ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Monday held a phone call with US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, stressing the need for continued coordination to protect the Region’s energy infrastructure and halting attacks on the oil companies.

The phone call discussed the latest developments in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, “with particular focus on the energy situation,” the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement.

Barzani emphasized the importance of continued collaboration and support to protect the Region’s energy and economic infrastructure, as well as “the lifting of trade embargoes and the halting of terrorist attacks” on oil companies operating in the Region, “in order to increase production and exports.”

The Kurdistan Region’s energy infrastructure has sustained continuous attacks by pro-Iran Iraqi militias, including several drone strikes launched following the end of the 12-Day War in June, and more recently amid the war in the Middle East.

On March 6, the Sarsang oilfield in Duhok province was targeted with drone strikes, resulting in the breakout of a fire at the facility, which is operated by the US-based HKN Energy firm.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has also led to the significant restriction of maritime traffic at the Strait of Hormuz, through which Iraq exports almost all of its oil, leading to a halt in oil production in the country’s southern fields.

Following an agreement with the Kurdistan Region earlier in March, Iraq has been able to sell its oil through the Kurdistan Region’s Ceyhan port, partially alleviating the export disruptions through the waterway.

The Kurdish authority’s decision to allow Iraq to export its oil through the Ceyhan pipeline “was assessed positively as a means of easing economic pressures and challenges on Iraq and on the global energy market,” Barzani told Wright during the phone call.