„The northern city of Kirkuk and its surrounds are well known for their oil producing abilities. And locals know that thousands of barrels of oil are being extracted and exported from their area. But nobody seems to be seeing any kind of revenues from that oil. The Kirkuk authorities say they have received none of Iraq’s ‚petrodollars‘ for almost two and a half years.
This is how the system should work: An agreement between Baghdad and the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan says that the Kurdish should send their oil, and the oil from Kirkuk, through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which transports crude from Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey. Revenues from these exports are supposed to go to Iraq’s central State Organization for Marketing of Oil, or SOMO, and from there it should be distributed back to Iraqi Kurdistan and other provinces, as a portion of the federal budget. In Iraqi Kurdistan’s case it is supposed to be 17 percent of the federal budget.
However this has not been happening in the agreed upon way for some time now.“ (Der Journalist Shalaw Mohammed auf dem irakischen Nachrichtenportal Niqash: „Where Are The Petrodollars? Kirkuk Oil Flowing Fast, But Locals Never See Any Money“)
