SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s oil ministry has taken all necessary measures required to implement a federal court’s ruling that gives it the authority to manage oil and gas fields in the Kurdistan Region, state oil marketer SOMO said on Monday.
Reuters cited SOMO as saying that the ministry would implement the measures in cooperation with the Kurdish authorities.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been developing oil and gas resources independently of the federal government, and in 2007 enacted its own law that established the directives by which the region would administer them.
The Region’s massive untapped oil reserves, lucrative production-sharing contracts and safe environment have prompted international oil companies over recent years to commit to investing billions of dollars there.
But in February, Iraq’s federal court deemed the oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Kurdistan unconstitutional and demanded that the KRG hand over their crude supplies.
A KRG delegation is expected to hold talks with senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad on
Monday, according to information Esta Media Network has obtained.
