– The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Minister of Natural Resources said the region would halt oil exports at the end of August if Baghdad does not make all outstanding payments to companies working in the oil sector in the region.
The KRG said last week that it would restart oil exports in the first week of August at 100,000 barrels per day to ease tension between Erbil and Baghdad.

The region wants to end the payment dispute with Baghdad. According to the KRG, Baghdad has to pay $1.5bn to companies making investments in the region.

Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami set the end of August as a deadline for making payment, said a KRG statement.

Hawrami added: “What I have in mind is to restart the oil export for only one month, ie, for all of the August period. If the payments are not released by the end of this period, then we agree to halt all the exports at midnight on August 31, 2012.”

Tony Hayward, CEO of Genel, sent a letter to Hawrami stating that his company had not been paid for the majority of oil exported in 2009 and 2011. This has had a very significant impact on their operations.

Erbil halted exporting oil in April due to disagreements over central government payments.

The relation between Baghdad and Erbil deteriorated after Baghdad threatened to blacklist foreign companies that sign oil contracts with the region and cancel the contracts.

Baghdad and Erbil are in a long-running dispute over the Peshmarga budget, control of territories and oil contracts. The central government labeled oil deals signed with the Kurdistan Region as illegal because the deals were signed without prior approval from the central government.













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