Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Natural Resources, Ashti Hawrami said that the rights of the oil companies operating in the region exceeded $ 3.5 billion, while oil reserves estimated in the three Kurdish governorates of more than 45 billion barrels. He stressed the importance of the enactment of the oil and gas law to overcome disputes between the regions.

Hawrami said in an interview with” Hayat” newspaper “the negotiations with Baghdad will be in accordance with the law which determines the financial dues to Kurdistan Region from federal revenues”.

He said that the provincial government informed Baghdad earlier this year that the investment companies demands for more than 3.5 billion $ and these are constitutional entitlements.

He denied accusations of Baghdad to the region to export crude oil without coordination with the Centre, adding that “exporting was under an agreement with Baghdad to export our production under the requirement of deducting 50 % of its imports to pay dues of the companies and the other half goes to the state treasury but what happened was capturing all imports“.

Hawrami stressed the need for the enactment of the oil and gas law, and expressed his belief that “this law, which Kurdistan seeks to pass in accordance with the Constitution, will be a key for all the contentious issues between the two sides in the oil sector”.