SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — The Kurdish regional government has signed a deal
with ExxonMobil to explore oil fields in northern Iraq, Kurdish officials said
Sunday, putting them in sharp conflict with Iraq's national government.
The government in Baghdad wants to control all energy contracts signed in
Iraq. With the deal, ExxonMobil becomes the first oil major to do business in
the Kurdish region in defiance of the central government's wishes.
The deal was announced Sunday by Kurdish officials at an oil and gas
conference in Irbil in comments carried on Kurdish television. Details of the
deal were published on Friday by the Financial Times newspaper.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has clashed with Baghdad over who has the
right to sign deals with international oil companies to develop Iraq's vast
energy resources.
