ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani told The New Region on Wednesday that Erbil is ready to hand over all of its oil, in exchange for guarantees from Baghdad to disburse civil servant salaries.

Hawramani told The New Region that there has been a new development in tripartite talks, saying that oil companies have now agreed to be treated under Iraqi law, as opposed to their previous requests, demanding guarantees outside of Iraq in cases of any conflict.

"We are ready to hand over all of our oil, but in exchange the issue of salaries must be settled immediately," said Hawramani, adding that the Kurdistan Region's oil production capacity is currently around 233,000 barrels per day.

"We hope that no new excuses will be brought up to delay our civil servant employees salaries any more than this," the KRG spokesperson said, reiterating Erbil's willingness to take all necessary steps to resolve the issues

Prospects for a solution between Erbil and Baghdad were renewed after the Iraqi Council of Ministers on Tuesday approved an agreement to resume Kurdistan Region oil exports through the country’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO). Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region and the issue of the federal treasury’s share of the Region’s domestic revenues have underpinned a longstanding budgetary dispute between the two governments.

The two sides have found a common understanding over the export of the Region’s oil, with domestic revenue sharing now sticking out as the main obstacle in the way of solving the budget issues between Erbil and Baghdad.

The domestic revenue issue now pends Iraq’s State Council presenting their views on the matter to the Iraqi cabinet, who will make a final decision regarding the matter. The State Council has begun a third meeting to come to a decision in regards to the dispute, as of the time of writing this article.

The KRG’s Council of Ministers meanwhile, also convened on Wednesday to discuss the disputes, foremost among them the oil agreement that was approved a day prior by the Iraqi Council.

The dispute between Erbil and Baghdad over oil exports, in addition to the mechanism of sharing the KRG’s non-oil revenues, has propped up a budgetary conflict between the two sides, leading to years of sanctions on the KRG by the Iraqi government, the latest of which came in May, when Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami notified Erbil that the federal government will suspend funding the Region’s civil servant salaries.

Civil servants in the Region received their salaries for June in September, while July and August salaries have yet to be funded by the Iraqi government. The KRG has time and again reiterated that they have “more than fulfilled” their obligations relating to finding solutions with Iraqi authorities.