Kurdish leader hopes to solve oil dispute - report

LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) The prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region said he hoped to solve a dispute with Baghdad over the control of oil resources in an upcoming visit to the capital.

''I hope after the Ramadan holiday festivities end (today) we will be visiting Baghdad and we will be able to solve that problem,'' Nechirvan Barzani told the Financial Times newspaper in comments published today.

The Kurdish regional government raised the threat of secession last month if Baghdad did not drop its claims to a say in the development of oil resources in the northern districts.

The issue of how powers are divided between Baghdad and the regions is at the heart of a sectarian and ethnic dispute. The Baghdad government is drafting legislation to clarify how oil investment and revenues should be shared with a view to encouraging foreign investment to develop its vast resources.

Barzani told the FT he also hoped to sort out a dispute over how much oil income his region receives from the government.

Iraq's budget for 2006 was projected at 33 billion dollar when the price of oil was projected at a barrel, the newspaper said.

''Of course the oil was sold at around , sometimes more ... Right now there is about 0 million which is the share of the region and they don't give it,'' Barzani told the FT.

REUTERS PDS KP0722