Azerbaijan, Baku, March 6 / Trend A.Taghiyeva /
Cooperation of the Russian company Gazprom with the Iraqi Kurdish autonomy in the exploration and development of hydrocarbon fields contravenes the laws of Iraq, a source in the Iraqi government told Trend on Wednesday.
The Iraqi government has demanded that Gazprom returns all its oil and gas fields acquired in the territory of Kurdish autonomy, the source said.
"If the company will not annul the contract with the Kurdish autonomy, the Gazprom Company's activity in the Badra field may be suspended," the source said.
The consortium which included the Russian Gazprom, won the tender to develop the Badra oil field in the east of Iraq in December 2009.
Earlier in late February 2013, Gazprom entered into a new production sharing agreement in Iraqi Kurdistan with an 80 per cent share of the project. Gazprom is the operator of the Halabja project of which 20 per cent is owned by the regional authorities.
In August last year the company signed two contracts for the development and production of oil with the Kurdish autonomy authorities.
Relations between the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq and Baghdad deteriorated in October 2011 after US-based Exxon Mobil received permission from the Kurdish authorities over the exploration and production of oil in this Iraqi region. Baghdad considered the deal illegal and warned the company that if it did not abandon the agreement with the Kurds, its deals with the central Iraqi government may be revised.
The Kurdish administration in northern Iraq has oil reserves of 45 billion barrels.
