Iraq’s new oil minister hopes stopping Iraqi oil war

23/08/2016

After a lot of turmoil, Iraq’s parliament has finally approved five new ministers nominated by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi. Iraq has now got its new oil minister too. Jabar Ali al-Luaibi, the former chief of South Oil Company, Iraq’s largest crude oil producer, is ready to cope with the highest oil ministry position.
According to al-Luaibi, there are a lot of things to be hopeful about Iraq’s oil industry. He mentioned that there are solutions to the problems that Iraq is facing right now. He also stressed on good relationship with semi autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.
On the other hand regional government of Kurdistan has also shown interest in discussing things with Baghdad. In the month of June, KRG had made an offer of $1 billion assured oil revenue on every month. The proposed amount is around 17 percent of the total budget of Iraq. However, the proposal did not go in the right direction, and presently crude supply to Baghdad is halted from Kurdistan.
Figures from May show the regional government generated $390 million in revenues by exporting 513,000 barrels to Turkey. According to a previous deal, KRG was required to halt its unilateral exports, and in return, Iraq would pay the $747 million in monthly salaries for its 400,000 public employees that Kurdish officials had been struggling to come up with.
Fighters in Kurdistan’s Peshmerga have been known to defend their land against ISIS with patriotism and pride, though as months pass without pay, morale and stability in the KRG has begun crumbling.
The appointment of new oil minister is definitely a fresh hope in feud between Baghdad and Erbil. Solving Kurdistan issue is also important for Iraq to make the country ISIS free.

Last Update:: 23/08/2016

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