Reuters cited Mr Ashti Hawrami energy minister of Kurdistan as saying that oil payments from Baghdad to Iraq's Kurdish region will be transferred offering hope that a long running conflict between the central government and autonomous region is easing.

Baghdad and Kurdistan agreed earlier this 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. Kurdistan has riled Baghdad by signing deals with foreign oil majors such as Exxon and Chevron contracts the central government rejects as illegal.

Mr Hawrami said that payments will be transferred to the Kurdish regional government that's what I've been told in Baghdad. Small oil producers like London based Genel Energy and DNO of Norway have been in the region for about a decade. Majors including Exxon, Chevron and Total are newer arrivals.

He said that this is great news. Payments are crucial for us to keep oil flowing. The oil contracts row however is part of a broader battle between the Baghdad government and Kurdistan over oil rights, territory and regional autonomy that is straining Iraq's uneasy federal union.

Source - Reuters

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