Iraq calls on BP to develop Kirkuk oil

BAGHDAD, October 18, 2017 – Iraq has called on BP to develop the Kirkuk oilfields, the country’s oil ministry said on Wednesday.

A statement from the Ministry of Oil said it has asked the super-major “to quickly make plans to develop the Kirkuk oifields.”

Control of the disputed region of Kirkuk was taken over by Iraqi government forces on Monday following a September 25 referendum in which Iraqi citizens in the country’s Kurdistan Region voted for independence.

Earlier on Wednesday, the ministry released a separate statement saying it had warned Kurdistan Region officials against interrupting flows of oil in the main crude pipeline to Turkey.

BP previously worked with Iraq’s North Oil Company on developing oil in Kirkuk, and has operated the North and South Rumaila oilfield in southern Iraq since 2009.

The Kirkuk region had been controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces since the fight against Islamic State broke out in the area in 2014.

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