Kurdistan digs in heels over exports

Fanning flames: Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi

REUTERS/SCANPIX

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By Steve Marshall and news wires

 18 January 2013 09:05 GMT

Iraqi Kurdistan has defended its oil policy with foreign companies and its crude barter trade with Turkey as constitutional, while also rejecting an initial deal between Baghdad and BP to redevelop the disputed Kirkuk oilfield.

The statement came after Iraq's oil minister told Reuters that Baghdad's central government would sue companies such as Genel Energy that are exporting crude from Kurdistan, warned of cuts to the semi-autonomous region's federal budget and announced an accord with BP for the Kirkuk oilfield.

Genel chief executive Tony Hayward said on Friday though the company was continuing to export crude by truck to Turkey “in accordance with the authority granted to us by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)”.

Iraq's Arab-led central government and the KRG run by ethnic Kurds are locked in…

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