BAGHDAD: The Iraqi government, on the eve of a Kurdish independence referendum in oil-rich northern Iraq, on Sunday urged all countries to deal only with the central government on oil transactions.
"The Iraqi government, at a meeting of its security cabinet, calls on countries in the region and around the world to deal only with it on matters of oil and borders," state media reported.
Baghdad has been angered by the Kurds' decision to go ahead with the referendum in northern Iraq, which exports an average 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) through a pipeline running through Turkey to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.
The total includes some 250,000 bpd from oilfields in Kirkuk, a region whose ownership is disputed by Baghdad and autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, which relies on oil exports for its economic survival.