Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesperson Asim Cihad said Monday it cannot confirm or deny that oil to the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline was cut by the Iraqi central government.
On Monday morning, Cihad's comments came after claims were made that Iraq's oil flow was cut from Kirkuk to Turkey's pipeline.
Head of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government's (KRG) Energy Commission Serko Cevdet asserted that the decision to cut oil exports was made from the central government in Baghdad.
"The oil flow was cut two days ago as well, yet we do not know what the reason is for the cut," Cevdet told Anadolu Agency.
Kirkuk Provincial Council Member of the Energy Commission Necat Huseyin also reiterated Cevdet's charge that the oil flow cut was Baghdad's decision.
According to a deal between the two sides reached on Dec. 2, 2014, Baghdad was to send Erbil a 17 percent share - around $17 billion a year - from the federal budget.
In return, Erbil agreed to export 300,000 barrels of oil per day from Kirkuk, and 250,000 barrels of oil per day from northern Iraq, under the supervision of Baghdad’s oil marketing company, SOMO.
On Mar. 1, the KRG's cabinet accepted a conditional proposal from the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to pay the KRG's 1.4 million civil servants' salaries in a monthly sum of $750 million, according to a statement by KRG's Prime Ministry.
Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has requested help from the UN, the EU and the G7 group consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.K. and the U.S. on March 7, because of the KRG's economic challenges.(Anadolu Agency)
