Chevron said Friday it "temporarily" suspended operations in Kurdistan in Iraq, an oil-rich region at the center of a conflict between Baghdad and Kurdish forces.

"We continue to monitor the situation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq," said a spokeswoman for the US oil giant in an email message.

"We remain in regular contact," she said. "We look forward to resuming our operations as soon as conditions permit."

Iraqi forces this week reclaimed a string of major oil fields around the city of Kirkuk that the Kurds seized in 2014 during the chaos of the Islamic State group's rampage across the country.

Baghdad has asked British giant BP to "quickly make plans to develop the Kirkuk oil fields."

Tensions between the two sides remain elevated, with the Iraqi oil ministry reacting angrily to a production sharing agreement signed between Russian energy giant Rosneft and the authorities in the autonomous Kurdish region without Baghdad's approval.

Rosneft said it would pay up to $400 million (340 million euros) for 80 percent in the venture as part of the deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government, although up to half the sum could be paid in crude from the blocks.

Source: AFP