Crude exports from Iraq’s semi- autonomous Kurdish region dropped to 50,000 barrels a day and may cease in a month if the central government refuses to pay about $1.5 billion owed to producers, Kurdish authorities said.
The Kurdistan Regional Government also called today on foreign companies including BP Plc (BP/) not to make separate agreements with Iraq’s central government to develop oil fields in and around the disputed northern city of Kirkuk. The central government has said it is talking with BP about boosting output at a field called Kirkuk, near the same city.
A dispute over oil revenues between Iraq’s government and Kurdish authorities led to a yearlong halt in exports from the region that ended in February 2011. Iraq holds the world’s fifth-biggest crude reserves, based on BP statistics that also include Canadian oil sands, and it seeks to boost oil exports to help rebuild an economy recovering after years of conflict, sanctions and sabotage.
No comments:
Post a Comment