Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi has asked BP “to quickly make plans to develop the Kirkuk oifields,” as reported in an oil ministry statement on Wednesday. Iraqi forces had taken control of the oil-rich region of Kirkuk two days earlier. They displaced Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who had occupied the area during the war on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). BP has provided technical assistance in the past to the Iraqi state-owned North Oil Company to aid the redevelopment of the Kirkuk field, Reuters said. Kirkuk is estimated to have around 9 billion barrels of recoverable oil remaining.