The latest report issued by the Iraqi Kurdish Ministry of Natural Resources earlier this month supports that explanation.
Iraqi Kurdish politician, Ali Hama Salih, a member of the anti-corruption Change movement and a senior member of the Iraqi Kurdish parliamentary committee on Energy and Natural Resources, confirmed the figures. “By the end of April, the quantities will be even higher, reaching 625,000 barrels per day,” Salih told NIQASH. “By the end of June, it should reach 750,000 barrels.”
The Iraqi Kurdish authorities insist that their oil figures are accurate. However more than one Iraqi Kurdish MP in Baghdad has heard the opposite from officials in the Iraqi government; these officials say that Iraqi Kurdish oil exports haven't come anywhere near the official figures.
“[Iraqi Prime Minister] Haider al-Abadi told us in no uncertain terms in a meeting with him that none of the numbers are right,” one Iraqi Kurdish MP told NIQASH off the record – he did not want to be named because he didn't want to be seen contradicting the regional government's official statements. “Al-Abadi said that the Kurdish are talking about a certain quantity but we are getting a different quantity. And that's why we're not making any progress on this deal.”
So far the one thing that isn't in dispute - and maybe that's because it is far more quantifiable - is that the Iraqi federal government has not been able to hold up its side of the deal. Baghdad has sent a first payment to Erbil of around US$200 million.
But this is far from the amount that is owed - Iraqi Kurdish government representatives have criticised the payment as being only 20 percent of the money owed them; they are supposed to receive US$1 billion a month. The most recent reports say that more cash is coming to Iraqi Kurdistan from Baghdad.
Just want to mention one thing, the kurds did not get their yearly budget which led them to the only option to export independently. Iraq led Kurdistan to this not the opposite remember this.