Soon: Kurdistan to export oil for 1st time

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG) will export crude oil for the first time by next year, The News and Observer said on Wednesday. “Ashti Hawrami, the natural resources minister in the Kurdistan region, said an initial 100,000 barrels per day of crude oil from two northern Iraqi fields would be sent through a pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Exports would eventually be ramped up to 250,000 bpd by the end of 2009, he said in a statement,” according to a report published on its web site on Wednesday. “Hawrami did not say when the exports would begin, but noted they would be coordinated with the Iraqi Oil Ministry.” “The announcement appeared to take the national government by surprise, with a ministry spokesman saying the Kurds had not yet received approval to unilaterally begin exports,” according to the report. The region had signed several contracts with foreign oil corporations despite the central government’s objection and ahead of the Iraqi parliament’s final endorsement of a new draft law on oil. Parliamentary debates on the draft oil and gas law were postponed more than once despite strong pressure from the United States on Iraqi parliamentary bloc leaders to accelerate a new law. SS (S) 1