The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has authorised a payment of $15m to the London-listed oil and gas company Gulf Keystone Petroleum.

In a statement released on 19 February, Gulf Keystone said that $5.8m is being paid for crude exports from the Shaikan oilfield in January 2016 and $9.2m is being paid to reduce the KRG’s debt to the company.

On 1 February, the KRG announced that it intended to pay international oil companies according to their contractual entitlements in 2016, in a bid to restore confidence and increase production.

Iraqi Kurdistan is enduring a worsening financial crisis driven by the ongoing war with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) and reduced revenues due to the collapse in global oil prices.