“KRG has ratified the British company Keystone implementation of a plan to develop Shikhan oil field,” The ministry said in a statement briefed by “Shafaq News”.

“40 thousand barrels per day (bpd) will be produced in the coming weeks to rise to 150 thousand over the next three years,” the statement added.

It is scheduled for the rate of production to reach 250 thousand bpd by 2018, according to the statement.

The statement stressed that the region is working to develop its oil production to up to one million bpd by the end of 2015 and then rises to two million barrels by end of the current contract.

Shikhan field is located in Shikhan area, which is one of the disputed areas between the region and Baghdad, after fifty kilometers to the north of city Mosul (350 km north of Baghdad).

In addition to the dispute over the regions, the Iraqi government opposes the oil contracts signed by Kurdistan region and considers them as illegal and not approved by the Ministry of Oil.

While Kurdistan confirms its right to conclude oil contracts under the Constitution of the country in the absence of a regulating law to the management of oil wealth.