While Iraqi Kurdistan’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani was promoting the semi-autonomous region’s potential as an aspiring gas exporter in Doha, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court (FSC) – highest in the land – dealt the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on 15 January an unexpected decade-in-the-waiting blow.

The FSC surprised all parties this week by giving four major verdicts on a long-running legal dispute between Baghdad and Erbil that dates back to 2012, filing fully in favor of the central government, and labeling the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independent oil sector unconstitutional. Crude and condensate output in Kurdistan stands at around 470,000 b/d. (CONTINUED - 2250 WORDS)