Baghdad Lashes Out After Kurdish Forces Move into Two Oilfields

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish Peshmerga forces moved into the Bai Hassan and Kirkuk oilfields, Iraq’s oil ministry said in an angry statement that accused the Kurds of kicking out Arab workers at the site, as a bitter feud between Erbil and Baghdad threatened to spin out of control.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) did not deny sending Peshmerga forces into the two oil fields, but rejected it had kicked out Arab workers.

The oil ministry in Baghdad said that Peshmerga forces entered production facilities at the twin sites at dawn on Friday.

"The armed forces of the Peshmerga, accompanied by a number of civilians, entered the production facilities at the Kirkuk and Bai Hassan fields at dawn today and expelled the workers at those sites," said a statement posted by the Iraqi oil ministry.

Kurdish forces moved into Kirkuk and other areas outside their formal borders last month to fill the security vacuum left by retreating Iraqi troops. The KRG said the advance had been to prevent Islamic State (IS) extremists from wresting control of the oil-rich provinces.

The Bai Hassan oil fields, 55 kilometers northwest of the city of Kirkuk, produce nearly 195,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). The fields have strategic importance for the KRG because they are connected by pipeline to Kurdistan’s own independent oil pipeline in Khurmala, near Erbil.

The KRG, cash-strapped since Baghdad stopped paying running expenses to the government in Erbil several months ago, has vowed to double oil exports within months, aiming to use the revenues to pay civil servants who have gone without pay for the six months that the feud has endured.

The Kurdish takeover of the fields follows a series of tit-for-tat measures between Baghdad and Erbil. On Thursday, Baghdad slapped a ban on cargo flights flying into the Kurdistan Region, after Kurdish ministers in the Iraqi cabinet announced they would boycott government proceedings to protest statements by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who accused Erbil of harboring extremists.

All day-to-day work between Baghdad and Erbil has reportedly come to a halt. The Kurds have threatened to declare independence as Iraq tears apart under a jihad-led insurgency and Sunni rebellion.

The Iraqi oil ministry warned the Kurds of serious consequences over the oil fields, calling the move illegal.

"The oil ministry strongly warns the Kurdistan Region of the seriousness of this irresponsible behavior,” it said, calling it “an encroachment on the Constitution and the national wealth.”

It appealed on the Peshmerga forces to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Iraqi security forces against an advance by jihadi-led insurgents, and to withdraw from the fields.

"The Ministry of Oil appeals to the wise Kurdish brothers of the need to understand the seriousness of the situation and to instruct those responsible for this uncontrolled action to withdraw forces from these oil fields,” the statement said. It called on the Peshmerga to “evacuate immediately to avoid serious consequences."

In response to the Iraqi statement, KRG spokesman Safeen Dizayee denied that Arab workers at the site had been singled out. “It is not us who pursue a chauvinistic policy, we never do that.”