Iraq makes good on Kurd oil blacklist

BAGHDAD, Jan. 21 Iraq’s Oil Ministry has reportedly cut current and will block future deals as part of a blacklist of firms that have signed oil contracts with the Kurd region.

Companies will not be able to purchase Iraqi oil or bid on upcoming projects in Iraq’s oil and gas sector if they have signed any deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government since February 2007. That’s when a deal was reached — and a few months later rejected — by the KRG and Baghdad on the oil law.


The KRG has signed dozens of production-sharing contracts since it passed its own regional oil law in August, blaming Baghdad for taking too long and violating the deal.

Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has called the Kurd contracts illegal and the KRG moves unconstitutional. While inter-Iraqi politics has not dealt with the KRG-Baghdad dispute — whose power struggle has derailed a draft oil law — the ministry is.

UPI