Iraq’s Basrah Oil Company (BOC) issued a 14 June letter to all “lead” and “sub-contractors” instructing them to cut ties with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region’s oil sector. The letter, seen by MEES, bases its directives on a 7 June decision by the Oil Ministry’s Supreme Advisory Committee (SAC) headed by Karim Hattab, Deputy Minister for Extraction Affairs.

BOC wants contractors “who are implementing contracts and projects in the technical, logistical, investment, services and other fields” in all oil fields and projects in Iraq to “submit a pledge” not to take up contracts and projects in Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil and gas sector. For those with “existing contracts or projects,” BOC says that companies will “undertake to terminate them within three months” from the date of the letter. Failure to comply will see companies blacklisted. (CONTINUED - 231 WORDS)