Total spokesman said Monday that Kurdistan Regional Government will own 20 %.

“Participating in the exploration area was studied when Total entered Kurdistan region in the summer of 2012,” Total said in a statement briefed by “Shafaq News”.

In the summer of 2012 the French company bought a 35 % stake in the exploration areas in the region which offers more attractive contractual conditions than in the south of the country.

The move was met at the time by an angry response from the Iraqi authorities that warned Total - which owns a stake in al-Halfaya oil field in Maysan province in southern Iraq – that it may force it to sell its stake if not abolish or freeze its agreements with Kurdistan.