Although northern Iraq's oil reserves are not as big as the giant southern fields round Basra, Mr Hawrami said the area had “good potential”, estimating reserves at around 45 billion barrels of oil and 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. He also held out the prospect of a second export pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, which would run through Kurdish-controlled territory, thus giving it greater protection from sabotage attacks.
