Troops seen arriving at Iraqi oil refinery just days after BP agreed to develop their oil fields

U.S. Army Sgt. George Olser, assigned to 5th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, guides a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle onto a flatbed vehicle at K1 Air Base, Iraq, March 20, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by SPC. Kenneth Stroud)

A Kurdish source allegedly leaked movement information about the US-led international coalition against ISIS in Iraq.

The source spoke to The New Arab (TNA), a London-based pan-Arab news outlet owned by a company in Qatar, and gave information about coalition forces arriving at a base in Kirkuk that was abandoned by US forces in 2020.

“The force, comprising about 40 soldiers and 10 to 15 US-made armored Hummer vehicles, was sent from Erbil and deployed at the K-1 military base,” the “well-informed Kurdish” source told them.

The K-1 military base was a strategic airbase for the Iraqi Army and coalition forces but was taken over by ISIS in 2014.

In August of 2014, 12,000 soldiers of the 12th Division of the Iraqi Army fled the base as ISIS was making their offensive in Northern Iraq.

It was recaptured from ISIS by the Kurdish Peshmerga and used to host military personnel from multiple countries participating in the war against ISIS, such as American soldiers unofficially training and advising the Peshmerga forces.

On December 27, 2019, a rocket attack targeting the base killed a U.S. civilian contractor and wounded several American and Iraqi personnel. The attack was suspected to be carried out by Iran-backed militants.

U.S. Army personnel left the air base and handed it over to Iraqi Security Forces in early 2020.

“Due to successful operations against ISIS by Iraqi Security Forces, Coalition forces repositioned to other Iraqi bases to continue the anti-ISIS partnership,” the Army said at the time.

U.S. Soldiers, assigned to 5th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, board a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk at K1 Air Base, Iraq, March 25, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by SPC. Kenneth Stroud)

The source who spoke to TNA suggested the new troops at K-1 could be a response to increased ISIS activities in the province.

The K-1 airbase sits strategically next to Iraq’s North Oil Company and the Kirkuk Oil Refinery.

Source: Google Maps

The movement of troops back to the area happened just days after British Petroleum (BP) signed a memorandum stating their intentions to develop four fields of the North Oil Company (NOC) in Kirkuk.

The non-binding MoU was signed in a meeting between Iraq Prime Minister H.E. Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani, H.E. Hayan Abdul Ghani, Deputy PM for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil, and bp chief executive Murray Auchincloss, together with Nader Zaki, bp regional president for Middle East and North Africa, and Zaid Elyaseri, bp President Iraq. (Source: BP press release)

“On 1st August 2024, BP signed a memorandum of understanding to rehabilitate and develop the four fields of the North Oil Company (NOC) in Kirkuk, namely the Kirkuk field with its two domes (Baba and Avana), as well as the Bai Hassan, Jambur, and Khabbaz fields, with potential expansion to other exploratory fields,” a company press release said.

British Petroleum has a long history of involvement with Iraqi oil.

It was a member of the consortium of oil companies that discovered oil in Kirkuk in the 1920s.

According to BP, negotiations are expected to be complete early in 2025. 

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