<p>Dubai/Baghdad: The Iraqi government has made a fresh attempt to deem all Kurdish production-sharing oil contracts illegal by filing new papers to a court in Baghdad, a document showed and a government official told <em>Reuters</em>.</p>.<p>The move casts further doubt on the speedy resumption of oil exports from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, promised by Baghdad, after a nearly two-year halt.</p>.<p><em>Reuters</em> revealed last week that US President Donald Trump's administration is piling pressure on Baghdad to restart oil flows from the region or face sanctions alongside Iran. An advisor to the Iraqi prime minister denied there had been a threat of sanctions or pressure from the US.</p>.White House walks back Trump statement on 65% EPA staff cuts.<p>Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have been involved in multiple disagreements over the region's oil exports in the last decade.</p>.<p>In one of these disputes, the Iraqi government sought to challenge the legality of existing production-sharing contracts of foreign firms in the Kurdistan region through a court case which began in 2022.</p>.<p>The courts upheld the contracts' legality, a decision which Baghdad twice appealed.</p>.<p>A court document reviewed by Reuters, dated Feb. 25 and confirmed by an oil ministry legal official, shows Baghdad pursing a legal move, known in Iraqi law as a correction of the cassation decision, a final step to challenge the court ruling.</p>.<p>The legal official told <em>Reuters</em> the ministry would respect any decision by the court.</p>.<p>The oil ministry and the Federal Court of Cassation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>.<p>The resumption of crude exports from Iraqi Kurdistan was top of the agenda when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani spoke on Tuesday, the same day the document was filed to the Baghdad court.</p>.<p>Iraq has said it would export 185,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Kurdistan's oilfields through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline once the oil shipments resume. Before it was shut, the pipeline pumped around 450,000 bpd of Iraqi oil, including some 370,000 bpd of Kurdish crude.</p>.<p>The pipeline, which transported crude from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, has been shut since March 2023 after Ankara lost an arbitration case and was ordered to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorized exports between 2014 and 2018. </p>
<p>Dubai/Baghdad: The Iraqi government has made a fresh attempt to deem all Kurdish production-sharing oil contracts illegal by filing new papers to a court in Baghdad, a document showed and a government official told <em>Reuters</em>.</p>.<p>The move casts further doubt on the speedy resumption of oil exports from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, promised by Baghdad, after a nearly two-year halt.</p>.<p><em>Reuters</em> revealed last week that US President Donald Trump's administration is piling pressure on Baghdad to restart oil flows from the region or face sanctions alongside Iran. An advisor to the Iraqi prime minister denied there had been a threat of sanctions or pressure from the US.</p>.White House walks back Trump statement on 65% EPA staff cuts.<p>Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have been involved in multiple disagreements over the region's oil exports in the last decade.</p>.<p>In one of these disputes, the Iraqi government sought to challenge the legality of existing production-sharing contracts of foreign firms in the Kurdistan region through a court case which began in 2022.</p>.<p>The courts upheld the contracts' legality, a decision which Baghdad twice appealed.</p>.<p>A court document reviewed by Reuters, dated Feb. 25 and confirmed by an oil ministry legal official, shows Baghdad pursing a legal move, known in Iraqi law as a correction of the cassation decision, a final step to challenge the court ruling.</p>.<p>The legal official told <em>Reuters</em> the ministry would respect any decision by the court.</p>.<p>The oil ministry and the Federal Court of Cassation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>.<p>The resumption of crude exports from Iraqi Kurdistan was top of the agenda when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani spoke on Tuesday, the same day the document was filed to the Baghdad court.</p>.<p>Iraq has said it would export 185,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Kurdistan's oilfields through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline once the oil shipments resume. Before it was shut, the pipeline pumped around 450,000 bpd of Iraqi oil, including some 370,000 bpd of Kurdish crude.</p>.<p>The pipeline, which transported crude from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, has been shut since March 2023 after Ankara lost an arbitration case and was ordered to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorized exports between 2014 and 2018. </p>