ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Iraqi parliament is set to announce the results of its meetings concerning fuel prices in the Kurdistan Region on Wednesday, a Kurdish lawmaker in the legislature said, with the country suffering from worsening fuel shortages. 

Long queues have surfaced at gas stations across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. In Kurdistan, the renewed regional conflict and higher cost of raw materials have significantly driven up gas prices. 

Kurdish lawmakers in the Iraqi parliament have called on the federal government to provide subsidized oil to the Region, with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) decrying that oil quantities supplied by Baghdad fall short of the agreed-upon amount.

“We have held our final meeting and will announce the outcomes tomorrow. All of them are in the interest of the Kurdistan Region’s citizens,” Sipan Sherwani, a lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament’s oil and gas committee from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told The New Region. 

“Fuel should be supplied to the Region’s provinces at 450 dinars per liter,” Sherwani argued. Federal Iraqi provinces enjoy subsidized fuel at 450 dinars per liter for the “Normal” grade petrol. 

On Monday, the Iraqi parliament voted on a set of recommendations to resolve the fuel crisis, including directives to review the amount of white oil supplied to the Kurdistan Region. 

Speaking to The New Region in late August, KRG natural resources ministry undersecretary Ahmed Mufti stated that Erbil 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 Kurdistan Region.

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.

The US-Iran war and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz have taken a significant toll on Iraq’s oil exports and economy, as the country ships the majority of its crude through the strategic waterway.

Baghdad has sought alternative methods to alleviate difficulties in exporting oil through the blockaded strait.