Iraq’s parliamentary oil and gas committee announced the formation of two committees composed of ministers and related officials for solving the oil disputes between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Oil and gas committee member Bayazid Hassan said: "The Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussein Shahristani asked the Finance Ministry to deduct $8.5bn (9.9tr IQD) from the Kurdistan Region's budget. This is an illegitimate demand and you can't punish civilians and deprive them instead."
Hassan added that according to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the region produced 187,000 barrels of oil per day in the last year.
The region halted oil exports in April as a reaction against Baghdad's decision not to pay the foreign companies that were investing in the region’s oil sector.
The Kurdistan Regional Government announced earlier that Iraq must pay $1.5bn (1.7tr IQD) as receivable to companies producing oil in the region. Baghdad however accepted to pay $560m (652bn IQD).
Relations between Iraq and the region deteriorated further after the region began exporting oil to Turkey by tankers two weeks ago.