Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the autonomous Kurdish region was exporting more than its allocated share of oil as the country seeks to comply with an OPEC output cut, Reuters reported.

Abadi told reporters in Baghdad that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) “is exporting more than its share, more than the 17% percent stated in the budget”. However, Deputy Head of Natural Resources and Energy Committee in the Kurdistan parliament, Dilshad Shaaban, quickly dismissed Abadi’s claims that the KRG is not transparent in its oil affairs. Shaaban added: “The Kurdistan Region exports 520 to 550,000b/d to the Ceyhan port. Together with Kirkuk oilfields, the portion reaches 580 to 600,000 b/d,” according to Rudaw Media Network.

Under the terms of the 2017 budget, which passed despite a boycott from a key Kurdish party, the autonomous region is allocated 250,000b/d exports from oilfields under its control. That does not include the disputed Kirkuk fields, which Kurdish forces control but are run by Iraq’s North Oil Company (NOC). Furthermore, The Kurds built their own oil pipeline to Turkey and began exporting oil via Turkey without Baghdad’s approval in 2013.