ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court on Sunday rejected a lawsuit filed by an Iraqi parliament member to rule unconstitutional two energy deals signed in May between the Kurdistan Region and giant US firms.

Under the supervision of Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, the KRG’s natural resources ministry in mid-May signed two major agreements in the energy sector with HKN Energy and WesternZagros in Washington DC. The deals have a combined value of around $110 billion and seek to boost the Kurdistan Region’s energy sector.

Iraqi lawmaker Bassem al-Gharibawi, a member of the Oil, Gas, and Natural Resources Committee in the House of Representatives, had filed a lawsuit against both Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Barzani and Minister of Natural Resources Kamal Mohammed regarding the constitutionality of the energy deals. 

The lawsuit had demanded "a ruling declaring the contracts the [Kurdistan] Region signed with American oil companies regarding the development of the Miran and Topkhana-Kurdamir fields, dated May 19, 2025, unconstitutional, null and void, and obligating the defendants [Prime Minister Barzani and KRG natural resources minister Mohammed] to refrain from siging any future oil or gas contracts without consulting the federal government.”

The Miran and Topkhana fields are located in the Kurdistan Region and are part of the combined Topkhana-Kurdamir block. These fields are estimated to hold significant reserves of both oil and natural gas.

A day after the landmark deals were signed, Iraq’s oil ministry announced its “rejection”, saying the procedures violate a 2022 Iraqi federal court ruling prohibiting Iraqi regions and provinces from regulating trade policy with other countries.

The KRG immediately responded, stating that the agreements were constitutionally valid and had been previously approved by Baghdad.

Prime Minister Barzani, as well as the KRG’s Electricity Minister Mohammed, have repeatedly said that the deals will bear fruit for Iraq by contributing to meeting the country’s power demand.

Prime Minister Barzani has repeatedly said that the signings will let the Region not only supply its local demand but also enable it to sell to Iraq and its neighbors, too.

Iraq has a history of restraining and rejecting the Kurdistan Region’s freedom to negotiate and sign agreements relating to its oil reserves.

In 2023, Iraq took the Kurdistan Region and Turkey to court over an arrangement to export the region’s oil through the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline, causing a halt in oil exports of Kurdish oil that has cost Baghdad and Erbil well over 20 billion dollars in revenue to date.