Budget battles begin
Iraq's prime minister and his top energy deputy appear to disagree about whether the 2014 budget law should punish Kurdistan for its shut-in of oil exports this year.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (R) and Hussein al-Shahristani (L) - who was then the minister of oil, and is now deputy prime minister for energy - attend the second oil contracts licensing round in Baghdad on Dec. 11, 2009. (THAIER AL-SUDANI/Reuters)
ERBIL - As Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region prepares a pipeline for direct oil exports to Turkey, two of Baghdad's most powerful leaders appear divided over how to counter the prospect of an independent Kurdish oil sector.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani has threatened to eliminate nearly all of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) share of the federal budget in 2014. He claims the KRG, which stopped exporting oil through federal pipelines in December 2012, is responsible for the lost revenue.
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