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Iraq’s Kurdistan Works to Establish Two Oil Firms as Erbil-Baghdad Tensions Rise

A picture shows a view of the area around the citadel of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, as dust engulfs the sector on May 24, 2022. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of the area around the citadel of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, as dust engulfs the sector on May 24, 2022. (AFP)
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Iraq’s Kurdistan Works to Establish Two Oil Firms as Erbil-Baghdad Tensions Rise

A picture shows a view of the area around the citadel of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, as dust engulfs the sector on May 24, 2022. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of the area around the citadel of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, as dust engulfs the sector on May 24, 2022. (AFP)

Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is working to establish two oil firms, the latest move in the battle between Erbil and Baghdad to control the oil sector in the semi-autonomous region.

The KRG's new oil firm KROC would specialize in oil exploration, while the second - KOMO - would focus on oil exports and marketing from the semi-autonomous region, a spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

The regional government has presented the idea and discussed it with the federal government in Baghdad recently, the KRG spokesperson said in a statement.

The statement follows months of disputes between Erbil and Baghdad after a February federal court ruling that deemed the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region's oil and gas sector unconstitutional.

The oil ministry in Baghdad has since made fresh attempts to control revenue from the Kurdistan region, including summoning seven firms operating there to a commercial court on May 19. The firms were Addax, DNO, Genel, Gulf Keystone, HKN, Shamaran and WesternZagros.

The commercial court sitting has been postponed twice as some of the representation for these international oil firms did not have power of attorney, several sources told Reuters. The court session is due to resume on Monday, June 20.

As well as announcing plans to establish its own oil company in the Kurdistan region, the Iraqi oil ministry has ordered international lead contractors and subcontractors through Basrah Oil (BOC) and Iraq's national oil firm (Inoc) to pledge not to work on contracts or projects there.

Through letters sent on June 7 and 12, the firms were given three months to terminate existing contracts or projects in the KRG oil sector or face being blacklisted, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The oil ministry is using two law firms - Vincent and Elkins and Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton - to help with gaining control of the KRG oil sector, according to two sources. Both firms have declined to comment.

The KRG has repeatedly rejected the federal court ruling. On June 5, the KRG's ministry of natural resources filed a civil suit against the minister of oil in Baghdad, Ihsan Ismael, for sending emails and letters to intimidate oil firms operating in the Kurdistan region and for interfering with the contractual rights of these firms and the KRG, according to a June 13 statement.

Also on June 5, the Erbil court of investigation ruled that the commercial court sessions against international oil firms must be brought to the Erbil court.

There have been years of attempts by the federal government to bring KRG revenues under its control, including local court rulings and threats of international arbitration.

The implications of the latest dispute are not fully clear as more than eight months since elections in Iraq, the formation of a government is still underway.

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Arab World

Strikes Kill 3 Iranian Kurds in Northern Iraq, Says Opposition Group

Komala party members look towards the debris is strewn from mangled structures following drone strikes on the Iranian Kurdish opposition Komala party's Sordash camp, which resulted in the death of a female party member and the injury of two others, some 40 km northwest of the city of Sulaymaniyah in the autonomous Kurdistan region on April 15, 2026. (AFP)
Komala party members look towards the debris is strewn from mangled structures following drone strikes on the Iranian Kurdish opposition Komala party's Sordash camp, which resulted in the death of a female party member and the injury of two others, some 40 km northwest of the city of Sulaymaniyah in the autonomous Kurdistan region on April 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Strikes Kill 3 Iranian Kurds in Northern Iraq, Says Opposition Group

Komala party members look towards the debris is strewn from mangled structures following drone strikes on the Iranian Kurdish opposition Komala party's Sordash camp, which resulted in the death of a female party member and the injury of two others, some 40 km northwest of the city of Sulaymaniyah in the autonomous Kurdistan region on April 15, 2026. (AFP)
Komala party members look towards the debris is strewn from mangled structures following drone strikes on the Iranian Kurdish opposition Komala party's Sordash camp, which resulted in the death of a female party member and the injury of two others, some 40 km northwest of the city of Sulaymaniyah in the autonomous Kurdistan region on April 15, 2026. (AFP)

Drone and rocket strikes in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region on Friday killed three Iranian Kurds, including two women fighters, an exiled opposition group said, blaming the attack on Iran.

"Iran launched a new wave of missile and drone strikes today targeting... civilian camps of the PDKI," killing one person and wounding another, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan said on X.

In a separate attack, two women fighters were killed and other fighters wounded, the party added.

Arab World

Kosovo Lawmakers Approve Proposed Gaza Troop Deployment

Kosovo Security Forces parade during celebrations to mark the 18th anniversary of independence, in Pristina, Kosovo, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP)
Kosovo Security Forces parade during celebrations to mark the 18th anniversary of independence, in Pristina, Kosovo, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP)
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Kosovo Lawmakers Approve Proposed Gaza Troop Deployment

Kosovo Security Forces parade during celebrations to mark the 18th anniversary of independence, in Pristina, Kosovo, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP)
Kosovo Security Forces parade during celebrations to mark the 18th anniversary of independence, in Pristina, Kosovo, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP)

Kosovo's parliament on Friday passed a law authorizing the potential deployment of a small number of troops to Gaza as part of a peacekeeping force proposed by US President Donald Trump.

According to local media, the government intends to send 22 members of the Kosovo Security Force if the plan goes ahead, although the number has not been officially confirmed.

"The Republic of Kosovo proves that it is a reliable partner and ready to act alongside allies in support of peace, security, protection of civilians and implementation of international mandates," Defense Minister Ejup Maqedonci said before the parliament unanimously approved the law.

Announced as part of a ceasefire agreement that halted two years of devastating war, the planned International Stabilization Force was proposed by the "Board of Peace", which is led by Trump.

Kosovo joined several other countries in Washington for the Board's first meeting earlier this year to discuss funding for rebuilding Gaza and the potential deployment of thousands of foreign troops.

Under US command, the hypothetical force could include up to 20,000 soldiers, with Indonesia so far pledging 8,000 troops.

In March, Kosovo's prime minister Albin Kurti said his country was willing to take part due to the role international forces, particularly NATO peacekeepers, have played in his country after its 1998-1999 war of independence with Serbia.

So far, the future of Trump's plan remains unclear, with Israel and Hamas maintaining contradictory demands in ongoing negotiations amid accusations of ceasefire breaches on both sides.

The ceasefire followed more than two years of war triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023, cross-border attack on Israel.

At least 766 Palestinians have been killed since the October 10 ceasefire was announced, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

Arab World

UN: Average of 47 Women and Girls Killed Daily During Gaza War

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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UN: Average of 47 Women and Girls Killed Daily During Gaza War

Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli strike that took place on Tuesday, according to medics, at Al-Shati camp in Gaza City, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

An average of at least 47 women and girls were killed each day during the war in Gaza, according to figures published by UN Women on Friday, and the agency warned that deaths have continued six months into a fragile ceasefire.

More than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and December 2025, according to the report by UN Women, an agency that focuses on gender equality.

"Women and girls accounted for a proportion of deaths far higher than those observed in previous ⁠conflicts in Gaza," ⁠Sofia Calltorp, the agency's humanitarian action head, told reporters in Geneva.

"They were individuals with lives and with dreams," she added, according to AFP.

The agency expressed concern that the killing of women and girls has continued since an October ceasefire, though it does not know exactly how many have died due to ⁠a lack of gender-aggregated data.

October's ceasefire halted two years of full-scale war but left Israeli troops in control of a depopulated zone that makes up well over half of Gaza, with Hamas in power in the remaining, narrow, coastal strip.

More than 750 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to local medics, while militants have killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for ceasefire violations.

Israel says it aims to thwart attacks by Hamas and ⁠other militant factions.

UN ⁠children's agency UNICEF said on Friday that children continued to be killed and injured at an alarming rate in Gaza, with at least 214 reported dead in the last six months.

Around one million women and girls are displaced in Gaza, UN Women said.

"Extensive damage to infrastructure has made it almost impossible for women and girls in Gaza to access their basic needs like healthcare," said Calltorp.

World Health Organization figures show more than 500,000 women lack access to essential services including antenatal and postnatal care and management of sexually transmitted infections.