KRG denies seizing Kirkuk oil fields via armed forces

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region on Saturday denied having seized control over oil fields in Kirkuk with the support of armed forces following allegations from Iraq’s state-run North Oil Company (NOC) earlier.

“The Kurdistan Regional Government denies all allegations that the KRG, with the support of the armed forces, has taken over Bay Hassan and Dawd Gurg oil fields in Kirkuk, which are operated by the North Oil Company,” read the statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). 

The statement from the KRG came after NOC released a statement earlier in the day, claiming that an armed force affiliated with the Kurdish government had entered Bay Hassan and Dawd Gurg oil fields “in order to exploit the productive energies of the wells for the benefit of the regional government.”

The NOC is one of the 16 companies comprising the Iraqi oil ministry with its headquarters in Kirkuk. The company operates in several fields in the country, including Bay Hassan and Dawd Gurg.

The Kurds had controlled Kirkuk oilfields since 2014, following the collapse of the Iraqi army during the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS). The Iraqi forces took back control of the fields in 2017, following the referendum on Kurdish independence.

The KRG went on to criticize the company’s operations, claiming that the company has “for years, without the presence of an oil and gas law, working in opposition to the [Iraqi] constitution.”

The statement further defined the “campaign against the Kurdistan Region” as political and without any legal basis.

This comes at a time of great uncertainty for the Region’s oil and gas industry.

Iraqi Federal Supreme Court in mid-February ruled against the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law that regulates the oil sector in the Region, putting its industry in jeopardy.

The KRG passed its oil and gas law in 2007, enabling it to administer and develop its own oil and gas resources.

The top court’s decision found the law to be “unconstitutional,” and therefore struck down the legal basis for the independence of the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas sector. The decision came amid ongoing political tension and an ongoing government formation process in a country that has now failed to elect a president almost seven months after elections in October.

Delegations from Erbil have visited Baghdad ever since for negotiations, but none of the meetings have been fruitful.