The recent announcement that Turkey’s state-owned TPAO has signed a wide-ranging oil and gas cooperation agreement with Great Britain’s BP marks a potentially significant shift in the strategic landscape of northern Iraq. The new framework — covering field development, exploration, export capacity and regional gas transport — places both companies squarely at the centre of Iraq’s next phase of upstream expansion, with Kirkuk identified as the immediate priority. Coming on the heels of TPAO’s recent cooperation…