Iraq Cancels Oil Deal With Austria OMV

Iraq has halted oil exports to Austria’s OMV, the leading oil and gas group in central Europe, to protest a deal with the self-ruled Kurdish region, a government official said Saturday.

The company joins South Korea’s SK Energy in being cut off because of deals with the Kurds that are not sanctioned by the government in Baghdad.
In November, OMV signed two production-sharing contracts with the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq for two exploration blocks, Mala Omar and Shorish, in Irbil.

Irbil, located about 217 miles north of Baghdad, is the capital of the Kurdish region, which is made up of three northern Iraqi provinces.

An official from Iraq’s Oil Ministry said the decision to end the contract was enforced Jan. 1.

“The ministry has made it clear since last December that it would stop cooperation with these companies and then blacklist them if they keep insist on maintaining these contracts which we consider illegal,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

The official said OMV will no longer receive 10,000 barrels per day of Iraq’s Basra Light crude.

Associated Press