ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has called on Baghdad to apply the same crude oil pricing as elsewhere in Iraq, the natural resources ministry said Saturday, noting that refineries outside the Region pay $4 per barrel while it is charged $16.

Speaking to reporters, acting Natural Resources Minister Kamal Mohammed noted that the KRG has continuously called for “no discrimination between residents of southern and central Iraq, and the Region.”

He said Baghdad supplies refineries outside the Region with crude at 5,900 dinars per barrel, or around $4, while charging the Region $16 per barrel.

The minister said that even at the lower price, the 50,000 barrels allocated for the Region’s domestic consumption are “insufficient,” adding that “we've said this before, 115,000 is the least that the region demands to be provided.”

The remarks echo Mohammed’s earlier statement on August 12, when he said the KRG was ready to negotiate with Baghdad over the supply of subsidized fuel to the Region, highlighting that the current allocation of crude for domestic consumption is insufficient and should be more than doubled.

Mohammed said the allocation of 50,000 barrels for the Region’s domestic use was the result of a “temporary agreement, and not by our own wish and desire.”

In late July, the KRG called on the Iraqi federal government to increase the Region’s allocated share of crude oil from the current 50,000 barrels to 126,700 barrels, in line with the Region’s population, which accounts for 12.67 percent of Iraq’s total population.

On Thursday, natural resources ministry spokesperson Ahmed Mufti told The New Region that the KRG is ready to send its 50,000 barrels of oil allocated for domestic consumption to Baghdad if the Iraqi government provides subsidized fuel for the Region.