Baghdad wants to take back Kirkuk Oil Fields


September 12, 2016


Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has said it will try to retake full control of all Kirkuk oilfields that were administered by the North Oil Company (NOC) before the Islamic State group (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) entered Iraqi territories, and “before the Peshmerga forces seized some oil wells during the previous government.”

It also confirmed on Friday that the resumption of oil exports from the Kirkuk oilfields is part of an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) dating from December 2014, that had been temporarily cancelled due to sabotage against the pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Meanwhile, KRG President Massoud Barzani told France24 that the local population of Kirkuk would be allowed to choose whether or not to join the autonomous Kurdistan region in a referendum.

Link