Oil revenues deposit in federal account success for federal system- MP

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: An Iraqi parliamentarian from the Kurdistan Alliance (KA) on Monday described the deposit of Kurdistan’s oil export proceeds to the federal government’s account as a “success” for the country’s federal system. “The exportation of oil reflects the commitment of the Kurdistan region to the articles of the Iraqi constitution, which stipulate that the oil and gas are owned by the Iraqi people,” MP Mohsen al-Saadoun told IraqiNews.com news agency. Earlier today, Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani arrived in Arbil city to attend the launch of oil exports from the Iraqi Kurdistan region’s oilfields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, scheduled to start today. On May 9, the Ministry of Natural Resources in the regional government announced the official start on June 1, 2009 of oil exports from the Tawke field at an average rate of 60,000 bpd. The ministry also said that 40,000 bpd of crude exports from Taq Taq field, which has estimated oil reserves of 1.2 billion barrels, would begin traveling by truck and through an Iraqi-Turkish export pipeline. It added that the exported crude from both fields will be marketed by Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), noting that the revenue will be deposited to the federal government’s account. SS (S) 1