Maliki warns Gazprom from working in Kurdistan

Gazprom, the arm oil-producing of Gazprom which monopolizes the Russian gas exports has denied buying three stakes in the oil fields of Kurdistan government after a similar move by Exxon and Total as that angered the central government in Baghdad.

“It is better for the company to suspend its work and wait for the approval of the new law that is going to sign a contract again under the law to avoid problems,” Maliki said in a statement received by ”Shafaq News”.

The Federal and Kurdistan Region governments have reached an initial agreement a few weeks ago to resolve the outstanding problems between them and form committees for this purpose, including the oil and gas law.

As several drafts of the law were launched, but differences remained about them between Baghdad and Erbil.

Gazprom oil said last month that it has signed a contract to implement a third project in Kurdistan In Qalaa Daza field, in which its oil reserves is estimated at 100 million tons of oil a share of 80%, while the share of Kurdistan Regional Government is 20%.

The company has also signed two more contracts with Kurdistan Region in the oil exploration field.