PM Barzani: Baghdad-BP deal must include Kurdistan
Shafaq News/ Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani emphasized, on Friday,the necessity for the Baghdad-BP agreement to develop the oil fields in Kirkukto include the Kurdistan Region.
“It is a potential dispute with the federal Iraqi government”, Barzanidescribed the issue in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Control over oil and gas fields has long been a source of tension betweenBaghdad and Kurdistan, with the oil-rich Kirkuk region at the heart of theconflict.
Barzani clarified that "the area Baghdad is discussing with BP isdisputed," and according to the constitution, decisions on disputed areascannot be made by Erbil or Baghdad alone.
He added, "We are not opposed to the development of the fields ingeneral, but we disagree with the mechanism," and suggested that "itrequires a trilateral meeting for coordination."
Reuters cited an informed source as saying that the Kurdistan Region"can engage in negotiations by meeting separately with BP officials, andis likely to leverage its relations with the US government to push both theIraqi government and BP to include them."
Iraq and BP are expected to sign a multi-billion-dollar agreement regardingfour oil fields in Kirkuk by the first week of February.
Barzani noted, "Practically, I don't see that we have the ability tostop the deal," but described it as "unconstitutional."
Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani told Reuters last week that the size ofthe deal would surpass the 2023 Total Energies agreement in Basra, which wasvalued at around $27 billion.
Baghdad and BP have already signed a preliminary agreement to assess thepotential redevelopment of the Kirkuk oil fields.
BP was part of a consortium of companies that explored oil in Kirkuk in the1920s and estimated that the region contains around nine billion barrels ofextractable oil. It holds a 50% stake in a joint venture that operates thegiant Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq, where the company has been active fornearly a century.
