Iraq Gov't Hopes To End Oil Dispute With Kurds

SINAN SALAHEDDIN

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi government Wednesday hailed the start of oil exports from the self-ruled Kurdish north but stressed that all oil deals signed by the Kurds must be ratified by the Oil Ministry in Baghdad.

The Oil Ministry has long opposed Kurdish deals with foreign oil companies. This month, however, the government approved Kurdish plans to export crude from two oil fields to alleviate the national budget crisis caused by falling oil prices.

The agreement stipulates that revenues will be deposited in a federal account and the Kurds will receive 17 percent, the share allotted to them in the federal budget.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh described the beginning of exports from Kurdish fields as a "step in the right direction."

"But these contracts need to be ratified by the federal Oil Ministry. Until that time these contracts are not fully legitimate," he told reporters at a joint press conference with Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani.

Kurds and the Arab-dominated central government have been at loggerheads over nearly two dozen deals signed by the Kurds after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.