"We hope to succeed. We have reached a sort of understanding so far," he added.

Khurmala oil field remains under Kurdish control, but Luaybi insisted it belongs to Iraq's state-owned North Oil Company (NOC).

"Khurmala belongs to NOC and was discovered more than 30 years ago," he said. "We started developing it in 1995. NOC and the oil ministry have finished drilling 36 wells there."

Luaybi said the Iraqi oil ministry had launched a $37 million program in 2004 to develop Khurmala, AFP reported.

The ministry of resources in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq seized Khurmala in 2008-2009, Luaybi said.

"But it's a field that belongs to the oil ministry of the federal government," Luaybi added.

Iraq is the second largest producer in the OPEC cartel after Saudi Arabia.

It reported its oil exports at 109.6 million barrels in December last year, the same month that the government announced victory over IS.

Reporter’s code: 50101