President of Kurdistan region meets Iraqi oil minister

President of the Kurdistan region Masoud Barzani met Sunday night with Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi.

The meeting focused on relations between the governments in Arbil and Baghdad, especially in the field of energy.

They also discussed the 2015 federal budget.

Barzani and Abdel Mahdi also talked about obstacles standing in the way of implementing an oil agreement between the two sides.

They agreed on the importance of cooperation to solve all pending problems between Baghdad and Arbil.

On December 2, the central government in Baghdad reached an agreement with the government of the Kurdistan region to solve oil export and budget allocation problems.

Under the agreement, the Iraqi Oil Ministry should receive 550,000 barrels of petroleum extracted from the Kurdistan region and fields around Kirkuk, while the Kurds get their 17 percent share of the central budget.

The government of Arbil should produce 250,000 barrels of oil per day to be channeled to the central government through a pipeline in Turkey, according to the deal.

Another 300,000 barrels should be produced from fields in disputed areas around Kirkuk, which have been controlled by the peshmerga troops since the withdrawal of the Iraqi army in June 2014.

The government in Baghdad should also provide an additional one billion dollars to the Kurdistan government to be able to pay wages of and arm the peshmerga.