Friday 28 March 2014

Oil pipeline politics take a toll on Kurdish business | The National

Oil pipeline politics take a toll on Kurdish business | The National:



"Maher Akrawe was making a killing with his business in Erbil late last year.



The surge of contracts and investment projects provided plentiful opportunities for the construction contractor.



Today, he is taking small works on existing projects and complaining that business has dried up ever since political tensions between Erbil and Baghdad peaked this year.



“It’s not the same,” Mr Akrawe said. “There’s no money. Everyone is being affected here.”



The political row was ignited late last year after it emerged that the Kurdistan Regional Authority (KRG) planned to build an oil pipeline and sell crude independently to Turkey, breaking sovereignty norms. The government in Baghdad retaliated by cutting the Kurdish region from the national budget."



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