Iraq tells energy firms in Kurdish region to sign new deals with SOMO

Reuters Images/Essam al-Sudani

The Iraqi oil ministry appointed international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton to reach out to oil and gas firms operating in the Kurdistan region

Rowena Edwards, Reuters News

May 19, 2022

IRAQ OIL AND GAS

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Iraq’s oil ministry has asked oil and gas firms operating in the Kurdistan region to sign new contracts with state-owned marketer SOMO rather than the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), in a fresh bid to control revenues from the semi-autonomous republic.

Oil minister Ihsan Ismael said on May 7 the oil ministry would start implementing a February federal court ruling which deemed the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region's oil and gas sector unconstitutional after talks with the KRG failed.

The Iraqi oil ministry appointed international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton to reach out to oil and gas firms operating in the Kurdistan region to "initiate discussions to bring their operations into line with applicable Iraqi law", according to a copy of a letter sent on May 8 seen by Reuters.

(Reporting by Rowena Edwards in London, Amina Ismail in Erbil, and the Baghdad newsroom)

Reuters

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