Iraqi PM Mohammed al-Sudani visited Kurdistan this week. But the federal government’s latest proposal to resolve the deadlock with IOCs operating there has been overshadowed by other affairs. A 13 November press release from Mr Sudani’s office says “efforts to resume oil exports” were top of the agenda, but the PM’s visit appears to have focused on Kurdish government formation and public salary payments.
The proposal ups a fixed remuneration fee, disputed by the firms and set by Iraq’s 2023-25 budget, to $16/B from $6.9/B (MEES, 8 November), and would require parliamentary approval. Baghdad saw some traction this week, with oil minister Hayan Abdulghani meeting members of the parliament’s finance committee to discuss the proposal. The amendment lacks many details and fails to resolve the central issue that Baghdad continues to say it will not recognize the firms’ production sharing contracts with Kurdish authorities. Committee chair Atwan al-Atwani says the budget amendment is a first step towards converting these PSCs to ‘profit sharing’ contracts. (CONTINUED - 167 WORDS)