Rockets fall near oil field in Iraq's Kurdistan as infrastructure attacks intensify

Three Katyusha rockets targeted areas around the Kawirgosk oil field in Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdistan region April 6, without leaving damage or casualties, as attacks intensify on the area's energy infrastructure.

"Today evening three Katyusha rockets targeted areas around the Kawirgosk Oil Field in western Erbil province," said an April 6 statement by the Kurdistan Counter Terrorism Forces on Twitter. "The rockets were launched from Khazir area in Mosul. No casualties or material damages reported."

Mosul is located in the northern region of federal Iraq.

Energy infrastructure in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, has been attacked by rockets recently.

A compound owned by the head of Kar Group was hit by a missile attack on Erbil, claimed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps March 13.

Kurdistan produced 388,000 b/d oil in March out of Iraq's total 4.148 million b/d, according to figures from state oil marketer SOMO published April 6.

The total production figure was below February's 4.26 million b/d level and the country' OPEC+ quota for March.

Iraq's OPEC+ quota rose to 4.37 million b/d in March from 4.325 million b/d in February.

The country's quota for April is 4.414 million b/d.

Higher OPEC+ baseline

OPEC+ ministers agreed March 31 to raise their oil production for May by 432,000 b/d, a slight increase from the previous monthly increases of 400,000 b/d, with some readjustment of quotas for its biggest members.

Under the deal, quotas for some countries were amended in line with production baseline changes agreed last July for Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait that reflect their higher spare capacity.

The attacks in Erbil come at a time of a dispute between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments over the management of the region's oil and gas industry.

Iraq's Federal Supreme Court ruled Feb. 15 that the 2007 oil and gas law in the Kurdistan region is unconstitutional and ordered the Kurdish government to hand over its oil operations to Baghdad in an escalation of a long-standing dispute over Erbil's independent energy sales. The decision came amid political disputes in Baghdad between Iraqi parties over formation of the federal government following the October 2021 parliamentary elections.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has developed its own oil and gas sector independently from Baghdad based on a 2007 law, and started to independently export crude oil through Turkey in 2014. The KRG oil policy led to disputes with the Baghdad government, which has cut the budget of the region.

The KRG has rejected the top court's ruling against independent Kurdish exports and vowed to take legal and constitutional measures to protect its oil and gas contracts.