Kurdish Regional Government wants to increase oil exports to Turkey
Regarding Iraqi KRG officials' visit to Ankara on Monday, Safeen Dizayi told AA that the issue of revenues generated from the sales of the oil from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq was the main topic of discussion with the Turkish officials.
"Both sides [Turkish and Kurdish] declared their commitment to the agreement between Turkey and KRG on the sales of oil and have agreed to continue with the sales of oil to international markets through Turkey," Dizayi said.
Stating that KRG currently sends 120,000 barrels of oil per day to Turkey via pipelines, Dizayi said KRG plans to increase this amount to 400,000 barrels per day and requested Turkey make the necessary preparations.
Dizayi said "signing authorities" had been granted to KRG Deputy Prime Minister Kubat Talabani, Minister of Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami and Minister for Finance and Economy Rebaz Mohammad for the use of money deposited in Turkey's state-owned lender Halkbank, for the oil sales.
Taner Yildiz, Turkey's energy minister, previously announced that around US$93 million has been deposited at Halkbank to date from the sale of KRG oil.
Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani held separate talks with Turkish President Gul, Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu
Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani's one-day visit to Turkey on Monday has received wide media coverage in print, broadcast and online in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq's north.
During his visit, Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani held separate talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in meetings closed to the media.
