Turkey guarantees oil sales, Barzani says

Turkey has guaranteed that there will not be any problems in the transportation of the oil to global markets, Nechirvan Barzani, head of the Kurdish Regional Government, said Wednesday. “We have signed an agreement with Turkey on the transportation and sales of the oil, after negotiating for two years,” Barzani told the regional parliament.

Barzani added that his administration “will only take 17 percent from the oil sales, which should have actually been given to us from Iraqi budget,” adding that “the remaining 83 percent will be given to Baghdad, according to the constitution.” Underlining that the oil sales are transparent and appropriate according to the Iraqi constitution, Barzani said they do not have any secret agendas on these sales.

Baghdad had filed a lawsuit against Turkey after Kurdish oil was sold and transported through the country. The selling of oil bypasses Iraq's national State Oil Marketing Company and violates the country’s constitution, Baghdad’s central government claims.

The oil has been sitting in the southeastern Turkish port of Ceyhan for the last six months, while Irbil and Baghdad negotiated an agreement for the oil sales. 

The regional Kurdish government, however, says that Baghdad took their share of the revenues from the national budget and that they are determined to export oil via Turkey in order to compensate for the loss, claiming that to do so is an unequivocal constitutional right and in line with 2007's Iraq oil law.

Iraq holds the world's fifth largest known oil reserves with 143 billion barrels.