Iraqi Oil Ministry on Kurdistan’s new energy deals: Legally invalid

Shafaq News/ Iraq’s Ministry of Oil on Tuesday rejected recent energy agreements signed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) with two American oil companies, citing legal breaches and a lack of federal authorization.

In a statement, the ministry responded to the KRG’s announcement of “new energy agreements worth tens of billions of dollars” to develop the Miran and Topkhana-Kurdamir fields in Al-Sulaymaniyah, saying the Kurdish Ministry of Natural Resources' procedures violate rulings by the Federal Court of Cassation, which deemed such contracts illegal following the Federal Supreme Court’s decisions in case No. (59/Federal/2012 and its consolidation 110/Federal/2019).

The ministry stressed that while Iraq is in dire need of maximizing gas investment and meeting domestic electricity generation needs, the steps taken by the KRG are “a clear violation of Iraqi law.” It emphasized that “oil resources are the property of all the Iraqi people; any move to exploit them must be through the federal government.”

The Kurdistan Regional Government announced on Monday that it had signed two energy agreements in Washington, with US-based companies HKN Energy and WesternZagros, to boost oil and energy development in the region and reinforce its economic infrastructure.