Azerbaijan, Baku, July 5 / Trend A. Taghiyeva /
Baghdad will impose sanctions against Turkish companies if any of them signs an oil and gas agreement with the Kurdish government without permission from the central government, spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry Asym Jihad told Trend today.
"Baghdad's position on this issue is clear," he said. "Any oil and gas agreement with the Kurdish administration will be boycotted by the central government."
He said that Iraq values cooperation with Turkey, particularly in the energy sector. Therefore, the central government hopes that Turkey will not cooperate with the Kurdish government without Baghdad's permission.
"This cooperation will not be legitimate," he said. "It will also harm the process of adopting the bill on the oil and gas sector in Iraq."
Earlier, the energy minister of the Kurdish autonomy Ashti Hawrami said that the Kurdish administration intends to increase gas production and will be able to start gas exports in 18 months.
Hawrami said that Turkey is being considered as the first country importing natural gas from the fields in the Kurdish autonomy.
Relations between the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq and Baghdad deteriorated in October 2011 after the U.S Exxon Mobil Company received permission from the Kurdish administration authorities to conduct oil exploration and production in the Iraqi region.
Baghdad considered the deal as illegal and warned the company that if it does not abandon the agreement with the Kurds, its deals with the central Iraqi government may be revised.
According to BP, Iraq's proven oil reserves as of late 2011 amounted to 143.1 billion barrels. The country ranks third in OPEC after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Oil production in Iraq as of late 2011 amounted to 2.798 million barrels per day.
The territory of the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq has oil reserves of 45 billion barrels.