According to this Kiwan Siwaily guy the Kurds don't need central governments permission to produce oil for local consumption, only for export. Fair enough if the oil produced is for the whole of Iraq to consume locally but I very much doubt this is what he means. The Kurds and their government continue to distance themselves from the rest of Iraq and have only one aim....total Independence. Screw um.
Iraqi Kurds flex muscles over black gold reserves
ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — Despite a veto from Baghdad, Iraqi Kurds have signed contracts with foreign firms to exploit their huge oil reserves which they vow will benefit the whole country. Strengthened by the autonomy enshrined in the Iraqi constitution, the Iraqi Kurdish authority launched a regional oil policy in August, signing deals with overseas companies, to first achieve self-sufficiency and later exportation. The authority has signed 20 contracts during the last three months and shows no sign of changing course, despite threats from the federal government to blacklist companies trading with the Kurdish region.
"Iraq has more than 12 percent of the world's crude oil reserves, of which at least five percent is in our region," said Kiwan Siwaily, advisor to Kurdish oil minister Ashti Hawrami.
"The old Iraqi regimes since the 1920s didn't allow us to develop these resources. No student was allowed to study in the oil and gas sector," added Siwaily, just recently back from Germany with a degree in this field.
In the 1970s, gigantic oil fields were discovered in Iraqi Kurdish region but failed to be fully explored. They were never exploited during the reign of Saddam, hostile to the Kurds who resisted his authority. Since the end of his regime in April 2003, the reserves attracted the attention of international oil sector representatives who travelled to the main city Arbil. "To export, we have to talk to the central government. But for our domestic use, we don't have to ask anyone. It belongs to us. It's our country," said Siwaily.
"We're now producing 20,000 barrels a day. We need 100,000 for our domestic use alone. It's our oil, it's our right."
The federal parliament has been attempting to hammer out a deal regarding national oil policy and to negotiate the delicate issue of sharing resources between the regions. The Shiite majority in the south and Kurdish majority in the north have plentiful oil reserves. But the Sunnis in central Iraq have little oil and insist policy is centralised through Baghdad, an approach not shared by the Kurdish regional authorities but backed by Washington. US authorities want the oil revenues to be shared equally among the 18 provinces of Iraq, especially the Sunnis in a bid to wipe out the Sunni-led insurgency against its troops.
Commenting on the oil contracts signed in Arbil on November 7, Hawrami said: "In Kurdistan, we are setting the example: this is only the first post-Saddam framework for oil investment in Iraq that follows the democratic, federal, and free-market principles mandated by the Iraqi constitution."
The Kurdish authorities are attempting to reassure Baghdad and the other communities that they are happy with rules that restrict them to retaining only the 17 percent of export earnings. At the federal level, this figure of 17 percent is also the portion of the national budget granted to the Kurdish region.
"We know that if we want to export anything, we'll have to share: 17 percent for us only," said Siwaily. "We have no problem with that."
"They are still discussing this oil law at the federal level. It could take them another two or three years. We're not going to wait. We have lost enough time already.
"Here, we have enough oil and gas for all the Middle East. It's our oil, our country. You'll see, we don't need more than two or three years to develop everything and cover our domestic needs."
Among the contracts recently signed, is one for a gas collection and a refinery to supply the electricity stations, which experts says make the problem of regional power cuts a distant memory.
The Kurds (or Kurdish politians & so-called regional government I should say) agreed to take 17% share from the total national distribution, but they also plan to take full control of the oil fields in the north without sharing the income with the rest of Iraq. As this Siwaily put it: "It belongs to us. It's our country,". The reserves in the north (including Kirkuk, which they think is their's) is around 40% of Iraq's total. That's pretty much why they agreed to 17%, so that the rest of Iraq will be satisfied and turn a blind eye.
I dont understand where this Siwaili guy came up with his rubbish that Kurds were not allowed to study anything related to Oil & Gas.
Thanks tigris. Before I get labeled a 'Kurd hater' I would like to point out that I had nothing against the Kurds until they showed no loyalty to Iraq and displayed such an arrogant indifference towards the suffering of their countrymen south of their self proclaimed border. I have little understanding as to their history, culture or ethnical background so I have no reason to hate them. But why do so many Arabs, Iranians, Turks and probably a few Syrians consider Kurds as foreign bodies? Why do they hate Kurds so much? Is it because of their religion? Is it because of the Israeli connection? Is it because they are stubborn? What exactly? Do you have a theory about this?
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"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" - Nelson Mandela
Great point. Well, I dont really have a theory regarding the tension between Turkey, Iran, & Syria and their Kurdish communities but I would say that it is to do with the threat of integrity of those countries. I have heard so many times of right-wing Kurds referring to south-eastern Turkey as 'Northern kurdistan, northern & western Iran and south-Western Armenia as 'Eastern Kurdistan', northern Iraq (and as far South as the region of Badra which i think is near Al Kut) as 'Southern Kurdistan', and eastern Syria as 'Western Kurdistan'. If you have Facebook, all u need to do is type 'kurdistan' under groups and you will see all these right-wing groups.
The Turks I know for sure are pure nationalists and they are determined to die for Turkey. The Ottomans gave them this pride and Attaturk made them even more proud (despite the fact that he abolished their alphabet and half of their culture). They somrtimes reffer to the Kurds as gypsies. I am not sure about the Iranians, because the Kurds got help from both the Shahs and the mullahs now. But again, the kurdish rebels in northern & western iran also pose a threat to Iran's integrity although during the iraq-Iran war they were united in helping iraq's Kurdish rebels (alot of politics involved). The Syrians had been faced with a number of riots last year and the year before and Israel sure had something to do with that and so did Barzani. Bashar Al Assad was the only Arab leader to support Erdogan when he announced that Turkey will use military force to fight PKK rebels in Iraq. Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria have (I think) signed a treaty of some sort protecting their territorial integrity against any Kurdish national threat. i need to research that but I am certain that they did.
all I can say is that apart from the respectable Kurds who are usually from middle-class & top class families, and who are realistic enough to reffer to their countries as Iraq, Iran, Turkey, or Syria, ... the others are opportunists.
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