Now Controlled By Kurds, Kirkuk Oil Fields Are Up for Grabs

Posted 2014-06-25 19:44 GMT

DIBIS, KIRKUK PROVINCE -- Vast oil reserves in northern Iraq could be swallowed into the autonomous Kurdish region if the country's security situation continues to deteriorate.

Kurdish forces now call the shots at the labyrinth of oil installations in the disputed Kirkuk province that they stepped in to protect when the Iraqi military disintegrated after the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) captured Mosul city on June 10.

With ISIL continuing to take more territory in Iraq's predominantly Sunni areas, the government in Baghdad appears increasingly unable to reassert authority over Kirkuk and its petroleum facilities.

Even if it could, the Kurds running the area appear unlikely to allow such a return, raising the prospect that the current conflict may lead to wider squabbles over who reaps Iraq's vast oil riches.

Kirkuk's Kurdish governor, Najmaldin Karim, said the area, which is claimed by the majority Kurds as well as Arabs and Turkmen, could become part of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) if the extremists' onslaught pushes the country closer to sectarian war.

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http://www.aina.org/news/20140625144426.htm