Iran, Kurdistan Principally Agree on Oil for Gas Trade

Iran and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq have principally agreed on an agreement which would send Kurdish oil to Iran and Iranian natural gas to the KRG, KRG spokesman Safeen Dizayee, told Cihan news agency on Monday. 

“We would like to build two pipes, one of which we will use to send oil to Iran and the other to receive natural gas from Iran. We sent a committee from Arbil to discuss this matter in Tehran and we agreed in principle,” said Dizayee. 

Dizayee said that KRG has no choice but to sell oil overseas as Baghdad has withheld the KRG's portion of the national budget since January, adds Cihan news agency.

KRG last month shipped over 1 million barrels of crude oil through Turkey's Ceylan pipeline from a separate pipeline in Kurdistan out of the Iraqi central government's control, angering Baghdad.