Turkey says Kurdistan oil deal to proceed on no matter

Worldbulletinnet – December 5, 2013 – ISTANBUL :  Turkish energy minister Taner Yildiz has said that no matter what the Iraqi government decides on recently proposed mechanism, the oil deal with Iraq’s Kurdistan region will go on.

“If Iraqi accepts triple mechanism that we have founded, it can work. Of course it is a decision that our Iraqi brothers should decide on. If they do not accept, the process will go on,” Yildiz said at the Caspian Forum held in Istanbul on Thursday.

Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan have recently agreed to get the consent of Central Iraqi Government in order to export oil from Kurdistan Regional Government, and start a strong collaborative project which would benefit all parties.

Yildiz earlier said that a working group was established with the Central Iraqi Government regarding the transfer of crude oil from Basra to Kirkuk-Yumurtalik, and the construction of a new pipeline. “This working group will first work on a project regarding the unassembled pipeline of 400 km. Then they will perform a feasibility study, and keep contributing towards the completion of this project. Then we will join these pipelines together. I would like to emphasize that we support the Central Iraqi Government’s project of taking the oil from southernIraq to world markets via northern Iraq,” he had said. Yildiz had said that the negotiations between Iraqi Central Government and Northern Iraq would soon begin, and they would be monitoring the situation closely, and make new evaluations accordingly.