Some Measure of Peace in Iraq?

[Valin]

Via Meadia:

Dec 03, 2014

 

Baghdad and Erbil just finalized an oil revenue-sharing agreement, ending (for the time being) a long running dispute over crude exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq. The FT reports:

 

 

Under the terms of the deal, the Baghdad government has agreed to send the Kurdistan Regional Government 17 per cent of Iraq’s national budget in monthly stipends, up from 12 per cent during the Maliki era. In exchange, the Kurdish authorities in Erbil are to supply 250,000 barrels of oil per day, drawn from the Kurdistan region, to the central government “for the purpose of export”. The KRG will also export 300,000 b/d drawn from northern fields near the city of Kirkuk to Turkey via a pipeline that runs through Kurdish areas. The Baghdad government will also supply ground troops to buttress Kurdish peshmerga warriors on the front lines against Isis in the north.

This is big news, though it’s by no means the final chapter in this stand-off over the KRG’s oil ambitions. Our own Adam Garfinkle sheds some insight what this deal means for the region:

 

(Snip)