[11] Prior to the removal of Saddam Hussein, the Kurdistan Regional Government received approximately 14% of the revenues from the UN's Oil-for-Food Program.

Iraqi Kurdistan's relative food security allowed for substantially more of the funds to be spent on development projects than in the rest of Iraq.

[14] The relative security and stability of the region has allowed the KRG to sign a number of investment contracts with foreign companies.

The KRG also has plans to build a media city in Arbil and free trade zones near the borders with Turkey and Iran by 2016.

As such, the KRG leadership has expressed plans for a more thorough integration and relationship with these countries, especially the three Caucasian Republics, Turkey, and Moldova.

[16] As recently as 2014 KRG officials claimed to sell 200,000 bpd and optimistically predicted exports of 1 million barrels annually.

[17] The Kurdistan Regional Government begun exporting crude oil by truck to Turkey during the summer of 2012.

[18] On 23 May 2014, the Kurdistan Regional Government announced that the first oil transported via the new pipeline was loaded into tanker at Ceyhan.

In June 2015, Exxon Mobil, the largest exporter by volume, evacuated its staff and left its facilities in the care of Peshmerga.

A US-mediated agreement in 2014 would have resolved the conflict between the oil ministries of the KRG and the GOI, but this too collapsed over allegations of under payment.