Iraq’s Oil Ministry is threatening to take aggressive international legal action to stop the Kurdistan region from continuing to export crude oil independently of Baghdad.
In a letter sent to oil traders and other crude buyers dated Aug. 23, which was obtained by Iraq Oil Report, Alaa al-Yassiri, the head of Iraq’s federal oil marketing company (SOMO), warns that Iraq is planning to take “firm legal action… against all parties involved, in order to block loadings of those unlawful cargoes originating from Iraq including but not limited to those from Kurdistan Region.”