Kirkuk Officials Feel Cheated on Oil Revenues
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:37 pmKIRKUK, Kurdistan Region – Officials in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk complain that even though a large share of Iraq’s oil is extracted from fields in their province, the government in Baghdad does not return their fair share of revenues, to develop public services.
“This problem has been discussed with the Iraqi finance ministry but unfortunately it has all been fruitless so far,” Ahmad Askari, an official in Kirkuk’s Public Projects Committee, told Rudaw.
Local authorities in Kirkuk say that in the first quarter of this year more than 35 million barrels of oil have been taken from the province’s oilfields, and that the provincial council was expected to receive $37 million as its share of oil money.
But Baghdad has allocated only $43 million for this entire year, says Askari.
Article 94 of Iraq’s law of 2004, drafted under the American civil administrator Paul Bremer, stipulates that each province is entitled to a fair amount of Iraq’s oil money on an annual basis.
Diler Qadir, a member of Iraq’s parliamentary financial committee, believes that this budget can change from one year to the next. Qadir says that Kirkuk has always received its due amount of money from Baghdad.
“The difference in the budget allocation from one year to another depends on the amount of oil revenue,” he says.
Qadir adds that insurgent attacks on pipelines, which happen from time to time, decrease the country’s oil exports dramatically.
Iraq’s deputy finance minister Fazil Nabi defends his ministry’s budget planning, saying, “Our current economic system is flawless. So far, the petrodollar budget of all provinces, including Kirkuk, is fully paid.”
Najat Hussein, a member of the Kirkuk Oil & Gas Committee, suggests that the central government should pay Kirkuk’s oil share on a monthly basis.
“Oil export from Kirkuk is more than 800,000 barrels a day,” he said. “If we get our money every month, we can have more than $290 million a year.”
Shalaw Muhammed, a journalist based in Kirkuk, says his province’s frustration over the oil money is rooted in the lack of transparency in Iraq’s oil revenue.
“Also, the governor of Kirkuk has merged the province’s three different budgets into one general budget, which makes it hard to assess each budget separately,” he says.
“This problem has been discussed with the Iraqi finance ministry but unfortunately it has all been fruitless so far,” Ahmad Askari, an official in Kirkuk’s Public Projects Committee, told Rudaw.
Local authorities in Kirkuk say that in the first quarter of this year more than 35 million barrels of oil have been taken from the province’s oilfields, and that the provincial council was expected to receive $37 million as its share of oil money.
But Baghdad has allocated only $43 million for this entire year, says Askari.
Article 94 of Iraq’s law of 2004, drafted under the American civil administrator Paul Bremer, stipulates that each province is entitled to a fair amount of Iraq’s oil money on an annual basis.
Diler Qadir, a member of Iraq’s parliamentary financial committee, believes that this budget can change from one year to the next. Qadir says that Kirkuk has always received its due amount of money from Baghdad.
“The difference in the budget allocation from one year to another depends on the amount of oil revenue,” he says.
Qadir adds that insurgent attacks on pipelines, which happen from time to time, decrease the country’s oil exports dramatically.
Iraq’s deputy finance minister Fazil Nabi defends his ministry’s budget planning, saying, “Our current economic system is flawless. So far, the petrodollar budget of all provinces, including Kirkuk, is fully paid.”
Najat Hussein, a member of the Kirkuk Oil & Gas Committee, suggests that the central government should pay Kirkuk’s oil share on a monthly basis.
“Oil export from Kirkuk is more than 800,000 barrels a day,” he said. “If we get our money every month, we can have more than $290 million a year.”
Shalaw Muhammed, a journalist based in Kirkuk, says his province’s frustration over the oil money is rooted in the lack of transparency in Iraq’s oil revenue.
“Also, the governor of Kirkuk has merged the province’s three different budgets into one general budget, which makes it hard to assess each budget separately,” he says.