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.
The Kurdish regional government has denied, in a statement published on its website, “all allegations and rumors according to which the regional government has occupied and taken control of the Bai Hassan oil fields with the support of an armed force”.
“The public wealth belongs to all Iraqis, according to the Iraqi constitution, not just one company. If (North Oil Company) wants to solve the problems, it must legislate the oil and gas law based on the constitution” , he added.
The Kurdish regional government also believed that the Iraqi state oil company’s accusations were aimed at creating chaos.
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)