Oil Minister Says Iraq to Act to Annul Kurdish Oil Deals

Oil Minister Says Iraq to Act to Annul Kurdish Oil Deals

Iraq’s oil minister said on Thursday the government will take steps to enforce a recent court decision to annul oil contracts the semiautonomous northern Iraqi Kurdish region made with international companies.

The minister, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, told The Associated Press the deals, which circumvent the government in Baghdad, are illegal and amount to oil smuggling.

His remarks were the strongest yet by a senior government official since Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court issued a landmark ruling in February against the northern region’s independent oil sector. Ismail said in total 17 oil companies will be targeted for their dealings with the Iraqi Kurdish region.

Ismail said the international companies that have signed these deals would first receive a cautionary note.

"We will give them a soft message: ‘You are working in the smuggling of oil.' If they are a respectful company they will listen to us," Ismail told the AP in the exclusive interview.

Kurdish officials, including the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party in Erbil, have dismissed the court ruling as politicized and claim the supreme court itself is unconstitutional.

The ruling came against the backdrop of political upheaval in Baghdad, where Iran-backed groups are pressuring Kurdish parties to join their efforts and proceed with the forming of a