Al-Ghad

In its exclusive report on September 20th, 2007, Al-Ghad disclosed that the, still secret, terms of the deal between the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and Hunt Oil intrudes into disputed regions in the province of Ninevah, which covers the important Jabel Kand Structure.

Reports now add that the deal includes two more structures in the same governorate. They are the Fajir and Nerjis structures, both of which fall outside the jurisdiction of the KRG. This is in addition to other areas that fall in the KRG disputed areas which are due to be subject to the referendum on the areas around Kirkuk. The referendum is scheduled to be held in November, but now might be delayed due to two new factors.

The first is that the Iraqi Oil minister, Dr Shahristani, has declared these deals signed by the KRG to be illegal, and threatened to blacklist the foreign companies that signed them. This dispute has also overflowed into other disputes that further delayed the passing of the Draft Oil Law.

The second has an international and military dimentions, involving the PKK clash with Turkish forces, and at the same time the passing by a high US Government Committee of a strong reslolution condemning Turkey’s “Genocide of the Armenians” in 1915. While it is not clear that there was any relation between these two problems, their coincidence could have explosive results, linking the Oil Problem with military conflicts.

See also: an interview by MEES with Dr Isam Al-Chalabi. (published with permission of Dr. Chalabi):

Interview with Issam Chalabi on KRG & Hunt Oil