Uncertainty surrounds Kirkuk field operation
Kurdistan Region of Iraq 
KIRKUK, March 2, 2017 – Oil flows from the Iraqi Kirkuk oilfield through infrastructure controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government was temporarily halted on Thursday due to a security operation.
International media reported on a hunt for improvised explosive devices reportedly planted by Islamic State. There were reports last week of explosions in the nearby Bai Hassan oilfield, officially managed by the federal North Oil Company (NOC) but operated in practice by KAR Group. One oil well was allegedly set ablaze.
Local analysts, however, said the operation was a full-blown takeover of the field by security forces tied to the Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party in an effort to wrench control from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), NOC and the federal government.
On Twitter, founder and Managing Director of Carduchi Consulting Shwan Zulal quoted the PUK’s Aso Mamand as having said that the security forces would stay in place until such time as the federal government responds to local demands.
Zulal also noted that Mamand had said the actions of this morning were a direct result of having ignored local authorities and Kirkuk residents.
PUK has long been upset by the actions of the federal government and its political opponents in Kirkuk, its traditional heartland.
In March 2016, NOC halted the flows of crude from the Kirkuk oilfields Khabaza, Jambur and Babagurgur on orders of the Ministry of Oil. After many months, a KRG delegation headed by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani reached an agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi and his team for technical talks. PUK soon objected to the decision to resume exporting oil for having been excluded from the talks.
When the Iraqi army in June 2014 retreated in the face of Islamic State advances, Peshmerga forces allegedly affiliated with the KDP later secured the Avana Dome and Bai Hassan oilfields, much to the annoyance of PUK.
“It was only a matter of time, #PUK take over part of #Kirkuk oil fields after it was sidelined,” Zulal wrote on Twitter, expressing surprise that it had not happened sooner. He also said the move was entirely “unilateral,” and that non of the other actors had been aware.
Later reports suggested that the operation conducted by paramilitary forces centred on the field’s pumping station. Mamand allegedly gave the federal Ministry of Oil a one-week ultimatum to address the province’s demand, which includes the construction of a refinery. “100,000 people may be ready to storm the [local offices of] the North Oil Company,” he reportedly said.
Shortly after this morning’s halt of operations, NOC technical staff was allowed back to help resume oil flows.
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