Iraq vows to block oil contracts signed by Kurds

ANKARA (AFP) – Baghdad will block any contracts signed by foreign oil companies with Iraqi Kurdish regional authorities, Iraq’s Oil Minister Hussein Chahristani said on Saturday.

“All contracts will be handled by the central government,” he told a joint press conference in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Hilmi Guler.


“No contracts signed by any regions in Iraq will be recognised by the government of Iraq. Companies will not be allowed to work on Iraqi territory unless their contract is approved by the central government in Baghdad.”

The government in Baghdad and authorities in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq have been at loggerheads over the issue for months.

In November the minister announced he had cancelled around 15 oil contracts signed by the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan.

AFP