BAGHDAD (Anadolu) – The top Iraqi court on Tuesday ruled that the law on gas and oil in Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is against the central government’s constitution and that the revenue from exported oil should be delivered to Baghdad.
According to the Iraqi state news agency INA, the members of the Supreme Federal Court discussed the issue of oil exports from KRG, ruling: “The oil and gas law in the KRG is against the constitution of the federal government (Baghdad) and is not legal.”
The court obligated the KRG government to inform the Oil Ministry and the Financial Audit Court about the oil and gas export agreements.
“The oil revenues exported from the region should be handed over to the Oil Ministry of the central government,” the court ordered.
The KRG is obliged to deliver all of its revenues from the export of oil to the central government in Baghdad, and then it can receive its share of the budget put at 12.5 percent.
Iraq is one of OPEC’s top five oil exporters. Disputes over energy resources have been a long-running feature of Iraqi politics since the semi-autonomous region began officially exporting crude oil to world markets through Turkey in 2009.