Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq's Kirkuk Province Spurns Plan to Ship Its Oil to Iran

Aug 3, 2017 | Khalid Al Ansary, Bloomberg
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Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk refuses to cooperate with any plans to ship its oil to neighboring Iran because the central government didn’t consult with it on the matter, Kirkuk provincial officials said. The central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government both pump crude from different wells at Kirkuk’s oil fields, which straddle their respective areas of control. Kurdish forces took control of some fields in Kirkuk in June 2014 after the Iraqi army fled from Islamic State militants, but the government in Baghdad doesn’t recognize Kurdish control of the area.