The administration of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region claimed on Friday that recent attempts by Baghdad to regulate its oil earnings had had no effect on its oil output and trading.

“Oil… is still being produced, transported, marketed, processed, and consumed in the Kurdistan area. Investment interest is still high, and output is likely to rise “According to a statement issued by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Friday.

The Kurdistan area produces around 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day, the majority of which is exported.

Iraq has made multiple attempts to execute the Federal Supreme Court’s February judgement that the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region’s oil and gas industry are illegal.

Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) announced in a letter that it will prevent loadings of illegal cargoes originating in Iraq, including those from the Kurdistan region.

It also stated that it will take legal action against any merchants or buyers of Iraqi oil that it did not approve of.

The KRG slammed the letter in a Friday statement, saying it hampered cooperation between its administration in Erbil and Baghdad.

The statement restated the KRG’s rejection of the supreme court verdict, claiming that the court lacked legitimacy.

The statement stated that the KRG’s disagreements with the federal government “must be handled in conformity with the Federal Constitution and the constitutional rights of the people of the Kurdistan Region and all of Iraq.”

Until that time, “the Kurdistan Regional Government will continue to take vigorous steps to defend those rights”, it added.