Iraq warns S Korea against Kurdish region oil exploration

SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) — Iraq has issued a warning, saying that it may cut off oil exports to South Korea unless South Korean energy companies halt oil exploration in the Kurdish region, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday.

The Iraqi government has given SK Energy Co., a leading South Korean refiner, the warning by phone, demanding SK Energy to halt the exploration as it did not get permission from Baghdad, the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) said.


SK Energy is a leading participant in a South Korean consortium led by the KNOC that signed a output-sharing deal with the Kurdistan autonomous government in November, Yonhap said.

The South Korean consortium signed the agreement to take over a38 percent stake in the Bazian oil field in the Zagros Basin in northern Iraq, which is estimated to hold 500 million barrels of crude oil, Yonhap said.

Xinhua