The Iraqi Cabinet has approved an agreement with the country's autonomous Kurdish government to resume oil exports from Kurdish areas.
Iraq's central government had objected to the oil exports because authorities in the Kurdish region signed deals with Western oil companies independently. Those companies began oil exports last year but stopped a few months later when Baghdad refused to pay them.
Under the deal approved Tuesday, the Iraqi government will pay the costs of Western oil companies operating in the self-ruled Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh says Baghdad has agreed to guarantee the expenses of oil companies in the Kurdish region after auditing them. It was not immediately clear who will pay the oil companies' profits or when the oil exports will resume.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
