It was a new atmosphere. We hoped it would allow us to put our di... by Ashti Hawrami

It was a new atmosphere. We hoped it would allow us to put our differences behind us.

Ashti Hawrami

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We do everything to ensure that every barrel is accounted for. by Ashti Hawrami

We do everything to ensure that every barrel is accounted for.

(These reports are) wild imagination and unsubstantiated. by Ashti Hawrami

(These reports are) wild imagination and unsubstantiated.

We are dealing with Daesh on the front line. We have bombed their infrastructure. Not one drop of oil came in (from Daesh).

Looking back, the whole of 2014 was a huge success as we only had two ships in difficulty - one in the U.S. and one in Morocco ... We managed to finish the year (2014) with only one month of salaries behind, that was a pretty extraordinary achievement as we had ISIS attacking our soil, over a million of Syrian refugees and displaced Iraqis. All of that burden came and we hadn’t seen a cent from Baghdad.

We simply cannot afford returning to the old arrangements with Baghdad and widening the financial gap again, we would accept a real budget that Baghdad can commit to without conditions, but we don't want to be part of a theoretical budget which isn't worth the paper it is written on.

We had a remarkable change in relations with Turkey. It has been very strategic and they have been incredibly supportive, eCONOMIC INDEPENDENCE.

If you ask any Kurd, they will always tell you that their main dream is independence, but at the government level, the main policy focus has been economic independence. We are aspiring to solve our own problems and we have enough resources to do it.

The scale was huge. And it was a totally new game for us. Buyers wanted the KRG to lease its own crude cargo ships. We knew nothing about the shipping or sea transportation industry.

He knew exactly who would and who wouldn't deal with us. He opened the doors to us and identified willing shipping companies to work with us.

Everyone suddenly became a ship tracking expert. So we had to raise our game too ... But one thing was proven correct - when oil is out, it flows.

Effectively, we have been financially discriminated against for a long time. By early 2014, when we did not receive the budget, we decided we need to start thinking about independent oil sales.