Basra governor calls for fair sharing of oil resources

The governor of Basra, in the south of Iraq, called for what he called a fair sharing of oil revenues by the central government, adding that he gave it a three week period to meet this demand.

Muhammad Musbah al-Oweili asked the government of Baghdad to transfer more authority to the governorates, but he denied he is working for splitting the southern governorate in case that Baghdad does not honor his "warning."

Worthy mentioning that the calls to give more self-rule to the south of Iraq, which is inhabited by a Shiite majority, along with calls for the formation of a confederation includes the governorates of Basra, Meisan, and Zee Qar are not new. The two ports of al-Basra and Khour al-Amyah to the south of the country export most of the Iraqi crude oil, while Iraq's exports from the north to the Turkish Jeihan port on the Mediterranean are interrupted by the repeated attacks at the oil installations and lines.

Iraq's oil exports are estimated at 1.5 million barrels daily, 29% of which go to Europe and 31% to Asia and 39% to the USA while its exportat capacity before the war was 2 million barrels daily.

The Iraqi minister of oil Ibrahim Baher al-Oloum said recently that his ministry aims at increasing oil production from 1.9 million barrels daily until between five to six million barrels by the fall of 2011.