Baghdad court annuls four more KRG contracts
An engineer looks out over gas processing facilities at the Khor Mor field, which is operated by the Emirati companies Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas, in 2013. (JACOB RUSSELL/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography)
BAGHDAD - A court in Baghdad has invalidated four more of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) oil and gas contracts, marking a further escalation in the federal government's campaign to establish authority over the KRG's independently managed oil and gas sector.
At a hearing Sunday at the Karkh Commercial Court, Judge Mohammed Ali Mahmoud Nadeem issued decisions to annul the contracts of the UAE's Dana Gas, China's Addax Petroleum, Canada's ShaMaran Petroleum, and UK-listed Gulf Keystone, according to multiple officials who have seen the written rulings.
A previous set of rulings by Nadeem to annul four other KRG oil contracts has not had any practical effect on those projects, because the KRG controls its own security forces and has rejected the authority of the federal courts. Most oil companies in Kurdistan are operating as usual and even expanding their investment plans.
