Kurdish peshmerga forces took have power over production facilities at two northern Iraqi oilfields on Friday, substituting Arab workers with Kurdish personnel.
The national oil ministry in Baghdad condemned the takeover at the Bai Hassan and Kirkuk fields and called on the Kurds to withdraw at once to avoid “dire consequences”.
The move came past a month when Kurdish forces took control of the city of Kirkuk in close proximity, following the withdrawal of Iraqi armed forces in the face of a lightning attack by Islamic State militants, who have seized large parts of west and north Iraq.
The violence has also soared political tension between PM Nouri al-Maliki and Kurdish leaders, who have pulled out of Maliki’s Shia-led government.
“The ministry of oil con firms that peshmerga armed forces together with some civilians entered crude oil production stations in the fields of Kirkuk and Bai Hassan on Friday morning and expelled workers,“ a ministry spokesman said.
“The ministry warns the Kurdistan region strongly about the danger of such irresponsible behaviour which is considered a violation of the constitution and national wealth.”
“…We appeal to rational Kurds about the need to understand the danger of such attitude and to ask the people responsible for this disorderly behaviour to withdraw immediately from these sites in order to avoid dire consequences,” the spokesman said.