When ExxonMobil, the world's largest international oil company, signed a deal for oil rights with the Kurdish regional government (KRG) last November, the simmering tensions between Erbil and Baghdad were again exposed.
Until the American major entered the scene, the struggle over the control of the region's natural resources had ceased to attract much interest from outside observers. It was Iraq's potential to become the next oil-producing superpower that was given most of the attention.
Exxon, however, was soon followed into Iraqi Kurdistan by France's Total and Chevron of the United States. An angry Baghdad threatened to expel the oil majors from elsewhere in Iraq, and refused to send oil payments to the KRG, which responded by stopping all its exports via the official Iraqi export infrastructure. A resolution to the stand-off seemed far-fetched at this stage.
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