KRG says Iraqi court deems its contacts with oil companies valid

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region’s natural resources ministry said on Thursday that it had won a case against the federal oil ministry over its contracts with several international oil companies. 

“After several court sessions and appeals by the Ministry of Natural Resources against the decisions of the Karkh Court, which were issued following the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq's decisions against Kurdistan's Oil and Gas Law, the Karkh Court, after a long period of multiple trials, ruled in favor of the Ministry of Natural Resources and reversed its previous decisions,” said the Kurdish ministry in a statement. 

“Although the Federal Oil Ministry again appealed these decisions, the Iraqi Court of Review decided to approve the decisions of the Karkh Court of Appeals, thus legally establishing that the contracts between the Ministry of Natural Resources and oil and gas companies in the Kurdistan Region are valid and legitimate,” it added. 

According to all documents obtained by Rudaw, the contracts are with DNO, Addax Petroleum, Dana Gas, Shamaran Petroleum, Western Zagros, Gazprom, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, HKN Energy, and Genel Energy.

On February 15, 2022, the Federal Supreme Court deemed Kurdistan Region's Oil and Gas Law unconstitutional and obligated the Kurdistan Regional Government to hand over oil to the federal government and Iraq's Oil Ministry.