Iraqi Kurdistan halts crude oil exports

Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Karim al-Luaibi says the Iraqi Kurdistan region has halted oil exports to protest a draft law approved by the government last month.

Luaibi said on Sunday that the autonomous Kurdistan region has given no reasons for reducing the exports of crude oil from 150,000 barrels a day to around 55,000.

The government says the decision will hurt both the Kurdish and the Iraqi economies.

Kurdistan authorities have condemned the draft law on oil and gas, approved in August, saying it is in violation of the Iraqi constitution.

If the draft is passed in the parliament, it would centralize control of most of the country’s vast oil reserves, especially in the oil-rich Kirkuk province.

Iraq, following Saudi Arabia and Iran, lies on the world’s third largest proven oil reserves