Iraqi Kurds flex muscles over black gold reserves

ARBIL, Iraq - Despite a veto from Baghdad, Iraqi Kurds have signed contracts with foreign firms to exploit their huge oil reserves which they vow will benefit the whole country.

Strengthened by the autonomy enshrined in the Iraqi constitution, the Iraqi Kurdish authority launched a regional oil policy in August, signing deals with overseas companies, to first achieve self-sufficiency and later exportation.

The authority has signed 20 contracts during the last three months and shows no sign of changing course, despite threats from the federal government to blacklist companies trading with the Kurdish region.

"Iraq has more than 12 percent of the world's crude oil reserves, of which at least five percent is in our region," said Kiwan Siwaily, advisor to Kurdish oil minister Ashti Hawrami.

"The old Iraqi regimes since the 1920s didn't allow us to develop these resources. No student was allowed to study in the oil and gas sector," added Siwaily, just recently back from Germany with a degree in this field. (AFP)