Federal govt. may not export Kurdistan oil – MP

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s federal government may not export oil extracted from wells in the Kurdistan region unless the issue of foreign firms’ fees is solved, head of the Iraqi Parliament’s oil and gas committee said on Thursday. “These two issues are related to each other,” Lawmaker Ali Hussein Balo told IraqiNews.com news agency. He said that statements made in this regard by Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani are for “electoral purposes”. Shahrestani had told the press that he expects the process of exporting Kurdistan oil to start within the coming days. “This problem will not be solved under the current federal government because Shahrestani himself has no intention to solve it,” Balo said. Parliamentary elections will take place in Iraq on March 7, 2010. MH (P)/AmR 1