powers regarding oil exploration and extraction. and exported.”

And he continued, "The court decided, in its judgment paragraph, that the Ministry of Oil has the right to follow up on the invalidity of the oil contracts concluded by the Kurdistan Regional Government with foreign parties, countries and companies regarding oil exploration, extraction, export and sale

[bkeiller]

On 2/20/2022 at 9:03 AM, yota691 said:

Al-Maliki's office reveals the truth of an agreement concluded between the latter and Kurdistan allowing it to export oil

19 February 2022 | 12:20

Fourth - Baghdad
The office of the head of the State of Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki, revealed today, Saturday, the truth of an agreement concluded between the latter and Kurdistan allowing it to export oil.

Al-Maliki's media office stated in a statement received by the fourth that " some social networking sites circulated a video clip of a fragmented speech of the late President Jalal Talabani, in which he refers to the existence of an agreement between the government of Nuri al-Maliki and the Kurdistan Regional Government, and under this agreement, the regional government allows the regional government to contract with companies to extract and export oil." Independent of the federal government in the event that the oil and gas law is not passed in Parliament until May of 2007."

He added: "In this context, we confirm that there is no agreement between the then federal government and the regional government, and what the late president made is a proposal submitted by the then-US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to get out of the crisis at that time. The proposal was rejected because the region is part of a country that has a law subject to it. Everyone has no right to disagree with him.”

 

I wonder what Maliki's cut was on that deal?

[yota691]

The new generation proposes the "only" solution to end the oil and gas dispute between Baghdad and Erbil

• Time: 02/21/2022 19:17:54
•  
• Reading: 1,755 times

  

{Politics: Al Furat News} The head of the New Generation Movement, Shaswar Abdul Wahed, called on Monday, Baghdad and Erbil, to discuss the oil and gas law at a dialogue table.

 

Abdul Wahed said, in a tweet on {Twitter} that: "The only solution for Baghdad and Erbil is to reach an agreement on the legislation of the oil and gas law to distribute wealth equitably to all Iraqis and under impartial supervision and control."

[currenzcraze]

Erdogan not giving up on gas from Iraqi Kurdistan

Erdogan appears bent on advancing energy deals with Iraqi Kurdistan, even as a gas project remains bogged down by legal, technical and financial snags.

SAFIN HAMED/AFP via Getty Images

Fehim Tastekin

@fehimtastekin

Oil and gas

February 22, 2022 — 

The Iraqi Supreme Court’s Feb. 15 ruling that proclaimed Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil and gas law unconstitutional has cast a shadow on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s hopes to buy gas from the autonomous region, coming atop an arbitration case over Ankara’s oil trade with the Iraqi Kurds that bypasses Baghdad. Counting on his political and economic leverage, Erdogan might ignore the court ruling, just as he has maintained the oil trade, ignoring the prospect of Baghdad winning the arbitration case. Yet the gas project faces financial and technical snags that Erdogan could hardly ignore.

Turkey’s access to Kurdistan’s energy resources dates back to the days when the United States prepared to invade Iraq and the Iraqi Kurds sought out energy investors, convinced that Saddam Hussein’s rule would be over soon. During a trip to Ankara in March 2002, Jalal Talabani, the late Iraqi Kurdish leader who at the time headed the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, met with Mehmet Sepil, the owner of Turkish construction company Epik. Sepil, whose experience was limited to construction projects at US and NATO bases, was caught off guard when Talabani offered him the development of the Taq Taq oil field, predicting big profits for early investors. Sepil partnered with Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, the owner of Turkey’s Cukurova Holding, to set up Genel Energy, which soon commenced operations at Taq Taq under a production-sharing contract. 

Genel Energy expanded its operations to many other fields in the ensuing years, forming consortiums with Dana Gas of the United Arab Emirates, Austria’s OMV, Norway’s DNO ASA and Turkey’s Petoil, before merging with Vallares, a London-based investment company, in 2011.

Meanwhile, Iraq adopted a new constitution in 2005, followed by an oil and gas law two years later. Iraqi Kurdistan promulgated its own oil and gas law in 2007. The federal legislation stipulated that Baghdad should manage oil resources together with regional governments and provinces. Oil and gas extracted in Kurdistan was to be sold via Iraq’s state-owned company, SOMO, and Kurdistan was to receive 17% of the federal budget. But things unfolded otherwise on the ground.

Defying objections, Kurdistan awarded contracts to foreign companies and, in 2009, launched oil exports from the Taq Taq and Tawke fields. In 2012, a 1974 oil deal between Ankara and Baghdad expired, and Erdogan — at odds with Iraq’s then-premier Nouri al-Maliki — struck a 50-year energy deal with Erbil the following year. Under the deal, the Turkish Energy Company received licenses for 12 exploration blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan. It was a remarkable shift on the part of Ankara, which only several years before had rejected the involvement of Kurdish gas in a planned pipeline to Europe on the grounds it would help Kurdistan pursue independence. 

The Ankara-Erbil deal involved the construction of a new pipeline in Iraqi Kurdistan to bypass the Iraqi section of an existing pipeline from Kirkuk to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, as well as the construction of a gas conduit from the Miran and Bina Bawi gas fields to the Turkish border. The oil pipeline was quickly completed and became operational in 2014. Meanwhile, Powertrans, a company allegedly linked to Erdogan’s son-in-law Berat Albayrak, transported crude from Iraqi Kurdistan by land. Busy truck traffic from 2009 to 2013 saw up to 500 vehicles loading oil per day. The Kurdish crude was carried to Ceyhan and then sold to Israel and some murky companies. It made its way also to Turkey’s largest refiner, TUPRAS, in Kirikkale.

But unlike the flourishing oil activities, gas projects in Kurdistan have faltered.

The gas from the Khor Mor and Chamchamal fields, extracted by Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas, goes to power plants in the region, as export-oriented investments remain insufficient. Turkey’s state pipeline operator, BOTAS, has extended its pipe network to the border, while a 180-kilometer (112-mile) conduit has yet to be built on Kurdistan’s side as part of the initial plans to export 20 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Arif Akturk, the former director of Genel Energy’s gas project in Kurdistan, told Al-Monitor that a combination of political, financial and technical factors had led Turkey, a prospective buyer of gas from the Miran and Bina Bawi fields, to gear down. 

First, Iraq lodged an arbitration case against BOTAS in 2014 over Kurdistan’s unilateral oil shipments to Turkey — a move that deterred investors and financiers. 

The arbitration tribunal is expected to order Turkey to pay up to $25 billion in compensation to Iraq. Yet BOTAS’ deal with the Iraqi Kurds contains a little-known provision that the liability of any legal sanctions arising from the oil trade will be transferred to the Kurdistan administration. According to Akturk, Ankara would refuse to pay any penalty and pass the bill to Erbil instead. Erbil, for its part, appears incapable of paying such a sum. A compensation showdown between the three parties might strain Turkey’s ties with Iraq and rekindle independence ambitions in Kurdistan.

Second, Kurdistan’s independence referendum in 2017 caused some reluctance on energy projects in Ankara.

Third, Akturk drew attention to technical and financial snags. The high sulfur content of Kurdistan’s gas, he explained, requires additional processing and is a thorn in the project’s side. Sulfur has a market value as a raw material for the fertilizer industry, but the mountains of sulfur granules that emerge from the desulfurization process require prompt removal to prevent them from mixing with rain and transforming to sulfuric acid with toxic impacts on the environment. Railway transport is seen as the most convenient way to carry the sulfur to fertilizer industries or export outlets. In other words, sulfur kills gas projects unless a proper processing facility and other infrastructure are built. 

A processing facility cost $4.5 billion in 2018, according to Akturk. Preliminary work with a Chinese company before the independence referendum failed to ripen into a deal. Genel Energy, which has invested more than $1 billion in Miran and Bina Bawi, suggested prioritizing oil extraction at different levels underground and returning to the gas project afterward should the conditions improve, but Erbil refused, wary of discouraging gas investors. In December, Genel Energy announced it was starting arbitration for “substantial claims” against Erbil after the latter refused to separate oil and gas projects and terminated the company’s production sharing contracts.   

According to Akturk, pipeline construction is a relatively easy task that could be completed in about a year and a half for $350 million on flat terrain.

Pointing to another snag, he said Turkey needs to give a purchase guarantee through an intergovernmental agreement or no lender would be willing to finance the project. While oil could be sold even on the backs of mules, the gas industry requires more integrated investments, distribution and sales guarantees. “The gas processing plant requires about $4.5 billion and the wells $2.5 billion. No one in the industry can finance this with equity capital,” Akturk said. “For the processing plant, in particular, one needs to knock on the door of financiers, and they would want to see a purchase guarantee agreement. A transportation agreement is not enough,” he added.

In another deterrent factor here, the Ankara-Erbil partnership has lacked transparency and supervision.

Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Board has licensed Siyah Kalem, a company with zero experience in the sector, to import gas from Iraqi Kurdistan. It has granted a similar license to Cengiz Holding, a business group close to the government, in light of the needs of its power plant and fertilizer factory. Both companies have failed to achieve anything.

But despite the many handicaps, Erdogan’s interest in Kurdish gas appears to have reawakened. Why?

On Feb. 2, Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), traveled to Ankara to discuss the issue with Erdogan. The meeting followed Iran’s 10-day cut of gas supplies to Turkey. Several days later, Ali Hama Salih, the head of the energy commission in Kurdistan’s parliament, said a gas pipeline to Turkey would become operational in 2025. Then, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani discussed Kurdistan’s gas potential and regional energy cooperation with Qatar’s energy minister, signaling some potential quest on the Erbil-Ankara-Doha triangle. 

Meanwhile, Erbil concluded a deal with KAR Group in December to build a pipeline from the Khor Mor field to Erbil and from there to Dahuk. The conduit is intended to serve domestic needs, but once it reaches the power plant in Dahuk, the remaining distance to the Turkish border would be only 35 kilometers (22 miles). 

According to Akturk, Qatar is unlikely to step up to the plate and the Kurdish gas is unlikely to become an alternative to Iranian supplies for Turkey, though it would help diversification.

The coalition bickering in Baghdad and Iranian influence might have had a role in the Iraqi court ruling, but Kurdistan’s unilateral energy deals have clearly faced an extensive front of objections. A key question now is whether Erdogan will insist on the Kurdish gas despite the court ruling. The arbitration case has not deterred Ankara from the oil trade. Counting on Turkey’s clout, Erdogan may be hoping to untangle the gas knot after the Iraqi government is formed. After all, “It'll be alright on the night” is an approach he has often employed.

[6ly410]

02/21/2022 18:36

The new generation proposes a solution to end the oil dispute between Baghdad and Erbil

https://almasalah-com.translate.goog/ar/news/222545/الجيل-الجديد-يطرح-الحل-لانهاء-خلاف-النفط-بين-بغداد-وأربيل?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

Baghdad / Obelisk: The head of the New Generation Movement, Shaswar Abdul Wahed, wrote..

 

[tigergorzow]

16 hours ago, yota691 said:

The new generation proposes the "only" solution to end the oil and gas dispute between Baghdad and Erbil

• Time: 02/21/2022 19:17:54
•  
• Reading: 1,755 times

  

{Politics: Al Furat News} The head of the New Generation Movement, Shaswar Abdul Wahed, called on Monday, Baghdad and Erbil, to discuss the oil and gas law at a dialogue table.

 

Abdul Wahed said, in a tweet on {Twitter} that: "The only solution for Baghdad and Erbil is to reach an agreement on the legislation of the oil and gas law to distribute wealth equitably to all Iraqis and under impartial supervision and control."

Yota Thanks,  Excellent news git er done boys & girls...🙏🙏👍👍.

 

GO RV / RI

[horsesoldier]

Hmm here's a solution ... fracking pass the damn thing____since 2011, what a fracking joke this has become.

 

[WheresmyRV?]

2 hours ago, horsesoldier said:

Hmm here's a solution ... fracking pass the damn thing____since 2011, what a fracking joke this has become.

 

Politics and greed is holding up the ever elusive HCL.  You think after all this time they would have passed it but nope.  

[boosterbglee]

I think they’re education system has been a failure for longer than we know considering how they currently operate their parliament and decision making processes!

[yota691]

 

Minister in the Government of the Territory: The Federal Court's decision aims to undermine the experience of Kurdistan, and we will not abide by it

 

 2022-02-27 02:26

 

Shafaq News/ The Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs in Kurdistan Region, Pishtwan Sadiq, said on Sunday that the regional government will not abide by the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (the highest judicial authority in Iraq) stating that the oil and gas law of the regional government is unconstitutional, considering this decision aims to undermine the region's experience. .

In his speech today, amid a gathering of clerics in Erbil, Sadiq said, "We in the Kurdistan Region have an experience that was founded on blood and strenuous efforts, and that this experience is a dream that haunts the rest of the greater parts of Kurdistan, and it is the future of our children, so preserving and developing it and making observations to evaluate it is all our responsibility." .

And on the recent decision of the Federal Court on the oil and gas law in the region, the minister said that the court should have preserved the rights of the region and not the other way around.

Sadiq also pointed out that there are efforts to undermine and eliminate the experience of the Kurdistan Region through such decisions, and there are those who want to come to the region and rule it as in the past.

He added that those who rejoice at such decisions, I tell them they have seen Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, what happened to it? How is the security situation there? He added, "After another 500 years, Mosul will not be like Erbil."

The minister stressed, "We will not comply in any way with the decisions of the Federal Court, that the experience of the Kurdistan Region will not be undermined so easily."

 

On Tuesday (February 15, 2022) the Federal Court issued a decision that the oil and gas law of the Kurdistan Regional Government was unconstitutional, with its obligation to hand over all oil production from oil fields in the region and other areas from which the Kurdistan Ministry of Natural Resources extracted oil and handed it over to the federal government represented by the Federal Ministry of Oil And enabling it to use its constitutional powers regarding oil exploration, extraction and export.

The President of Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, described the decision as "unconstitutional" and was based on a law of the time of the former regime, and stressed the regional government that "such an unconstitutional decision cannot be accepted."

The Kurdistan Regional Government considered the decision of the Federal Court on the oil and gas law in the region, on Tuesday, as "unconstitutional", stressing that it cannot be accepted.

And the Kurdistan Region began to sell its oil in isolation from the federal government, after a stifling financial crisis as a result of the collapse of oil prices during the ISIS invasion of areas in Iraq, in addition to the disputes with Baghdad that prompted the latter to stop paying the salaries of the region’s employees.

Baghdad says its national oil company, SOMO, is the only one authorized to sell Iraqi crude oil, but each side claims the constitution is on its side. Since the Iraqi oil and gas law remained imprisoned in the drafting stage due to differences, there was room for maneuver.

The oil file is one of the most prominent outstanding issues between Baghdad and Erbil.

Baghdad used to pay 453 billion Iraqi dinars per month (about $380 million) as salaries to the employees of the Kurdistan Region, but it stopped them after the region conducted the independence referendum on its part, and because of what Baghdad said that the region was not committed to handing over its oil in accordance with the terms of the federal budget.

After several rounds of political negotiations, the region was obligated, according to an agreement with the government in Baghdad, to hand over 250 thousand crude barrels per day of crude oil produced from its fields to the state-owned company SOMO, and hand over the revenues to the federal public treasury.

[yota691]

 

Territory Government: We will continue negotiations with the federal government to resolve the oil and gas issue

 

 2022-02-27 05:11

 

Shafaq News/ The Minister of Parliament for Parliament Affairs, Vala Farid, said on Sunday that the regional government will continue negotiations and dialogues with the federal government to find a solution on the oil and gas issue after the decision of the Federal Supreme Court.

Farid headed a delegation of the regional government, which met with the heads of the political blocs in the Kurdistan Parliament to discuss the issue of the Federal Court's decision to cancel the oil and gas law in the region.

After the meeting, the minister said in a statement to reporters, "We were unanimously agreed that the decision is political and in violation of the articles and paragraphs of the Iraqi constitution," stressing that "the regional government will continue negotiations and dialogues with Baghdad to address these problems."

She added, "The Kurdistan Parliament as a legislative body, and all institutions in the region will have the final say on this matter."

[6ly410]

ERBIL — The four main presidencies of the Kurdistan Region will meet on Monday to discuss the ruling by Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court on constitutionality of Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) oil industry. 

The Kurdistan Region presidency, parliament, judicial council, and government will attend the meeting tomorrow to discuss the ruling and respond to the federal court, said Dilshad Shahab, a senior advisor to Kurdistan Region president. 

The court earlier this month decided KRG’s oil exploration, extraction, and exports in accordance with its oil and gas law were “unconstitutional”, a decision that was widely denounced by the Kurdistan Region. 

KRG soon reacted to the ruling and described it as an “unjust and unconstitutional” decision that threatened the principles of federalism while violating the rights of the Kurdistan Region granted by the Iraqi constitution. 

[yota691]

Disclosure of the content of the discussions of the presidencies in the Kurdistan region regarding the decision of the Federal Court

2022.02.28 - 15:19

 

  

Baghdad - people   

Hemin Hawrami, Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament, said on Monday that a meeting of the presidencies in the region was held with the aim of studying the Federal Court's decision regarding Kurdistan's oil and formulating a legal vision to deal with it.  

  

 

  

Hawrami added, in press statements translated by "Nas Kord" (February 28, 2022), that "the meeting of the presidencies of the Kurdistan region, the regional government, the Kurdistan Parliament and the judiciary aims to reassure the oil companies operating in the Kurdistan region that signed contracts with legal guarantees contained in the constitution and previous decisions of the Federal Court." Budget laws and agreements between the federal and regional governments.  

  

Hawrami added that "there has not occurred in the history of the Federal Court to reject a law issued in bulk, as it did with the oil and gas law for the Kurdistan region, and what happened at this time was at the political instigation and as a unilateral constitutional amendment of clear constitutional articles that stipulate the powers of the regions in the areas of legislation and participation in the production of energy".  

  

"We are now in the process of dealing with the legal repercussions of the Federal Court's decision, and we are intensifying efforts to reach a just settlement and a comprehensive agreement with Baghdad through bilateral negotiations between the two sides," he said.  

[6ly410]

 

[keylime]

Maybe this will finally be the catalyst to resolve the HCL once and for all and not keep kicking it down sandy dunes.