Oil row with Kurds stirs Iraq tensions

Stoppage of crude exports to Baghdad over payment dispute raises fears of a Kurdish push for greater independence.

Iraq’s Kurdish government has stopped all oil exports to Baghdad following a payment dispute.    

It is just one issue in recent weeks that is causing tensions between the Kurds in the north and the central authority.

There are concerns that a push to sell crude oil to Kurdish markets from what is considered to be one of the last great unexplored oil regions in the world, could persuade Erbil to seek more independence from Baghdad.

Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf reports from Erbil.

Source: Al Jazeera