MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Iraq's Ministry of Oil is looking into the allegations that exctraction started in Kirkuk oilfield in northern Iraq, previously seized by Iraqi Kurdish forces, a ministerial spokesperson Assem Jihad said Thursday.
“The Ministry of Oil of Iraq is investigating the alleged oil extraction [at the seized facilities in Kirkuk] as the current reports haven't been verified,” Assem Jihad said, adding that the reprecussions would be serious if the reports are verified.
Earlier the same day, reports citing an Iraqi oil official suggested that the autonomous Kurdish region begun to pump oil from Kirkuk fields seized on July 11. . The official estimated the quantity at around 20,000-25,000 barrels of oil per day going into the pipeline networks that run across Kurdish territory.
None of the conflicting sides in the long-running dispute between Baghdad and Arbil, the Kurdish capital, can violate the law, which does not classify Kurdish claims for the region's oil as an act against the Iraqi people, a lawmaker from the Kurdistan Blocs Coalition (KBC) told RIA Novosti Thursday.
"The Ministry of Oil and the Federal Government filed a complaint with the Federal Court in Baghdad, which is the highest judicial authority and considers its decisions final. The Court's latest ruling states that the question of oil exports from Kurdistan or from oil-producing provinces is not inconsistent with the Constitution of Iraq," Mohsen Sadun said, explaining that in practice the ruling means Iraqi Kurdistan is not restricted in any way from taking its share of the resources, as "no one can ignore the constitution."
Kirkuk, one of world's most oil-rich regions, lies on the disputed boundary between the northern Kurdish region and the rest of Iraq, making is at the core of Iraq's ongoing territorial dispute. Following the withdrawal of Iraqi military fleeing from an Islamist insurgent offensive, Kurdish forces took control of production facilities at the Kirkuk and Bai Hassan northern fields, which could only worsen the already strained relations between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad.
