MOSCOW (TASS) — Moscow and Baghdad resolved issues related to contracts concluded by Rosneft and Iraqi Kurdistan, Deputy Foreign Minister Muayad Salih told TASS on Tuesday.

“The tension has been removed, today we have no questions left that we should talk about. Everything has been settled”, he said.

In 2017-2018, Rosneft and the government of Iraqi Kurdistan signed a number of agreements on cooperation in the field of exploration and production of hydrocarbons. In particular, the parties inked a production sharing agreement (PSA) regarding five blocks located in Iraqi Kurdistan — Batil, Zawita, Qasrok, Harir-Bejil and Darato. The Russian company is the operator of projects with an 80% interest in the production sharing agreements.

The federal administration in Baghdad opposed the signing of these agreements directly with the government of Iraqi Kurdistan, since, in accordance with the constitution, such agreements should be concluded with the central government.

Last June, Rosneft announced it’s going to conduct geological explorations in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2019, the pilot production at the Bijeel field began in the first quarter. The company’s CEO Igor Sechin said at the annual general meeting of shareholders that Rosneft continues to implement the project to develop fields in Iraqi Kurdistan in the Middle East, where a geological exploration program is scheduled for this year to ensure production in the future. According to him, at the first quarter of 2019, trial production was launched at the Bijeel field at block 11.