SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A Kurdish member of the Iraqi parliament on Tuesday said the Shiite nominee that runs for premiership has an agenda to implement the Federal court’s ruling that deems the Kurdistan Region oil and gas law to be “illegal”.
Lawmaker to the Kurdistan Justice Group Soran Omar on his Facebook wall said that Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, who is the nominee of the Shiite coordination framework for premiership has an agenda to implement the Federal court decision.
“The issue of the Kurdistan Region oil and gas has been decided by the Federal court,” and “it should be implemented,” al-Sudani told Iraqi lawmakers in a meeting attended by Omar as well.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been developing oil and gas resources independently of the federal government, bringing dozens of international energy firms to invest, and in 2007 enacted its own law that established the directives by which the region would administer them.
The Iraqi oil Ministry has made fresh attempts to control the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas revenue. The issue remains disputed so far between Baghdad and Erbil.
In February following a lawsuit by the Ministry, Iraq’s federal court deemed the oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Kurdistan unconstitutional and demanded that the (KRG) hand over their crude supplies.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has repeatedly rejected the ruling.
Iraq has made several bids to enforce the February court ruling.
It has summoned several firms operating in the Kurdistan region to commercial court sittings, which have been repeatedly postponed, and introduced a policy to blacklist oilfield service firms if they did not withdraw from the Kurdistan region.
