Iraq’s self-governed Kurdish region began exporting oil for the first time yesterday, pumping crude through a pipeline to Turkey for sale to foreign markets.

Iraq’s Kurdish President, Jalal Talabani, and Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish regional government, opened a ceremonial valve in Arbil, the regional capital.

Pointedly, there were no non-Kurds from the federal Government at the ceremony. Kurds and Arabs in Iraq are in a dispute over the division of the country’s mineral resources that could still spill into bloodshed.

Mr Barzani said: “This achievement will serve the interests of all Iraqis, especially the Kurds.”

Turkey has long feared that the generation of Kurdish oil wealth from Iraq could spark secessionist violence among its own Kurds.

However, the Turkish Genel Enerji is jointly developing the Taq Taq oilfield with Addax Petroleum, an oil and gas company based in Calgary, Canada.

Economic ties between Turkey and Iraq have strengthened enormously in the past year, with Turkish exports to northern Iraq increasing by 76 per cent.

Yet discord over oil rights between Baghdad and Arbil continues to delay the exploitation of much of Iraq’s massive proven oil and gas reserves.

Kurdish officials recently unveiled an $8 billion (£5 billion) plan that could supply natural gas from northern Iraq to Europe via the Nabucco pipeline, a key element in the endeavour by the European Union to cut its reliance on Russian gas.

Hussein al-Shahristani, the Iraqi Oil Minister, rejected the deal as illegal, saying that it was done without the participation of the Oil Ministry. Baghdad opposes Arbil signing its own contracts, a position Kurdish officials have ignored.

Baghdad has said in response that it will award production rights to the Kirkuk oilfields — disputed between Arabs and Kurds and reputed to be the location of bigger oil reserves than the whole of Alaska — to the highest-bidding international oil company this month.

Kirkuk’s constitutional status remains contested. The UN has recommended a referendum to decide the issue.

“Iraq has had a revenue shortfall of $10 billion due to the incompetence of Iraq’s Oil Ministry,” said Ashti Hawrami, the Iraqi Kurds’ natural resources minister, in a speech during which he vowed that the region would continue to seek partners without the approval of the central Government.

— More American soldiers died in Iraq in May than at any time in the past eight months, weeks before US forces are due to withdraw from Iraqi cities. Twenty-four US soldiers lost their lives last month, the highest number since September (Anthony Loyd writes).

By contrast, figures released on Sunday by Iraqi ministries showed May to have the lowest toll of Iraqis since the US-led invasion in March 2003. According to the Iraqi statistics, 124 civilians, six soldiers and 25 policemen were killed last month.

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