Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrastani gave mixed signals about a possible detente over oil contracts between the central government and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region Friday.
The two sides have been at loggerheads for months over oil contracts signed by the Kurdistan Regional Government. The central government has refused to recognize the deals with a handful of international companies.
Shahrastani, speaking at an oil and gas conference attended by international oil companies in the capital, said he had productive meetings during a recent visit to the Kurdistan regional capital of Irbil. Shahrastani also said the Oil Ministry was studying the possibility of issuing licenses so oil can be exported from the Kurdistan region. The lack of a central-government export license has bottled up the small amounts of new oil production put online in the Kurdish region.
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But Shahrastani said he still considers the contracts signed by Kurdistan with international oil firms to be illegal.
"We had good talks with Kurdistan and we are trying to work on all these issues," he told reporters after his speech at the Iraqi Energy Expo, which was organized by the Iraqi American Chamber of Commerce and Industry and held at the new Baghdad International Airport Convention Center.
During his speech, Shahrastani reiterated the need for assistance from foreign companies to help Iraq stop the decline in oil production at existing fields and to also help with new field developments. He said of 78 known oil and gas fields, only 15 have been developed for production.
Shahrastani said the next two years will be crucial to rebuild the country's oil sector. The government is hoping to increase current production of 2.4 million barrels a day to 4.5 million barrels per day by 2013, he said, and up to 6 million barrels by 2018.