Crude flow has resumed from northern Iraq’s Kirkuk fields after production was halted by Kurdish forces storming a facility in protest at the national oil policy.
The Kurdish forces were reported to have arrived at the facility early on Thursday, on the pretense that they were searching for explosives planted by Islamic State militants.
Iraqi forces are currently engaged against IS in the US led coalition.
But a Kurdish official later said the facility had been seized to put pressure on Baghdad to build an oil refinery in Kirkuk.
He added that Kurdish forces would shut down oil flows again within a week unless they received guarantees.
The Kurdish forces claim the Kirkuk area is suffering a crisis and that it is “not fair” that oil is sent to other provinces.
Iraq’s state-run North Oil Company (NOC) operate the oil fields in the region, which were pumping around 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) into the pipeline before the shutdown.