Dispute arises as Kurds leave out central government in signing oil deal

Hunt Oil signs contract to explore for oil in Iraq

Hunt Oil Co. took a leap of faith over the weekend by agreeing to become the largest U.S. energy company to explore for oil in Iraq since the war began.

If all goes well, the Dallas oil company, with its close White House ties, acquires an early foothold in an important oil patch.

"The region as a whole looks very promising," said Jeanne Phillips, a spokeswoman for Hunt Oil, adding that the company does not yet know how much oil its concession could produce.

Read the rest at the Dallas Morning News

Iraqi oil minister says Hunt Oil deal with Kurd regional government illegal

An agreement announced this weekend between U.S.-based Hunt Oil Co. and the self-ruled Kurdish administration of northern Iraq to explore for oil is illegal, Iraq's oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani said Monday...

"Any oil deal has no standing as far as the government of Iraq is concerned," al-Shahristani said as he arrived for an OPEC meeting in Vienna. "All these contracts have to be approved by the Federal Authority before they are legal. This (contract) was not presented for approval. It has no standing"...

The deal is one of several the Kurds have signed with foreign oil companies in the past few years and the first since they put their own oil law into effect in August.

These deals have angered Baghdad, but the Kurdish region appears determined to advance oil exploration in the three-province area they govern in northern Iraq, as Iraq's long-delayed federal oil law remains hobbled by disagreements — among others, about the control of revenues.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

Iraq's Kurdish region defends criticised energy deal

The government of Iraq's Kurdish region on Tuesday defended an oil and gas production contract it has concluded with a U.S. company, rejecting remarks by the country's oil minister who questioned its legality.

The semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on Saturday it had signed the production sharing contract with a unit of U.S.-based Hunt Oil Co. and with Impulse Energy Corp...

"Shahristani's recent remarks about the legality of the KRG's contracts are totally unacceptable..." said Khaled Salih, spokesman of the Kurdistan regional government, in a statement made available to Reuters.

"His (Shahristani) views are totally irrelevant to what we are doing legally and constitutionally in Kurdistan."

The deal is the first such contract since the region passed its own oil law in August, while Iraq's parliament failed to pass a national law after months of negotiations.

Read the rest at Reuters

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