ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has expressed determination to provide air defense protection for oil fields in the Kurdistan Region in a bid to enable international companies to resume full operations, a Kurdish minister said on Saturday. The remarks come as Iraq grapples with dramatic drop in oil exports amid the ongoing regional fallout from the Iran war.
A high-level Iraqi security delegation met Kurdish leaders in Erbil last week to discuss mechanisms for protecting oil infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region. The move came months after several foreign energy companies scaled back or suspended production due to repeated security threats, including attacks on oil facilities by Iran and Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.
Reber Ahmed, the Kurdistan Regional Government's interior minister, told Rudaw on Saturday that a second military delegation from Baghdad arrived in the Region later in the week to conduct field assessments and determine how protection measures could be implemented.
He praised Zaidi’s efforts, saying the federal premier has repeatedly stressed the importance of safeguarding the oil fields.
"The federal prime minister is very serious in this issue," Ahmed said, adding that Zaidi has repeatedly emphasized doubling down on his commitment.
Ahmed also said Erbil would cooperate with Baghdad throughout the process, dismissing reports that foreign firms had abandoned the Kurdistan Region.
“They have only suspended production.”
Sherwan Dubardani, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee, told Rudaw on Thursday that air defense systems would be supplied to Iraq before being deployed in the Kurdistan Region.
According to Dubardani, Baghdad “will hand it over to the Kurdistan Region to be installed at the oil fields.”
International oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region have significantly reduced production since late February, when the United States and Israel launched a military campaign against Iran, triggering a regional confrontation that lasted nearly six weeks.
For months, production has averaged around 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day, with most of the output consumed domestically within the Kurdistan Region.
The security situation deteriorated further during the conflict, with Rudaw's tracking showing that at least 865 projectiles were launched toward the Kurdistan Region by Iran and Iran-aligned groups in Iraq.
Mustafa Goran contributed to this article.
