The semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq has insisted that is going to press ahead with a pipeline project that will allow it to export crude oil to Turkey.

The move follows warnings from the US that any self-controlled midstream infrastructure built by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) could lead to the break-up of Iraq.

All of Iraq’s oil operations are controlled by Baghdad under the present arrangement, but the KRG is keen to take control of its own oil fields and Erbil believes that its right to do so is written into Iraqi law.