Iraq's Kurdistan is facing growing tensions between its government and the key opposition faction, which briefly disrupted oil flows from the semi-autonomous region this week and has threatened to take more action in coming days. At the centre of the dispute is the huge Kirkuk oil field in northern Iraq, which can pump around 150,000 barrels per day and has been exporting the output to world markets via Turkey.
The Kurdistan Regional Government, led by President Massoud Barzani and based in the capital of Erbil, began independent exports of oil from Kirkuk in 2014 but cut a deal with Baghdad last year to equally split the revenues.
The deal has been opposed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which is dominant in the area of Kirkuk and is the historic adversary of Barzani's Erbil-based ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
On Thursday, forces loyal to the PUK seized the Kirkuk facilities and briefly suspended oil flows, and threatened further action.
The developments have revived memories of a prolonged oil disruption in 2015-2016, when a quarter of Kurdish oil was reinjected back into the ground for months. That cost the region around $1 billion in lost revenues as the two Kurdish groups and the central government in Baghdad argued about revenue sharing. A key PUK lawmaker said on Friday that the operation to seize the facilities was triggered by frustration among the local population with both the government in Baghdad and the Kurdish leadership in Erbil.
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