Baghdad declares KRG's $110bn deals with American firms illegal
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has firmly rejected two major oil and gas contracts recently announced by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), declaring them invalid under federal law.
The disputed agreements involve the development of the Miran and Topkhana-Kurdamir fields in Sulaymaniyah Governorate—projects that Baghdad insists cannot proceed without central government approval.
According to the Ministry, the contracts violate rulings by Iraq's Federal Supreme Court, particularly in Case No. 59/Federal 2012 and its related Case No. 110/Federal 2019, which affirm that oil and gas agreements made independently by the KRG after these decisions are unconstitutional and therefore void.
The deals, worth an estimated $110 billion over their lifetime, were unveiled by Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani during a visit to Washington, D.C.
Barzani pledged personal oversight of the agreements, which include American company HKN Energy developing the Miran gas field—believed to hold around 8 trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas—and a partnership with WesternZagros to exploit the Topkhana-Kurdamir blocks, containing approximately 5 trillion cubic feet of gas and 900 million barrels of oil.
While the KRG promotes the deals as crucial to meeting Kurdistan's energy needs and boosting regional output, the Oil Ministry views them as a flagrant overreach. 'These contracts undermine national unity and the rule of law,' the Ministry stated, reiterating that Iraq's natural resources are a collective national asset, not to be managed unilaterally.
The Ministry stressed that only the Federal Government holds the authority to authorize contracts related to the country's oil and gas wealth, and warned that bypassing this legal framework would not be tolerated. As such, Baghdad considers the agreements announced by the KRG to be null and illegal.
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