Kurdistan, Iraq discuss oil production

An official Kurdish delegation arrived yesterday in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to discuss “oil output”.

“The delegation, led by the Kurdistan government’s Finance Minister, Awat Sheikh Janab, will discuss the federal budget, low oil prices, and the region’s participation in the Iraqi commitment to reduce oil production in accordance with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s decision,” Minister of the Region for Kurdistani Areas Khalid Shwani told reporters.

The Kurdistan Region recently said it would export “250,000 barrels per day of oil to Baghdad to support the Iraqi federal budget.”

“The region must abide by the federal government’s decision to reduce crude oil production,” Shwani stressed.

Oil prices have fallen sharply since Russia and OPEC countries failed to agree on an additional 1.5 million barrels per day of oil production cuts in early March. Concerns over the market impact of the global coronavirus outbreak are compounding the price fall.

Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and Russia-led non-OPEC oil producing countries – a grouping known as OPEC+ that pumps over 40 per cent of the world’s oil – agreed earlier this month to new oil production cuts which will come into effect in May and are expected to stabilise prices.

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Note: This page was updated on 29 June at 11:54 BST. Khalid Shwani is the Minister of the Region for Kurdistani Areas, and not the Prime Minister of Kurdistan