The KRG fears federal Iraqi forces are plotting a "major attack" days after tensions combusted into two, hour-long firefights near the disputed Bai Hassan oil field.
Massive political challenges and financial constraints cast uncertainty on the Oil Ministry's announcement that it will rehabilitate its decimated pipeline to Turkey.
Steady month-on-month increases are due to new drilling at the Halfaya field and recovering output from state-run fields.
Crude prices rise and loadings increase in both Basra and the Mediterranean.
The Oil Ministry is re-starting the Qayarah refinery, which had temporarily shut due to smuggling concerns, as well as Anbar province's Haditha refinery.
The KRG oil sector is in the crosshairs of Iraq's Parliament and Turkey's president, who are seeking to stop the momentum of Kurdish secession after Monday's referendum.
The day before Monday's Kurdistan independence referendum, Iraq's National Security Council called on the world to respect claims to federal control over oil and borders.
Besieged by international pressure to delay its independence referendum, the KRG gets geopolitical backup from a Rosneft agreement to underwrite oil and gas export pipelines.
Negotiations begin over handing back the Majnoon operatorship, months after stake in West Qurna 1 was put up for sale, highlighting one major oil company's resistance to Iraq's tough terms.
Long-standing disputes over Kirkuk and its oil threaten to turn allies against each other as they prepare to chase IS from one of its last strongholds in Iraq.
