Abadi: Iraq maintains oil supplies to Kurdistan despite corruption

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi repeated on Tuesday his accusations against Kurdistan Region of corruption in handling the region’s oil output, but saying that his government continues, however, its il supplies to the region.

“The federal government is still supplying the Kurdistan Region’s refineries with oil though we have discovered a partnership between some corrupt parties and Kurdistan oil smugglers,” he said in his weekly press briefing.

“550.000 oil barrels were exported through the Turkish Ceyhan terminal in October,” Abadi said.

Iraq said last month it was reopening the pipeline between Ceyhan and the province of Kirkuk, where Baghdad disputes sovereignty and oil revenues with Erbil. Exports were halted through the pipeline since 2014 when Islamic State militants took over it.

A political crisis, a later a military standoff, erupted after Erbil ran a popular referendum in September where it said 92 voted for independence from Iraq. The government in Baghdad has rejected the vote as unconstitutional, and replied with retaking territories where sovereignty is disputed with Erbil, including oil facilities.

Abadi has regularly accused Kurdish officials of seizing oil revenues illicitly, and both governments have for long disputed over a fair mechanism of sharing the profit.