Iraq rejects Peshmerga storming of oil facility in Kirkuk

The Iraqi Oil Ministry yesterday rejected the Peshmerga forces’ storming of an oil facility in Kirkuk last week and halting oil flow for several hours.

The ministry said in a statement that it “categorically rejects the use of military force by any party, for control of the oil facilities and trying to force reality for political or local interests.”

The Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Union Party stormed the oil facility early on Thursday and halted oil flow to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for several hours in protest of Baghdad’s oil policy.

Read: Kurds invade Iraq oil field, halt production

Party officials said the step comes as a warning to Baghdad to build an oil refinery in Kirkuk, warning that Kurdish forces would shut down oil flows again unless their demands were met within a week.

The Oil Ministry said in response that it has “called on investment companies several years ago to construct a refinery in Kirkuk, but has not received any appropriate offers that achieve the desired objectives.”

A source in the state-owned Oil Company in Kurdistan which runs the Kirkuk oilfields, said instability threatens oil exports which the government depends on for financial revenues.