Independent oil groups such as UK-listed Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL), Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LSE: GKP), Dana Gas and Canadian listed ShaMaran Petroleum (TSX.V: SNM) all operate in Kurdistan.
The Iraqi government contends that the KRG did not have the right to grant concessions to the oil companies, while Mr. Bakir and the KRG maintain that the region does have the right to grant such concessions under the Iraqi Federal Constitution.
Mr. Bakir said: “Our commitment to the Constitution of Iraq is the guarantee.”
“All the KRG’s oil and gas contracts are legal,” Mr. Bakir went on to say, referring specifically to the independent legal opinion provided by Professor James R. Crawford, a professor of international law, through the London-based law firm Clifford Chance. “This opinion established that these contracts are within the constitutional framework.”
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