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Turkish oil companies work in the Kurdistan region's 8 oil fields in a way that the Genel Energy company has a share in these oil blocks: Tawke (25%), Bir Bahr (40%), Duhok (40%), Bna Bawe (44%), Taqtaq (44%), Miran (75%), Chia Surkh (60%). While Petoil company has a 20% share in the fields of Chia Surkh and Palkana.

This is despite 75 percent of Kurdistan's oil pipeline passing through Turkish territory and being owned by the Turkish energy company. Most of the money for selling Kurdistan's oil goes through filters from Turkish banks and then goes back to the KRG.

The importance of the KRG's oil and energy to Turkey

The Kurdistan Region has a unique position in turkey's current situation from many perspectives. Without Kurdistan's natural resources, Turkey cannot continue to thrive, without the Controlled Market of Kurdistan, turkey's economy will be in crisis. Without contact with the region, the unemployment problem in the Kurdish areas would increase and the PKK would be more active. Without relations with the Kurdistan region, Turkey will be deprived of Iraq's oil and its future would be more difficult when its hands off the region's oil and gas pipelines.

Turkey's need for oil and gas

Turkey has undergone major economic growth between 2002 and 2017, making it the 13th largest economy in the world. According to the OECD data, Turkey ranks first in terms of energy needs for the economy to continue to grow. It must be provided continuously and without interruption to the sectors that provide economic growth.

Oil production in the Kurdistan region

Since 2006, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been rapidly conducting search and inspection activities due to contracts with oil companies, with a total of 10 oil wells, 8 of which have had positive results.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum company, in the Shekhan fields near the Turkish border, has found a wide area of oil, which is estimated to be between 12 to 15 billion barrels of oil. 45 billion barrels of oil have been found in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, according to statistics from the KRG's Ministry of Natural Resources, and with the oil have founded in the Shekhan area is expected to be 60-65 billion barrels of oil.

Turkey's grip in the region's oil process

First: The region's oil pipeline in Turkey

The KRG exports about 450,000 barrels of oil abroad daily, all through the Kurdistan Oil Pipeline, which passes through Turkish territory.

The Kurdistan Region's oil pipeline is 896 kilometers long, starting at the Kurdistan Region's border at the Khurmalawa field and reaching 221 kilometers by Fishkhabur, according to which 24.6 percent of the oil pipeline is on the Kurdistan Region's border, owned by both Kar Group and Rosneft, a Russian company.

The part of the Turkish border is owned by the Turkish energy company and operates by Turkish company Botas. Its 675 kilometers from Fishkhabur to the Turkish port of Jayhan, forms (74.6 percent) of the pipeline's length.

Second: Turkish companies in the oil fields of the Kurdistan region

Two major Turkish energy companies work in the Kurdistan Region, Both Genal Energy and Petoil currently have contracts and shares with the KRG in several oil fields in the Kurdistan Region.

Third: Oil money and Halkbank

The KRG's oil money will be transferred to the KRG's private account of Turkish banks.

In 2015, the Kurdistan Regional Government's Council of Ministers decided in a letter no. 983:

All oil exports and sales revenues must be transferred directly to the KRG's account at the Halkbank in Turkey without the mediation of the Third Bank.

The KRG's decision shows the fact that the total amount of oil sales in the Kurdistan Region is being collected in Turkey, and the Central Iraqi Government has pressured turkey on this issue several times, but the process has remained the same.