Iraq approves oil payments to KRG producers

An Iraqi Kurd peshmerga shows off his indelible ink stained finger after voting at a polling station in the northern city of Arbil, 350 kms from Baghdad on July 23, 2009, as members of the armed forces, police and other emergency services vote in the presidential elections of this northern Iraqi autonomous Kurdish region. More than 2.5 million Iraqi Kurds will go to the polls on July 25 in general elections as Kurdistan grapples with a land dispute and sees its American ally prepare to withdraw militarily from Iraq. Arm badge if of the Kurdish flag. AFP PHOTO/SAFIN HAMED

Payments: Iraq will pay producers in Kurdistan, finance minister says

SAFIN HAMED

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By News wires

 27 March 2012 19:19 GMT

Iraq's central government has approved payment of close to $560 million to oil producers in the autonomous Kurdish region, its finance minister said, after Kurdish authorities threatened to halt exports due to a lack of payments from Baghdad.

The central government has a long-standing dispute with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in the north over the control of oil in the region, which has throttled payments. Baghdad maintains it alone has the right to export oil.

On Monday, the KRG said it had reduced exports to 50,000 barrels per day and warned it would stop them altogether if Baghdad was not forthcoming with payments, which it said amounted to around $1.5 billion, Reuters reported.

"We've allocated 650 billion Iraqi dinars ($559.4 million) in the 2012 budget to pay the companies, which we will release after we receive the audit…

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