Turkish energy company Kartet has secured a deal to export electricity to Kurdish northern Iraq and has applied for an export licence, sources close to the matter said, a development that could add to tensions between Baghdad and Ankara.

Under the deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Kartet will supply 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity a year, the sources said on Monday, adding that Turkey's energy ministry had given its consent to the deal.


"We've been in talks about this for a long time. The main target is to sell electricity to Mosul," said Nuray Atacik, head of commercial operations at Karadeniz Holding, Kartet's parent company.

Turkey has increasingly courted Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region to boost energy cooperation with the KRG. A broad energy partnership between the two ranging from oil exploration to exports has been in the works since last year.

The Kurds early this year began exporting small volumes of crude oil directly by truck to Turkey. Baghdad says the exports are illegal and has threatened action against the region and against foreign oil companies working there to stop them.

Kartet used to supply electricity to Iraq between 2003 and 2008, but security issues and a payment row reduced the sales and then brought them to a complete halt last year.

It has applied for an export license with Turkey's energy regulator.

Following Kartet's application, the energy watchdog has also invited all companies that wish to export power to Iraq to bid to obtain an export licence, the sources said.

Years of war and underinvestment have left Iraq dependent on diesel imports for its growing electricity needs. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun, Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; editing by Jane Baird)

(Reuters) -