Baghdad and Erbil face off

Representatives from the federal and Kurdistan authorities have held in-person talks as they look to resolve a decade-old dispute over oil

Iraq’s federal authorities are in negotiations with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as they seek to resolve years of disagreement over the semi-autonomous northern region’s oil sector. The high-level discussions follow a significant escalation of tensions since the start of the year, most notably the Federal Supreme Court’s declaration in February that the KRG’s oil and gas industry laws are unconstitutional and that contracts with IOCs should be voided. While the federal and regional governments have been feuding over control of the Kurdish oil and gas sector and—perhaps most importantly—its exports for years, the ruling marked a formalisation of Baghdad’s grievances and a sign of i