KIRKUK, May 14 (Reuters) – Kurdish regional government forces have taken control of several oil wells in northern Kirkuk, Iraqi state oil company North Oil Company said on Saturday.
The company said in a statement that the forces had arrived with a technical team and had taken over some wells in the Bai Hassan field, which it controls.
The oil company did not say when the Kurdish forces arrived, or whether they were still present.
Iraqi forces regained control of the Kirkuk oil fields, then in Kurdish hands, in 2017 following a referendum on Kurdish independence.
Baghdad responded to this consultation, in which the Kurds voted overwhelmingly for independence, by driving out Kurdish Peshmerga fighters from territories claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurds, including the oil city of Kirkuk.
The Kirkuk oil fields had been under Kurdish control since 2014, when the Iraqi army collapsed in the face of the Islamic State. (French version Benjamin Mallet)