Iraq Says Kurds Want Timely Payment of Oil
Revenue
May 25, 2007
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Iraq's Kurdish region is
demanding that a proposed oil and gas law should ensure timely payment of oil
revenues to the Kurds, Iraq's oil minister said on Friday.
Iraqi Hussain al-Shahristani, on an official
visit to India, said the Kurds have not questioned the right of central
government to collect oil revenues but want to ensure they get their share of
oil revenues on time.
"We are negotiating a mechanism for release of
their portion of the budget to them because they say that the federal ministry
of finance sometime delays release of the portion of the budget that's allocated
to them," Shahristani told reporters in New Delhi.
He added that the oil revenues could not be
retained and will be distributed through the federal budget.
"Among the first stage it was agreed among all
Iraqis, including Kurdish Regions Government Authority, that oil revenue will be
collected in a federal reserve and will be distributed from the federal budget
throughout the budget so nobody can retain them," he said.
On the proposed law ensuring that around 80
percent of oil reserves will be managed by the Iraqi National Oil Company, he
said the discovered fields in Iraq were a small fraction of the total potential.
"So there is a much larger possibility for oil
companies to find new fields and work on it," Shahristani said.
"Once you have discovered and we know what
there is and we know what technology is required, we shall manage to do it from
our own resources.
"There is no need really to offer them (for
competitive bidding)," he added.
