You miss the point that until the draft Iraq Oil and Gas Law is voted on what the Kurds have done is not illegal, there is no national law in place for them to break, I thought that that distinction would be obvious.

"The contracts with the companies were done according to an oil and gas law approved by the Kurdistan parliament and were allowed under the Iraqi constitution, Jamal Abdullah , an official spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government, said in an interview Thursday.

"The companies we have contracts with are well-known companies," he said. "We have consulted with experts on oil law and we haven't done anything illegal or against the constitution."

"We look for oil, we encourage drilling for it and production, but we never market or sell it without the supervision of the central government," Abdullah said. "We agree that the oil in Kurdistan is for all Iraqis, not for the Kurds only."

The deal with Hunt Oil as with DNO is for new fields where the oil company take all the risks (million dollars a hole Folkiedave, whether you find anything or not)

"The deals are for areas where oil hasn't been found yet, not Iraq's massive existing oil fields, which would remain under the control of the national oil company. Kurdistan and Hunt officials have declined to reveal the terms. Typically in such a deal, Hunt would get a share of the revenues after it discovers, develops and begins pumping oil."

Nothing wrong with that at all Folkiedave, common working practice the world over in the oil and gas industry. As for withdrawal of licences take a look what has happened in Venezuela.

One minute we have the anti-war; anti-Bush; hard left yelling that the US went into Iraq to "steal" Iraq's oil and now, as part of that camp you are telling me that the US Government are against deals such as the one that Hunt Oil has negotiated, quite legally, with the regional government of the semiautonomous Parliament of the Kurdish Region of Iraq.

Make up your minds, katlaughings Kleptocracy with the support and collusion of the US Government are pushing for "western corporations" to take control of Iraq's natural resources or they're not. It would seem that they are not, the international oil industry is against mass privatisation of Iraq's oil and gas industry, they prefer partnership under Iraq National Oil Company/Iraq Government control.

Yes the invasion of Iraq was about oil, among other things, but not in the way the anti-war; anti-Bush; hard left think it was.