ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Erbil and Baghdad are set to form a high-level committee to safeguard the Kurdistan Region’s oilfields and thwart renewed threats to energy infrastructure, The New Region has learned, with the Region having come under repeated attacks by pro-Iran militias. 

During talks between Erbil and Baghdad on exporting Iraqi oil through the Kurdistan Region to Turkey’s Ceyhan port, both sides agreed to form a high-level security committee to protect the oil fields in the Kurdistan Region and to urge companies to resume production as soon as possible, well-informed sources told The New Region. 

The breakthrough in oil exports came following negotiations between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government on Tuesday, amid the turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz, through which Iraq exports almost all of its oil.

The North Oil Company (NOC) hailed the recommencement of flows through the Kurdistan Region’s pipeline on Wednesday as a “significant achievement.” 

A report from Al Monitor on Wednesday said the Kurdistan Region’s main producer of electricity, the UAE-based Dana Gas, the operator of the major Khor Mor gas field, is evacuating its staff from the site as a precaution following Tehran’s threats to regional energy infrastructure.

The Kurdistan Region has come under repeated bombardment from pro-Iran Iraqi militias since early March, with the KRG having called on Baghdad to rein in the factions' activities.

Several energy facilities in the Kurdistan Region have been targeted since March, although no major damage has been reported. The facilities hold a significant role in the region’s energy trade.

Ahead of finalizing a new oil export deal with Baghdad, Kurdistan Region President Masrour Barzani said Tuesday that the KRG has requested guarantees from the Iraqi federal government to protect Kurdish citizens and stop “outlaw groups and forces that continuously attack the Kurdistan Region with drones,” adding that “the federal government is responsible for stopping them.”

Baghdad is also planning to boost its export capacity after the oil export agreement with Erbil took effect, Ali Nizar, head of Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), told state media.

Nizar said Baghdad plans to triple its oil production to around 900,000 barrels per day to “facilitate Iraqi oil access to global markets.”  

With Iran accusing the US and Israel of carrying out strikes on a major southern energy complex, Tehran on Wednesday warned of its “legitimate right” to target energy infrastructure across the region.