Iraqi Kurds demand oil minister’s resignation

Iraq’s northern Kurdish administration has demanded Baghdad’s oil minister be sacked, following his remarks that oil contracts signed by the regional government are “illegal.”

The call by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) late Thursday deals another blow to attempts by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to forge a national consenus on the controversial issue of dividing up the spoils of Iraq’s vast oil reserves.
Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani should quit rather than “interfere in the internal affairs” of the Kurdish region, KRG spokesman Khalid Saleh told reporters in Arbil.

Shahristani at a recent meeting of OPEC in Vienna said that all oil contracts signed in Iraq’s Kurdish region are “illegal” as a controversial oil law is yet to be passed in the parliament.

The regional government has signed contracts with several global oil companies to explore crude oil in its region, which houses the bulk of the country’s oil reserves.

Kurdish officials say they will honour the contracts, and also claim to have reached an agreement with Baghdad whereby it will receive 17 percent of the country’s oil revenues.

In a separate statement, the KRG said the minister was “strongly advised to stay out of issues over which he has no authority.”

AFP