Kurdistan's contracts with Addax, ShaMaran, and Gulf Keystone have been ruled invalid; cases against Dana Gas and Gazprom Neft are ongoing.

A court in Baghdad has invalidated three more of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) oil contracts, marking a further escalation in the federal government's campaign to establish authority over the KRG's independently managed oil and gas sector.

At a hearing Sunday at the Karkh Commercial Court, Judge Mohammed Ali Mahmoud Nadeem issued decisions to annul the contracts of China's Addax Petroleum, Canada's ShaMaran Petroleum, and UK-listed Gulf Keystone, according to multiple officials who have seen the written rulings. The court has not yet ruled in lawsuits against the UAE's Dana Gas and Russia's Gazprom Neft.

A previous set of rulings by Nadeem to annul four other KRG oil contracts has not had any practical effect on those projects, because the KRG controls its own security forces and has rejected the authority of the federal courts. Most oil companies in Kurdistan are operating as usual and even expanding their investment plans.