ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An amendment to Iraq’s budget bill that was proposed by the government in order to get Kurdistan Region’s oil exports flowing again is not likely to be passed by the parliament, according to lawmakers.
“Most Shiite parties don't agree with the amendment and have started a preemptive campaign,” Jamal Kochar, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament’s finance committee, told Rudaw on Saturday.
Shiite lawmakers make up the majority of the legislature.
The change to the budget law, proposed by the Iraqi government in November, would authorize compensation for oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region for their production and transportation costs, setting the rate at $16 per barrel, a substantial increase from the $6.90 set in the three-year federal budget that was passed in June 2023.
The goal of the proposal is to resume oil exports from the Region.
Parliament did not vote on the amendment before it went into recess in December.
Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been suspended since March 2023 when a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad that Ankara had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to export oil independently since 2014.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani discussed the resumption of oil exports in a phone call with the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Affairs Geoffrey Pyatt on Friday.
They “stressed the urgency of resolving outstanding issues and removing barriers to oil exports, highlighting the suspension's detrimental impact on Iraq’s budget and economic stability,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The stoppage has meant billions of dollars in lost income.
“The delay has hurt Iraq’s economy as a whole - over $25 billion in lost revenue to date,” Barzani shared in a post on X.
Kochar said that “resuming Kurdistan Region's oil exports is tied to the budget law amendment."
Ali Mashkoor, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s oil and gas committee, said the budget amendment cannot be done the way the government sent it to parliament, adding "parliament won't approve it this way."
"The federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government have agreed on the oil file, but until now the implementation process is unclear and unknown,” Mashkoor told Rudaw on Saturday.
The “export of Kurdistan Region's oil is not tied to the budget law, although it is true that it's part of the budget law,” he added. “All oil revenue is a main part of the budget law. If Kurdistan Region's oil revenue returns, it will certainly affect the budget."
Erbil and Baghdad have formed a high-level committee to tackle the problem, an informed source told Rudaw on Saturday.
“A high-level technical committee has been formed between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government regarding Kurdistan Region's oil file,” said the senior source from Iraq’s oil ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Discussions are ongoing. The committee does not want anything to be discussed in the media until it affects the course of the process,” the source added.
Before exports were halted, Erbil sent around 400,000 barrels per day through the pipeline, in addition to some 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk’s oil.
Nahro Mohammed contributed to this article.
