Baghdad pays Arbil

BAGHDAD - Reuters

Iraq’s Finance Ministry has begun paying an initial $650 million to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for oil companies working in the region, Deputy Prime Minister Rosh Nuri al-Shawish told Reuters yesterday.

Baghdad and the KRG agreed last month to draw a line under a dispute over oil payments, after the latter pledged to continue exports and Baghdad said it would pay foreign companies working there.

The KRG has angered Baghdad by signing deals with foreign oil majors, such as Exxon and Chevron, contracts the central government rejects as illegal.

“The federal Finance Ministry has started transferring the first oil payment of $650 million to the Kurdish region,” said Shawish, a Kurdish member of the central government negotiating team.