Oil Ministry Hails ‘Major Contracts’ in Kirkuk, Fueling Constitutional Crisis

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a major announcement from the Iraqi capital, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil on Monday confirmed the signing of significant contracts with international companies, including British Petroleum (BP) and Chevron, to develop oil fields in Kirkuk and Nasiriyah, portraying the ventures as a triumph for the current government and a clear signal of Iraq's readiness for foreign investment.

However, the unilateral agreement concerning the constitutionally Kurdistani territory of Kirkuk has been met with fierce condemnation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which views the deal not only as a violation of the constitution but as the economic spearhead of a renewed and systematic campaign of Arabization pressuring Kurdish communities on their ancestral lands.

Speaking at the opening of the third Iraq International Exhibition for Oil and Gas in Baghdad, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil for Extraction Affairs, Basem Mohammed Khader, celebrated the government's progress in revitalizing the nation's energy sector.

"These achievements made by the government are a clear message to all regional countries and investors that Iraq has been able to create an attractive investment environment for the oil industries," Khader stated, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

He detailed what he described as "great leaps in the oil industry" across extraction, refining, gas, and distribution, highlighting the return of Western and American companies to the country.

Khader specifically confirmed that "a few days ago, a contract was signed with the company (Chevron) for four blocks in the Nasiriyah field and the Balad field, and some time ago we also signed a major contract with the international British company (BP) to invest in four fields in Kirkuk."

This BP deal, signed in London on January 14, 2025, by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, is particularly ambitious, aiming to quadruple Kirkuk's current oil production from approximately 250,000-300,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a massive one million bpd.

While Baghdad frames this as a purely economic boon, the agreement has ignited a political firestorm with Erbil.

Shortly after the deal was inked, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, speaking to Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, delivered a sharp and unequivocal rebuke.

He labeled the deal as "unconstitutional," stressing that the fate of Kurdistani territories cannot be determined unilaterally by the federal government. "Kurdistani territories, as defined by the Iraqi constitution, cannot be unilaterally decided by either Erbil or Baghdad," Prime Minister Barzani asserted, calling for a trilateral meeting between Erbil, Baghdad, and international stakeholders to ensure a coordinated and constitutionally sound approach.

"We are not against development in principle, but we are against the mechanism," he clarified, while also acknowledging the KRG's limited political leverage to physically halt the agreement's implementation.

The dispute over the Kirkuk oil deal is the latest and perhaps most significant flashpoint in the long-simmering conflict between Erbil and Baghdad over constitutional authority, resource management, and revenue sharing.

Prime Minister Barzani has highlighted the severe financial toll of these unresolved issues, noting that the Kurdistan Region has suffered billions in economic losses due to disputes with the federal government, with no compensation ever provided.

"We can no longer remain silent on how Baghdad is mistreating us and trying to cut our share," he stated, expressing deep frustration over what the KRG sees as a sustained effort to undermine its constitutional rights and economic stability.

This extends to contentious debates over production quotas, with Prime Minister Barzani rejecting Baghdad's accusations of Kurdish overproduction by pointing to the region's modest 280,000 bpd output.

"Why is the rest of Iraq not held accountable for exceeding production limits? These are unfortunate moves by Baghdad to deceive public and international opinion," he remarked.

For Kurdish leaders and residents of the Kurdistani territories, the BP deal is not viewed in a vacuum but as a high-level component of a deeply troubling pattern of pressure that echoes the darkest chapters of Iraqi history.

This contract over subterranean resources is seen as intrinsically linked to the ongoing struggle for the land itself, where Kurdish farmers face a relentless campaign of intimidation and displacement.

In the Khurmatu district, the village of Tapa Sawz has become a symbol of this struggle, where local Kurdish farmers are currently defying arrest warrants after resisting attempts by Arab settlers, supported by the Iraqi army, to seize 1,800 donums of their farmland using defunct contracts from the Ba'athist era.

The defiance is palpable. "I will not go before the court in any way, nor will I sign any pledge. We will not give up the land of our forefathers," one targeted farmer declared in a desperate appeal to Kurdish officials for intervention.

This on-the-ground conflict is the direct result of the federal government's failure to implement Article 140 of the 2005 Iraqi Constitution, a provision specifically designed to reverse the Ba'athist regime's systematic Arabization policies through normalization, a census, and a referendum.

The legal limbo created by its non-implementation has been exploited by settlers and state actors. Ahmed Jumaa, a representative for the farmers of Tapa Sawz, recounted a painful history of displacement and a renewed legal assault since the events of October 2017.

Critically, he revealed that the farmers possess a letter from Iraq's own Ministry of Agriculture affirming that their lands fall under Article 140 and that contracts should revert to their pre-Ba'athist status, a directive that is being flagrantly ignored by security forces on the ground.

This pattern of harassment is widespread and systematic. As previously reported by Kurdistan24, a Kirkuk court sentenced a Kurdish farmer to a suspended prison term for simply building a house on his own ancestral land following a complaint by the Iraqi army.

In other instances, military units have actively prevented Kurdish farmers from harvesting their crops. The resistance has created powerful symbols of Kurdish resilience, most notably when a farmer in Shenagha village, while being dragged from his tractor by a soldier, defiantly shouted, “Even if I die, I will not get down from the tractor!”—a moment that galvanized Kurdish sentiment.

The Kurdistan Region's leadership has consistently condemned these actions as a grave threat to coexistence. President Masoud Barzani warned that the scenes of harassment "remind us of the Anfal, chemical attacks, and genocide committed against our people."

During a visit to Kirkuk, Prime Minister Barzani asserted that these regions are "not disputed; they are occupied and separated territories," reaffirming the KRG's unwavering commitment to defending its people through constitutional means.

In his Baghdad speech, Undersecretary Khader continued to outline a vision of national progress, detailing a massive $10.9 billion Integrated Gas Development project in the Artawi field designed to end gas flaring by 2028, a one-thousand-megawatt solar energy initiative, and a major seawater injection project to sustain reservoir pressure.

He stressed the government's ambition for "all governorates to be oil-producing" to foster development and create jobs nationwide. However, beyond the political crisis, the aggressive production targets of the BP deal have also raised serious technical and security concerns.

Oil industry expert Sirwan Mustafa warned that the rapid extraction rate could cause irreversible damage to Kirkuk's reservoirs and jeopardize long-term production. Meanwhile, military expert Jadat Jihad noted that the persistent threat from ISIS remnants in the region continues to pose a significant security challenge for any foreign company operating there.

As Baghdad celebrates its new contracts as a symbol of economic revival, the deep chasm between its narrative of progress and the reality of constitutional conflict and human rights concerns in Kirkuk could not be starker.

For the Kurdistan Region, the deal with BP is not merely a business transaction; it is an existential challenge that ties the region's vast oil wealth to the unresolved historical injustices and the ongoing struggle of its people to simply remain on their land.