Normalizing relations between the Iraqi central government and Iraqi Kurdistan will take a new twist beginning in May when Iraq’s top court starts hearings on the issue with officials from both sides. Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi has asked the court to ban independent oil exports from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) through a pipeline to Turkey in what has been a bone of contention since 2014. That year, companies with unilateral agreements with the KRG, including Exxon Mobil, Dana Gas, Genel Energy, DNO and Russian Rosneft, saw their oil exported to Turkey, bypassing the central government’s oversight in Baghdad. While that exported Kurdish oil did not contribute to Iraqi federal coffers, the KRG maintains that the Iraqi Constitution does not specifically forbid it from developing oil resources on its own territory. For years, the KRG has had the advance over Baghdad in this dispute, and not the least […]