The Iraqi government-owned Northern Oil Company announced in a statement that armed Kurdish forces affiliated with the Kurdistan Regional Government have taken control of some oil wells in northern Kirkuk.

The company added that forces arrived with a technical team from the Kurdish region and took control of some oil wells in the Bey Hassan field of the Northern Oil Company.

The statement does not say when the forces arrived or whether they remained there.

In a statement on its official website, the Kurdistan Regional Government denied “all allegations and rumors that the regional government, with the support of the armed forces, has occupied and seized several oil fields in Bai Hasan and Northern Oil Company’s Daudkorki in Kirkuk.” .”

She said: “Public wealth, according to the Iraqi constitution, is the property of all Iraqis, not the property of the company, and that the Northern Oil Company has been operating under the oil and gas law for years in violation of this constitution. and if it wants to solve problems, it needs to pass an oil and gas law based on the constitution.

She added that the accusations leveled against the region are far from the truth and are only aimed at creating chaos.

Iraqi forces regained control of the oil fields in Kirkuk from Kurdish control in 2017 following a referendum on the independence of the Kurdish region.

The Iraqi government responded to this referendum, in which the Kurds voted overwhelmingly for independence by driving Kurdish Peshmerga fighters from lands claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurds, including the oil city of Kirkuk.

The oil fields in Kirkuk came under Kurdish control in 2014 when the Iraqi army collapsed in the face of the Islamic State. The actions of the Kurds did not allow the militants to take control of the oil fields in the region.