A dispute between Kurdish factions over sharing Kirkuk province's oil is over for now, but the issue of how to divide Iraq's petroleum riches lingers. On March 8, an agreement between the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the autonomous region's main Kurdish political parties, was announced, according to Reuters. The deal, reached March 7, concluded a quarrel and ultimatum that followed the March 2 takeover of production facilities by PUK special operations forces dispatched from Sulaimaniya that briefly disrupted oil flows.

The takeover of North Oil Company (NOC) facilities was a not-so-subtle reminder by the PUK that it has the ability to interrupt at least a portion of Kirkuk's oil production. The PUK is prepared to use that leverage in the future if it continues to get what it sees as an inadequate share of Kirkuk's oil revenue and supplies. The heart of the dispute for the PUK is the distribution of petroleum products in Iraq. It wants more of Kirkuk's production to be sent to areas under its control in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Terms of the March 7 deal were not made clear, but one of the PUK's demands was that Kirkuk's refining capacity be expanded.

Just hours before the agreement was publicized, Iraqi Oil Minister Jubair al-Luaibi announced that a new processing unit at the Kirkuk refinery had been brought online to boost capacity by 10,000 barrels per day and that the NOC was planning to add another unit this year. Reuters reported that Baghdad and the PUK agreed to allow for the additional output to supply Kirkuk and Sulaimaniya.

Although it looks like the latest crisis over Kirkuk's oil exports has been averted, the PUK remains a peripheral party in the broader deals signed between Baghdad and the KRG, which is dominated by the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). The continuing discord and the future of oil-rich Kirkuk will draw the attention of Turkey and Iran, which could both intervene into the disputes that are still to come between the federal government in Baghdad, the PUK in Sulaimaniya and the KDP in Arbil.