Iraq’s Kurds threaten secession over oil rights
Iraq’s Kurds threaten secession over oil rights
By Steve Negus, Iraq Correspondent
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: September 28 2006 17:57 | Last updated: September 28 2006 17:57
The war of words between Iraq’s central government and authorities of the autonomous Kurdistan region over the control of oil resources took a sharp upturn this week, with Kurdish officials threatening secession over Baghdad’s failure to recognise its right to sign exploration contracts.
In a statement released late on Wednesday, Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the autonomous Kurdistan region, attacked remarks by oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani that appeared in the Iraqi press on Sunday. In the interview, Mr Shahristani said that the central government was not bound by contracts signed between international companies and the Kurdistan government.
“I resent Dr Shahristani’s efforts to sabotage foreign investment in Kurdistan’s oil sector,” Mr Barzani said, in an unusually pointed address which also accused Baghdad’s oil ministry of having “done nothing to encourage foreign investment in other parts of Iraq”.
“The people of Kurdistan chose to be in a voluntary union with Iraq on the basis of the constitution.
“If Baghdad ministers refuse to abide by that constitution, the people of Kurdistan reserve the right to reconsider our choice,” the statement said.
The dispute lies in the deliberately vague wording of the Iraqi constitution adopted in October, which states that the central government should be allowed to control existing oil fields but does not spell out who should control newly developed ones.
Kurdish officials say that other parts of the constitution give regional governments all powers not explicitly granted to the federal government. Baghdad claims the issue has yet to be resolved.
Until this week, however, both have kept the conflict relatively low profile and said they hoped the dispute could be resolved through negotiation.
Mr Shahristani’s statement, however, has apparently sparked fears among Kurds that the central government will try to force the issue by pressuring international companies not to invest in the Kurdistan region.
According to Mr Barzani’s statement, foreign companies have invested more than $100m in oil exploration activities in the Kurdistan region since 2003. The central government has little power on the ground in the Kurdistan region, and for now oil companies operating there seem to be shrugging off Baghdad’s challenge to the validity of their contracts.
One of those companies, the Norwegian DNO, on Monday said it had received reassurances from the Kurdish government that the central government “had no authority” to make statements like Mr Shahristani’s.
By Steve Negus, Iraq Correspondent
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: September 28 2006 17:57 | Last updated: September 28 2006 17:57
The war of words between Iraq’s central government and authorities of the autonomous Kurdistan region over the control of oil resources took a sharp upturn this week, with Kurdish officials threatening secession over Baghdad’s failure to recognise its right to sign exploration contracts.
In a statement released late on Wednesday, Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the autonomous Kurdistan region, attacked remarks by oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani that appeared in the Iraqi press on Sunday. In the interview, Mr Shahristani said that the central government was not bound by contracts signed between international companies and the Kurdistan government.
“I resent Dr Shahristani’s efforts to sabotage foreign investment in Kurdistan’s oil sector,” Mr Barzani said, in an unusually pointed address which also accused Baghdad’s oil ministry of having “done nothing to encourage foreign investment in other parts of Iraq”.
“The people of Kurdistan chose to be in a voluntary union with Iraq on the basis of the constitution.
“If Baghdad ministers refuse to abide by that constitution, the people of Kurdistan reserve the right to reconsider our choice,” the statement said.
The dispute lies in the deliberately vague wording of the Iraqi constitution adopted in October, which states that the central government should be allowed to control existing oil fields but does not spell out who should control newly developed ones.
Kurdish officials say that other parts of the constitution give regional governments all powers not explicitly granted to the federal government. Baghdad claims the issue has yet to be resolved.
Until this week, however, both have kept the conflict relatively low profile and said they hoped the dispute could be resolved through negotiation.
Mr Shahristani’s statement, however, has apparently sparked fears among Kurds that the central government will try to force the issue by pressuring international companies not to invest in the Kurdistan region.
According to Mr Barzani’s statement, foreign companies have invested more than $100m in oil exploration activities in the Kurdistan region since 2003. The central government has little power on the ground in the Kurdistan region, and for now oil companies operating there seem to be shrugging off Baghdad’s challenge to the validity of their contracts.
One of those companies, the Norwegian DNO, on Monday said it had received reassurances from the Kurdish government that the central government “had no authority” to make statements like Mr Shahristani’s.
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