Once again, one of the most important oil wells in the Middle East lies within a war zone.<br /><br />Output from Kirkuk fell in mid-October, when Iraqi forces took back control of the northern region’s oilfields from Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, who had been there since 2014.<br /><br />Iraqi engineers took over the positions at the pipelines, replacing the expelled Kurds.<br /><br />“Oil is Iraq’s biggest asset. The people live from the oil. Agriculture and everything else declines without it. The oil is the most important asset.” said oil engineer, Hussam Albeat.<br /><br />Iraq has accused the Peshmerga of damaging the pipeline in order to cause problems in the transportation of oil to Turkey.<br /><br />Operations were suspended at some crucial Kirkuk fields and Iraq saw its daily output fall by 120 thousand barrels a day to just over 4 million barrels.<br /><br />Kurdish Peshmerga forces were deployed in Kirkuk in 2014, when the Iraqi army fled in the face of an advance by Islamic State militants. <br /><br />The Kurdish move prevented the militants taking control of the oilfields.<br /><br />Now Iraqi flags are replacing Kurdistan flags in Iraqi occupied Kirkuk.<br />
