Latest news with #AzizAhmad
Rudaw Net
20-03-2025
- Business
- Rudaw Net
KRG welcomes Washington urging Baghdad to resume Kurdish oil exports
A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Thursday welcomed Washington's call on Baghdad to resume oil exports from the Kurdistan Region nearly two years after they were suspended, stressing that Erbil is ready to restart exports. 'We welcome the strong and clear position from our partners in the U.S. government regarding the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,' Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff to Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, said on X. On Wednesday, Washington urged the Iraqi government to strike a deal with international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Kurdistan Region to resume oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline 'as soon as possible, and to honor the existing contracts with US companies.' 'We stand ready to make that happen. The KRG Minister of Natural Resources is in Baghdad for more talks today,' Ahmad said. 'Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region help lift the whole country.' Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been suspended since March 2023 after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying the latter had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to begin exporting oil independently in 2014. Negotiations between Iraqi and Kurdish officials, as well as with the IOCs, have yet to yield a definitive resolution despite a February amendment to the federal budget law approved by the Iraqi parliament which increased the barrel production and transport fee for IOCs to $16. Baghdad is insisting on federal oversight, while Erbil is seeking a resolution that safeguards its economic interests. On Saturday, Iraqi government spokesperson Bassem al-Awadi told Rudaw that the main obstacles to the resumption of Kurdish oil exports have been cleared and that exports 'may restart this month.' Myles Caggins, spokesperson for the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), an umbrella group of eight IOCs, told Rudaw after Washington's comment that they have yet to agree on a mechanism to resume exports. "More meetings are required. APIKUR appreciates the priority that Iraqi Prime Minister Sudani and Senior U.S. Government leaders have placed on restoring oil exports through the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline," he said.
Rudaw Net
06-02-2025
- Business
- Rudaw Net
KRG supplies eight Erbil neighborhoods 24-hour power
A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Wednesday announced that eight additional neighborhoods have been switched to round-the-clock electricity, with the initiative expected to spread to Sulaimani and Duhok soon. 'As part of the Kurdistan Regional Government's efforts to provide 24-hour power, the Ministry of Electricity will provide 24-hour electricity to eight other neighborhoods in Erbil including Kuran, Rizgari, Kurdistan, Bahar, Krekaran, Azadi, Majidawa, and Rasti,' the KRG's electricity ministry said in a statement. The initiative, dubbed Runaki - or 'light' in Kurdish - aims to provide round-the-clock power across the Kurdistan Region by the end of 2026. According to the electricity ministry, technical work has begun to spread the project to Sulaimani and Duhok, and 'in the next few weeks, several neighborhoods in these provinces will be provided with 24-hour electricity.' The KRG Ministry of Electricity announced tonight that eight new neighbourhoods in Erbil, comprising nearly 30,000 homes and businesses, switched to 24/7 power at midnight. The first neighbourhoods in Suli and Duhok will move to 24/7 power in the next few weeks too. #Runaki … — Aziz Ahmad (@azizkahmad) February 5, 2025 A source from the project team told Rudaw that four to eight additional neighborhoods will be included in the initiative in its next phase. 'In Sulaimani and Duhok, the electricity will be made 24 hours by the end of this month,' the source added. But many private generator owners are unhappy with the details of the latest step, saying that contracts previously agreed upon with the KRG to provide emergency power for the next six months have been adjusted. 'We are [operating in] eleven neighborhoods. The contract previously agreed upon with the neighborhoods that switched to 24-hour electricity was 2.5 million [dinars] for generator owners to be on standby during emergencies, but the amount has been changed to 1 million [dinars],' a private generator owner told Rudaw. Another generator owner said that the funds allocated in the new contract do not cover the salary of their employees and the fuel they need to buy. Unreliable electricity is a frequent headache in the Kurdistan Region. High demand, financial problems, and shortage of fuel supplies mean power stations in the Kurdistan Region cannot always operate at full capacity and the electricity ministry has been incapable of providing round-the-clock power. When the national supply cuts out, people rely on private diesel-fueled generators that are costly and polluting.
